History and Hope

In Praise of Imperfection: Reflections on Timothy Snyder’s “Politics of Responsibility”

Introduction: Fears for the New Year

Amid wars and partisan political campaigns, the year 2024 dawned in an atmosphere of gloom. In the New York Times alone, for example, columnists cited a host of problems: “zero-sum thinking,” “democratic backsliding,” a “crisis of authority,” distrust in democratic institutions and governments, and “existential dread about the very foundations of the American experiment [and] a dramatic sense of inevitable doom.” Analysts also warn of political violence, potential civil war, and the prospect that global democracy is losing ground to populist tyranny. A Financial Times commentary, “Can democracy survive 2024?” summed up these fears: “A historic number of elections will take place this year, but autocracy is spreading, independent institutions are weakening and young people are rejecting the status quo.”

A survey pegged to the January 15-19 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings in Davos, Switzerland captured that gloom. The poll of 1500 business le…