I come from a country, Portugal, were the people conquered Democracy from the Fascists by force (though it was mainly a peaceful affair).
In next door Spain some years later the Fascists passed some laws to give themselves immunity and keep the wealth they stole from the rest and then left power, which is how they became a Democracy.
Portugal has none of the problems of regionalist breakaway movements that Spain has, the Far Right is more recent smaller and way milder than in Spain (were even the mainstream Rightwing-party has always been far more to the Right than the equivalent one in Portugal).
(Portugal is a far … far, far … from perfect country, but at least in this things seem to have been done right)
Whilst indeed it’s anecdotal, this and what I’ve seen over the years when it comes to foreign interventions to “bring democracy”, leads me to believe that Democracy, to be stable, has to be won, not “gifted” by a dictatorship (and even a foreign invader which is a democratic country is de facto a dictatorship for the locals of the occcupied country as they don’t get to vote in that country’s elections and are quite literally being governed by dictat).
I come from a country, Portugal, were the people conquered Democracy from the Fascists by force (though it was mainly a peaceful affair).
In next door Spain some years later the Fascists passed some laws to give themselves immunity and keep the wealth they stole from the rest and then left power, which is how they became a Democracy.
Portugal has none of the problems of regionalist breakaway movements that Spain has, the Far Right is more recent smaller and way milder than in Spain (were even the mainstream Rightwing-party has always been far more to the Right than the equivalent one in Portugal).
(Portugal is a far … far, far … from perfect country, but at least in this things seem to have been done right)
Whilst indeed it’s anecdotal, this and what I’ve seen over the years when it comes to foreign interventions to “bring democracy”, leads me to believe that Democracy, to be stable, has to be won, not “gifted” by a dictatorship (and even a foreign invader which is a democratic country is de facto a dictatorship for the locals of the occcupied country as they don’t get to vote in that country’s elections and are quite literally being governed by dictat).