THE Manchurian Candidate (1962) starring Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury — of Murder She Wrote fame — was one of the most iconic films of the Cold War era. Building on anti-communist paranoia, the story centres on Captain Shaw, a scion of a prominent political family, who is captured and brainwashed by communists during the Korean War. Shaw’s mother, the real puppet master, plans to use Shaw to carry out the assassination of the leading candidate in the elections so that communists can get their candidate — Manchurian candidate — to the White House with “...powers that will make martial law seem like anarchy”.
Though there was a remake of the film in 2004, its main message was buried by the sands of time. But, as more than half of the world’s population votes this year, the film’s themes centred on the fraught nature of democracy — political conspiracies, special interest and violence — remain as relevant today as during the height of the Cold War.
2024 is truly the ‘year of democracy’ as more than four billion people — including from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the US and UK comprising eight out of the 10 most populous nations — in over 70 countries will vote in elections. But, where this milestone should be celebrated, democracy appears to be in serious trouble.
For starters, the quality of democracy is plummeting almost everywhere. Most democracies are now suffering from democratic backsliding or a ‘democratic recession’, a term coined by Larry Diamond, a Stanford University professor.
Most democracies are now suffering from a ‘democratic recession’.
According to the latest Democracy........