While some see political polarization as a challenge to democracy, Boris Johnson, the former UK prime minister, sees an opportunity.
Democracy cannot thrive without disagreement, as long as it is civil — this openness to different viewpoints was a trait he praised about the University of Miami campus.
“I’d rather have a country that is capable of polarization than a unipole,” Johnson said.
Johnson was the Provost’s visiting lecturer at UM this semester, and on Wednesday, April 22, he held a roundtable discussion with UM’s media, including The Miami Hurricane. He discussed democracy, international intervention and the fragile state of the world order.
His message was simple: “You have to fight for [democracy].”
Johnson’s view of democracy shapes his support for the recent U.S. foreign intervention, which is strong but not unconditional. He backs the U.S. involvement against Iran’s “nightmare government,” yet is critical of the go-it-alone approach.
“America would be stronger if America’s allies were on its corner,” Johnson said. Without a coordinated coalition, he argued, Iran found room to exploit the situation. “England’s vast knowledge of the area would have proven useful to the U.S., and maybe even could have prevented the current blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Venezuela is a conflict that Johnson knows more personally. He was once sent to negotiate with Nicolas Maduro, an experience he recounted with characteristic self-deprecation.
“I was sent to try to talk to Maduro and to persuade him to be a democrat,” he said. “Pretty hopeless venture.” When he urged Maduro to put opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the ballot, Maduro refused. “He said, ‘No, no, she is a traitor.”
When the U.S. moved to remove Maduro in January, Johnson was not surprised. In fact, he largely approved. Democracy, though, was not the only motivation.
“Venezuela, as everybody knows, has got among the world’s largest reserves of oil,” he said, “And the US has massive refining facilities which are, purely by coincidence, for just that type of oil.”
Still, he hoped “something good will come out of this for the people of Venezuela.”
So far, President Delcy Rodríguez, who took power after Maduro’s capture, has released 51 political prisoners. “It’s not a total transformation,” Johnson said. “Yet.”
Critics like Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the intervention a “regrettable chapter in the continuous erosion of international law.” Johnson is unmoved.
“International law is very important,” he said. “But even the most liberal-minded people are not consistent with it.”
His closing thought returned to democracy itself: imperfect, often contested and essential.
In a world where there are more autocracies than democracies, Johnson makes the case for the latter. The benefits outweigh the cons. Economic growth, peace of mind and “fun” are things worth fighting for. He does not view political polarization as an enemy to any of this.
“Political polarization is a feature of freedom to dissent,” Johnson said. The ability to disagree is more valuable than a country without plurality.
