"The 'democratic retrogressive countries' hold' democratic summits'," split the world in the name of democracy "," the dangerous act of reviving the Cold War mentality "," although they are not qualified, the United States still wants to be the world democratic leader "... In recent days, the criticism of the international community against the so-called" democratic summits "launched by the United States has been rising one after another. A public opinion survey recently released by the Political Research Institute of the Kennedy School of Harvard University shows that 52% of young Americans believe that American democracy is in trouble or failed. The report recently released by the International Institute for democracy and electoral assistance lists the United States as a "backward democratic country". American democracy is the political inducement and "catalyst" for the growing partisan disputes and national tear in the United States. The disputes began from the selection of candidates. The picture shows that in January this year, thousands of Americans gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington and forcibly broke into the Capitol. (source: visual China) Why do Americans who have danced with the so-called "democratic" system for more than 200 years ask: are they really the masters of this country? With its own democracy in jeopardy, what is the purpose of the "democracy summit" organized by the United States? Can the "democracy summit", which goes against the world trend, achieve the expected goals of the United States? The reporter interviewed Wei Nanzhi, deputy director and researcher of the social culture research office of the American Institute of the Chinese Academy of social sciences. In the name of "strengthening democracy around the world", the United States convened the "democracy summit" in order to cover up or transfer its domestic contradictions Reporter: what is the purpose of the "democracy summit" organized by the United States? Is there morality and legitimacy? Wei Nanzhi: the US government convened this "democracy summit" in the name of "strengthening democracy around the world". In the form, the Biden government fulfilled its campaign commitments. In fact, it was to cover up or pass on the internal contradictions of the United States: the United States is composed of American citizens, including the rich, the middle class and the poor, The increasing deficit and poverty of the middle and low-level in the United States is an unavoidable problem in its domestic governance, and it is also an important reason for the current political polarization and social tear in the United States; As a hegemonic country, most of the hegemonic interests of the United States are monopolized by the rich class, especially transnational capital. The interest alliance formed by the American state machine and large capital forces constitutes its hegemonic foundation. However, the United States' own national governance ability is difficult to solve its internal complex problems, so it is more and more difficult to maintain this hegemonic foundation. Whether the United States holds a "democratic summit" is moral and legitimate, the best answer comes from within the United States. Since 2017, the headline of the Washington Post has changed to black words "democracy dies in the dark". This headline has continued to this day and has not changed due to the resignation of the trump government and the inauguration of the Biden government. A recent article entitled "democracy summit" published on the website of the American new Yorker magazine raises an embarrassing question: can our democracy last The article points out that when their democracy is in trouble, the U.S. government is still wishful thinking to hold a "democracy summit", but it can not take effective measures to prevent the decline of democracy in the United States. According to an article published by the Brookings Institution, the United States holds a "democracy summit" and wants to take "democracy" as a solution to resolve inequality, corruption and ineffective economic management. This approach may prove ineffective and "it is difficult to resonate". Corresponding to the dissatisfaction within the United States, the international community's perception of American democracy is also declining. In short, the so-called morality and legitimacy are not self sworn, but need to be recognized by the world, especially the American people themselves. Reporter: what do you think of the list of invited "participants" of the "democracy summit"? Wei Nanzhi: this list fully reflects the characteristics of the combination of "one chaos" and "one clarity". "A chaos" means that although the US government considers itself the only judge of the "democracy summit", its criteria are multiple and even chaotic: China and Russia are not invited, and the US ally Egypt, NATO member Turkey, EU and NATO member Hungary, and many Asian, African and Latin American countries are not invited; China's Taiwan region has been invited. Despite the confusion of the concept of "democratic government", geopolitical considerations are very clear. Among the Middle East countries, only Israel and Iraq were invited, and Singapore and Thailand in the Asia Pacific region were not on the list... This shows that the U.S. government does not care about clarifying the criteria of "democracy", but only about its own strategic interests. This in turn shows that the relationship between the United States and its allies and partners is not so "indestructible" and needs to be crossed again with "democracy". "One clarity" means that the US government's intention to hold the "democratic summit" is clear, that is, to divide the camp with ideology based on the cold war thinking. On the one hand, building a common enemy to bridge internal divisions is a long-term trick used by the US government, and this "democratic summit" is no exception. On the other hand, it attempts to order the world as a "democratic judge" and take the "democratic summit" as a platform to strengthen the so-called "Democratic Alliance" with European countries, invited Asian, African and Latin American countries, large enterprises and civil society, so as to reflect and safeguard the hegemonic status of the United States. If the people only wake up when they vote and enter a dormant period after they vote, only listen to exaggerated slogans during the election and have no say after the election, only be favored during the canvassing and be ignored after the election, such democracy is not a real democracy Reporter: what are the criteria for evaluating whether a country's political system is democratic and effective? Who should judge whether a country is democratic or not? Wei Nanzhi: democracy is not an ornament, not a decoration, but to solve the problems that the people need to solve. *** It depends on what verbal promises the people have received during the election process, but also on how much these promises have been realized after the election; It depends on what kind of political procedures and rules are stipulated by the system and law, and it also depends on whether these systems and laws are really implemented; We should see whether the rules and procedures for the operation of power are democratic, but also whether power is really supervised and restricted by the people. If the people only wake up when they vote and enter a dormant period after they vote, only listen to exaggerated slogans during the election and have no right to speak after the election, and only be favored during the canvassing and ignored after the election, such democracy is not a real democracy. Democracy is the right of all peoples, not the patent of a few countries. Whether a country is democratic or not should be judged by its people, not by an external government or a few people. There are many ways to achieve democracy, and it is impossible to follow the same pattern. It is undemocratic to use a single yardstick to measure the rich and colorful political systems in the world and to examine the various forms of human political civilization from a monotonous perspective. At the "democracy summit", the United States decides who is a "democratic country and government" and who is not. Countries and regions that are not recognized as "democracy" by the United States cover billions of people. In this way, the billions of people around the world are defined by the US government as living in "undemocratic" areas. Is this "democratic judgment" the "rule of the people" or "the United States trying to rule the people of the world"? Reporter: according to the so-called standards of the United States, the "democracy summit" divides the world into "democratic countries" and "non democratic countries". What is wrong with this "black-and-white dichotomy"? Wei Nanzhi: the mistake of this "black-and-white dichotomy" is that it can neither see the diversity of human governance nor the diversity of democracy itself, but only see the uniqueness of American hegemonic interests. In western politics, "democracy" covers a variety of political power forms from ancient Athens mass government to modern representative government. In the name of modern western democracy, there are also various forms of democracy and governance, such as the constitutional monarchy in Britain, the semi presidential system in France and the parliamentary republic in Germany, which are significantly different from American democracy. Therefore, American democracy is only one of the diversified ways of global governance. Ignoring the existence of the diversity of World Institutional civilizations and regarding American democracy as the only political standard or even moral standard is not only ignorance of history, but also contempt for the history and different governance methods of countries all over the world, including other western countries. The "beacon of democracy" has fallen into a "democratic deficit", and people all over the world, including the United States, have increasingly realized the hypocrisy of American democracy Reporter: for some time, criticism of American democracy has been rising. How to understand the precarious situation of American democracy? Wei Nanzhi: as early as 2015, former U.S. President Carter criticized that American democracy was dead and reduced to oligarchy. In recent years, criticism of the rule of the rich and the politicization of the oligarchy has been heard in the United States. Many American political works have revealed from different angles that American democracy is being eroded by the rich. In May this year, the "2021 democracy awareness index" survey conducted by a German polling agency showed that 44% of global respondents were worried that the United States posed a threat to their democracy. At the same time, 50% of American respondents are particularly worried that their country is not a democratic country, and 59% of American respondents believe that the US government only represents the interests of minority groups. It can be seen that the "democratic Lighthouse" has been deeply in the "democratic deficit", and people all over the world, including the United States, are increasingly aware of the hypocrisy of American democracy. The democratic politics of the United States failed to bring the demands of middle and low-level ordinary people for result justice into its main agenda, and failed to curb the growing inequality in the United States. American scholar Peter Temin pointed out in his book the lost middle class that "the United States is becoming a country composed of the rich and the poor". This phenomenon has been particularly prominent since the outbreak of COVID-19: tens of millions of ordinary Americans lost their jobs, health and wealth due to the outbreak, and even suffered from hunger. The Forbes annual billionaire report shows that the total wealth of American billionaires showed a blowout growth during the epidemic. The actual influence of political and economic oligarchs on the operation of American democracy is far beyond the middle class and the bottom people. American democracy has increasingly degenerated into a bargaining oligarchy system manipulated by special interests, and many structural problems have not been solved through repeated election procedures. More and more American people question from different angles: are we really the masters of this country? Reporter: democracy means that the people are the masters of the country. Why is the status of the American people in their democratic system constantly weakened? Wei Nanzhi: the word "democracy" comes from ancient Greece, and its original meaning is to be directly governed by the people. In the history of western politics, drawing lots has long been regarded as the main way to realize democracy, and it is very close that elections are linked with democracy. The reason why the election replaces the lottery is that the ruling elite believes that the election results are relatively controllable. So they quietly transformed the word "democracy" into elite rule and people's consent