We are witnessing today a general decline in the quality of political discourse and action – on the left, in the centre and on the right, and at the national and international level –, an aspect noted by several observers and analysts. It is clearly a discourse that is intertwined with a general crisis of liberalism (intended as a political perspective coordinated around the principles of justice, freedom and equal rights). As the Freedom House documented, from the mid-seventies of the last century to the early 2000s, rights and freedoms saw a general advancement and then registered a consistent decline for the fifteen years up to 2021, a decline that led to the use of the expression democratic recession (that is “recession of democracy”) and even to prospect a depression (Larry Diamond [2015]). Clearly, the inaction of politics is directly implicated (Freedom House 2021), which also appears weak in terms of the consistency of its discourses. Beyond the temptations of power and authoritarian pressures, today the superficial game of persuasive rhetoric seems to be gaining ground, that is, a way of arguing that resorts to the forms of self-promotion, discrediting the other party, “vulgar eloquence” (Antonelli 2019; cf. Belluati 2018), reactive response, and polemical tone traditionally characteristic of electoral campaigns.
ΠΡΟΓΡΕС ИЛИ ЕМАНЦИПАЦИЈА? ЈЕДНА ВЕЖБА КРИТИКЕ ИДЕОЛОГИЈЕ У САВРЕМЕНОМ СВЕТУ (Progress or emancipation? An exercise in the critique of ideology in the contemporary world)
Vinicio Busacchi
Investigation
2026-01-01
Abstract
We are witnessing today a general decline in the quality of political discourse and action – on the left, in the centre and on the right, and at the national and international level –, an aspect noted by several observers and analysts. It is clearly a discourse that is intertwined with a general crisis of liberalism (intended as a political perspective coordinated around the principles of justice, freedom and equal rights). As the Freedom House documented, from the mid-seventies of the last century to the early 2000s, rights and freedoms saw a general advancement and then registered a consistent decline for the fifteen years up to 2021, a decline that led to the use of the expression democratic recession (that is “recession of democracy”) and even to prospect a depression (Larry Diamond [2015]). Clearly, the inaction of politics is directly implicated (Freedom House 2021), which also appears weak in terms of the consistency of its discourses. Beyond the temptations of power and authoritarian pressures, today the superficial game of persuasive rhetoric seems to be gaining ground, that is, a way of arguing that resorts to the forms of self-promotion, discrediting the other party, “vulgar eloquence” (Antonelli 2019; cf. Belluati 2018), reactive response, and polemical tone traditionally characteristic of electoral campaigns.
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