0:00:00.371,0:00:03.139 I'm afraid I'm one of those speakers 0:00:03.139,0:00:06.354 you hope you're not going to meet at TED. 0:00:06.354,0:00:07.690 First, I don't have a mobile, 0:00:07.690,0:00:09.521 so I'm on the safe side. 0:00:09.521,0:00:11.722 Secondly, a political theorist 0:00:11.722,0:00:14.187 who's going to talk about the crisis of democracy 0:00:14.187,0:00:18.259 is probably not the most exciting topic you can think about. 0:00:18.259,0:00:20.742 And plus, I'm not going to give you any answers. 0:00:20.742,0:00:24.576 I'm much more trying to add to some of the questions we're talking about. 0:00:24.576,0:00:26.742 And one of the things that I want to question 0:00:26.742,0:00:29.459 is this very popular hope these days 0:00:29.459,0:00:31.393 that transparency and openness 0:00:31.393,0:00:35.693 can restore the trust in democratic institutions. 0:00:35.693,0:00:39.409 There is one more reason for you to be suspicious about me. 0:00:39.409,0:00:43.386 You people, the Church of TED, are a very optimistic community. 0:00:43.386,0:00:45.594 (Laughter) 0:00:45.594,0:00:50.511 Basically you believe in complexity, but not in ambiguity. 0:00:50.511,0:00:53.426 As you have been told, I'm Bulgarian. 0:00:53.426,0:00:55.010 And according to the surveys, 0:00:55.010,0:00:58.577 we are marked the most pessimistic people in the world. 0:00:58.577,0:01:00.361 (Laughter) 0:01:00.361,0:01:03.951 The Economist magazine recently wrote an article 0:01:03.951,0:01:06.502 covering one of the recent studies on happiness, 0:01:06.502,0:01:11.336 and the title was "The Happy, the Unhappy and the Bulgarians." 0:01:11.336,0:01:12.936 (Laughter) 0:01:12.936,0:01:16.783 So now when you know what to expect, 0:01:16.783,0:01:18.219 let's give you the story. 0:01:18.219,0:01:23.170 And this is a rainy election day in a small country -- 0:01:23.170,0:01:26.502 that can be my country, but could be also your country. 0:01:26.502,0:01:30.302 And because of the rain until four o'clock in the afternoon, 0:01:30.302,0:01:32.987 nobody went to the polling stations. 0:01:32.987,0:01:34.752 But then the rain stopped, 0:01:34.752,0:01:36.986 people went to vote. 0:01:36.986,0:01:40.136 And when the votes had been counted, 0:01:40.136,0:01:47.452 three-fourths of the people have voted with a blank ballot. 0:01:47.452,0:01:49.802 The government and the opposition, 0:01:49.802,0:01:52.736 they have been simply paralyzed. 0:01:52.736,0:01:54.853 Because you know what to do about the protests. 0:01:54.853,0:01:56.837 You know who to arrest, who to negotiate with. 0:01:56.837,0:02:02.185 But what to do about people who are voting with a blank ballot? 0:02:02.185,0:02:06.518 So the government decided to have the elections once again. 0:02:06.518,0:02:09.068 And this time even a greater number, 0:02:09.068,0:02:14.251 83 percent of the people, voted with blank ballots. 0:02:14.251,0:02:17.002 Basically they went to the ballot boxes 0:02:17.002,0:02:20.068 to tell that they have nobody to vote for. 0:02:20.068,0:02:25.100 This is the opening of a beautiful novel by Jose Saramago 0:02:25.100,0:02:26.583 called "Seeing." 0:02:26.583,0:02:28.833 But in my view it very well captures 0:02:28.833,0:02:33.217 part of the problem that we have with democracy in Europe these days. 0:02:33.217,0:02:35.885 On one level nobody's questioning 0:02:35.885,0:02:39.784 that democracy is the best form of government. 0:02:39.784,0:02:42.520 Democracy is the only game in town. 0:02:42.520,0:02:44.833 The problem is that many people start to believe 0:02:44.833,0:02:47.535 that it is not a game worth playing. 0:02:47.535,0:02:51.833 For the last 30 years, political scientists have observed 0:02:51.833,0:02:56.383 that there is a constant decline in electoral turnout, 0:02:56.383,0:03:00.301 and the people who are least interested to vote 0:03:00.301,0:03:04.938 are the people whom you expect are going to gain most out of voting. 0:03:04.938,0:03:08.363 I mean the unemployed, the under-privileged. 0:03:08.363,0:03:10.055 And this is a major issue. 0:03:10.055,0:03:12.786 Because especially now with the economic crisis, 0:03:12.786,0:03:15.237 you can see that the trust in politics, 0:03:15.237,0:03:17.819 that the trust in democratic institutions, 0:03:17.819,0:03:19.738 was really destroyed. 0:03:19.738,0:03:23.354 According to the latest survey being done by the European Commission, 0:03:23.354,0:03:28.236 89 percent of the citizens of Europe believe that there is a growing gap 0:03:28.236,0:03:34.562 between the opinion of the policy-makers and the opinion of the public. 0:03:34.562,0:03:38.570 Only 18 percent of Italians and 15 percent of Greeks 0:03:38.570,0:03:41.720 believe that their vote matters. 0:03:41.720,0:03:45.786 Basically people start to understand that they can change governments, 0:03:45.786,0:03:48.288 but they cannot change policies. 0:03:48.288,0:03:50.904 And the question which I want to ask is the following: 0:03:50.904,0:03:54.820 How did it happen that we are living in societies 0:03:54.820,0:03:57.370 which are much freer than ever before -- 0:03:57.370,0:04:00.054 we have more rights, we can travel easier, 0:04:00.054,0:04:02.403 we have access to more information -- 0:04:02.403,0:04:05.787 at the same time that trust in our democratic institutions 0:04:05.787,0:04:08.370 basically has collapsed? 0:04:08.370,0:04:09.806 So basically I want to ask: 0:04:09.806,0:04:14.655 What went right and what went wrong in these 50 years 0:04:14.655,0:04:16.456 when we talk about democracy? 0:04:16.456,0:04:20.339 And I'll start with what went right. 0:04:20.339,0:04:23.401 And the first thing that went right was, of course, 0:04:23.401,0:04:25.872 these five revolutions which, in my view, 0:04:25.872,0:04:30.456 very much changed the way we're living and deepened our democratic experience. 0:04:30.456,0:04:35.681 And the first was the cultural and social revolution of 1968 and 1970s, 0:04:35.681,0:04:38.496 which put the individual at the center of politics. 0:04:38.496,0:04:40.914 It was the human rights moment. 0:04:40.914,0:04:44.764 Basically this was also a major outbreak, a culture of dissent, 0:04:44.764,0:04:48.630 a culture of basically non-conformism, 0:04:48.630,0:04:50.931 which was not known before. 0:04:50.931,0:04:53.280 So I do believe that even things like that 0:04:53.280,0:04:56.732 are very much the children of '68 -- 0:04:56.732,0:05:00.147 nevertheless that most of us had been even not born then. 0:05:00.147,0:05:03.196 But after that you have the market revolution of the 1980s. 0:05:03.196,0:05:06.830 And nevertheless that many people on the left try to hate it, 0:05:06.830,0:05:11.447 the truth is that it was very much the market revolution that sent the message: 0:05:11.447,0:05:13.124 "The government does not know better." 0:05:13.124,0:05:16.031 And you have more choice-driven societies. 0:05:16.031,0:05:22.598 And of course, you have 1989 -- the end of Communism, the end of the Cold War. 0:05:22.598,0:05:24.898 And it was the birth of the global world. 0:05:24.898,0:05:27.030 And you have the Internet. 0:05:27.030,0:05:29.997 And this is not the audience to which I'm going to preach 0:05:29.997,0:05:32.414 to what extent the Internet empowered people. 0:05:32.414,0:05:35.247 It has changed the way we are communicating 0:05:35.247,0:05:36.997 and basically we are viewing politics. 0:05:36.997,0:05:40.015 The very idea of political community totally has changed. 0:05:40.015,0:05:42.330 And I'm going to name one more revolution, 0:05:42.330,0:05:44.163 and this is the revolution in brain sciences, 0:05:44.163,0:05:46.064 which totally changed the way 0:05:46.064,0:05:49.400 we understand how people are making decisions. 0:05:49.400,0:05:52.364 So this is what went right. 0:05:52.364,0:05:54.698 But if we're going to see what went wrong, 0:05:54.698,0:05:58.130 we're going to end up with the same five revolutions. 0:05:58.130,0:06:01.631 Because first you have the 1960s and 1970s, 0:06:01.631,0:06:03.497 cultural and social revolution, 0:06:03.497,0:06:07.064 which in a certain way destroyed the idea of a collective purpose. 0:06:07.064,0:06:11.900 The very idea, all these collective nouns that we have been taught about -- 0:06:11.900,0:06:14.697 nation, class, family. 0:06:14.697,0:06:17.181 We start to like divorcing, if we're married at all. 0:06:17.181,0:06:20.530 All this was very much under attack. 0:06:20.530,0:06:24.881 And it is so difficult to engage people in politics 0:06:24.881,0:06:27.580 when they believe that what really matters 0:06:27.580,0:06:29.749 is where they personally stand. 0:06:29.749,0:06:33.499 And you have the market revolution of the 1980s 0:06:33.499,0:06:39.460 and the huge increase of inequality in societies. 0:06:39.460,0:06:41.366 Remember, until the 1970s, 0:06:41.366,0:06:45.106 the spread of democracy has always been accompanied 0:06:45.106,0:06:48.566 by the decline of inequality. 0:06:48.566,0:06:50.732 The more democratic our societies have been, 0:06:50.732,0:06:54.765 the more equal they have been becoming. 0:06:54.765,0:06:57.099 Now we have the reverse tendency. 0:06:57.099,0:06:59.799 The spread of democracy now is very much accompanied 0:06:59.799,0:07:01.683 by the increase in inequality. 0:07:01.683,0:07:04.917 And I find this very much disturbing 0:07:04.917,0:07:08.865 when we're talking about what's going on right and wrong 0:07:08.865,0:07:10.749 with democracy these days. 0:07:10.749,0:07:12.751 And if you go to 1989 -- 0:07:12.751,0:07:16.265 something that basically you don't expect that anybody's going to criticize -- 0:07:16.265,0:07:20.216 but many are going to tell you, "Listen, it was the end of the Cold War 0:07:20.216,0:07:25.516 that tore the social contract between the elites and the people in Western Europe." 0:07:25.516,0:07:27.433 When the Soviet Union was still there, 0:07:27.433,0:07:30.816 the rich and the powerful, they needed the people, 0:07:30.816,0:07:33.099 because they feared them. 0:07:33.099,0:07:36.400 Now the elites basically have been liberated. 0:07:36.400,0:07:38.565 They're very mobile. You cannot tax them. 0:07:38.565,0:07:40.899 And basically they don't fear the people. 0:07:40.899,0:07:43.916 So as a result of it, you have this very strange situation 0:07:43.916,0:07:48.433 in which the elites basically got out of the control of the voters. 0:07:48.433,0:07:49.932 So this is not by accident 0:07:49.932,0:07:52.918 that the voters are not interested to vote anymore. 0:07:52.918,0:07:55.032 And when we talk about the Internet, 0:07:55.032,0:07:57.533 yes, it's true, the Internet connected all of us, 0:07:57.533,0:08:04.216 but we also know that the Internet created these echo chambers and political ghettos 0:08:04.216,0:08:09.318 in which for all your life you can stay with the political community you belong to. 0:08:09.318,0:08:11.250 And it's becoming more and more difficult 0:08:11.250,0:08:14.016 to understand the people who are not like you. 0:08:14.016,0:08:15.884 I know that many people here 0:08:15.884,0:08:20.648 have been splendidly speaking about the digital world and the possibility for cooperation, 0:08:20.648,0:08:24.682 but [have you] seen what the digital world has done to American politics these days? 0:08:24.682,0:08:28.533 This is also partly a result of the Internet revolution. 0:08:28.533,0:08:31.199 This is the other side of the things that we like. 0:08:31.199,0:08:33.217 And when you go to the brain sciences, 0:08:33.217,0:08:37.583 what political consultants learned from the brain scientists 0:08:37.583,0:08:40.935 is don't talk to me about ideas anymore, 0:08:40.935,0:08:43.200 don't talk to me about policy programs. 0:08:43.200,0:08:48.967 What really matters is basically to manipulate the emotions of the people. 0:08:48.967,0:08:51.034 And you have this very strongly 0:08:51.034,0:08:55.435 to the extent that, even if you see when we talk about revolutions these days, 0:08:55.435,0:09:01.434 these revolutions are not named anymore around ideologies or ideas. 0:09:01.434,0:09:03.900 Before, revolutions used to have ideological names. 0:09:03.900,0:09:05.833 They could be communist, they could be liberal, 0:09:05.833,0:09:07.618 they could be fascist or Islamic. 0:09:07.618,0:09:11.866 Now the revolutions are called under the medium which is most used. 0:09:11.866,0:09:15.000 You have Facebook revolutions, Twitter revolutions. 0:09:15.000,0:09:19.400 The content doesn't matter anymore, the problem is the media. 0:09:19.400,0:09:21.935 I'm saying this because one of my major points 0:09:21.935,0:09:26.734 is what went right is also what went wrong. 0:09:26.734,0:09:30.467 And when we're now trying to see how we can change the situation, 0:09:30.467,0:09:33.416 when basically we're trying to see what can be done about democracy, 0:09:33.416,0:09:35.983 we should keep this ambiguity in mind. 0:09:35.983,0:09:39.001 Because probably some of the things that we love most 0:09:39.001,0:09:42.202 are going to be also the things that can hurt us most. 0:09:42.202,0:09:45.386 These days it's very popular to believe 0:09:45.386,0:09:47.700 that this push for transparency, 0:09:47.700,0:09:54.085 this kind of a combination between active citizens, new technologies 0:09:54.085,0:09:57.749 and much more transparency-friendly legislation 0:09:57.749,0:10:00.817 can restore trust in politics. 0:10:00.817,0:10:04.500 You believe that when you have these new technologies and people who are ready to use this, 0:10:04.500,0:10:08.184 it can make it much more difficult for the governments to lie, 0:10:08.184,0:10:10.699 it's going to be more difficult for them to steal 0:10:10.699,0:10:14.384 and probably even going to be more difficult for them to kill. 0:10:14.384,0:10:16.400 This is probably true. 0:10:16.400,0:10:19.450 But I do believe that we should be also very clear 0:10:19.450,0:10:24.717 that now when we put the transparency at the center of politics 0:10:24.717,0:10:28.316 where the message is, "It's transparency, stupid." 0:10:28.316,0:10:31.899 Transparency is not about restoring trust in institutions. 0:10:31.899,0:10:36.618 Transparency is politics' management of mistrust. 0:10:36.618,0:10:41.150 We are assuming that our societies are going to be based on mistrust. 0:10:41.150,0:10:43.976 And by the way, mistrust was always very important for democracy. 0:10:43.976,0:10:46.116 This is why you have checks and balances. 0:10:46.116,0:10:50.267 This is why basically you have all this creative mistrust 0:10:50.267,0:10:53.351 between the representatives and those whom they represent. 0:10:53.351,0:10:58.250 But when politics is only management of mistrust, 0:10:58.250,0:11:01.333 then -- I'm very glad that "1984" has been mentioned -- 0:11:01.333,0:11:05.083 now we're going to have "1984" in reverse. 0:11:05.083,0:11:07.200 It's not going to be the Big Brother watching you, 0:11:07.200,0:11:09.500 it's going to be we being the Big Brother 0:11:09.500,0:11:11.250 watching the political class. 0:11:11.250,0:11:14.866 But is this the idea of a free society? 0:11:14.866,0:11:16.400 For example, can you imagine 0:11:16.400,0:11:22.518 that decent, civic, talented people are going to run for office 0:11:22.518,0:11:24.300 if they really do believe 0:11:24.300,0:11:28.100 that politics is also about managing mistrust? 0:11:28.100,0:11:31.134 Are you not afraid with all these technologies 0:11:31.134,0:11:33.134 that are going to track down 0:11:33.134,0:11:36.749 any statement the politicians are going to make on certain issues, 0:11:36.749,0:11:40.616 are you not afraid that this is going to be a very strong signal to politicians 0:11:40.616,0:11:45.250 to repeat their positions, even the very wrong positions, 0:11:45.250,0:11:49.267 because consistency is going to be more important than common sense? 0:11:49.267,0:11:50.949 And the Americans who are in the room, 0:11:50.949,0:11:54.001 are you not afraid that your presidents are going to govern 0:11:54.001,0:11:57.376 on the basis of what they said in the primary elections? 0:11:57.376,0:11:59.367 I find this extremely important, 0:11:59.367,0:12:03.399 because democracy is about people changing their views 0:12:03.399,0:12:06.549 based on rational arguments and discussions. 0:12:06.549,0:12:10.033 And we can lose this with the very noble idea 0:12:10.033,0:12:12.049 to keep people accountable 0:12:12.049,0:12:14.667 for showing the people that we're not going to tolerate 0:12:14.667,0:12:17.385 politicians the opportunism in politics. 0:12:17.385,0:12:19.717 So for me this is extremely important. 0:12:19.717,0:12:22.983 And I do believe that when we're discussing politics these days, 0:12:22.983,0:12:25.182 probably it makes sense 0:12:25.182,0:12:28.584 to look also at this type of a story. 0:12:28.584,0:12:32.134 But also don't forget, any unveiling is also veiling. 0:12:32.134,0:12:35.899 [Regardless of] how transparent our governments want to be, 0:12:35.899,0:12:38.301 they're going to be selectively transparent. 0:12:38.301,0:12:40.333 In a small country that could be my country, 0:12:40.333,0:12:41.766 but could be also your country, 0:12:41.766,0:12:43.951 they took a decision -- it is a real case story -- 0:12:43.951,0:12:46.566 that all of the governmental decisions, 0:12:46.566,0:12:49.132 discussions of the council of ministers, 0:12:49.132,0:12:52.433 were going to be published on the Internet 0:12:52.433,0:12:56.833 24 hours after the council discussions took place. 0:12:56.833,0:12:59.001 And the public was extremely all for it. 0:12:59.001,0:13:01.452 So I had the opportunity to talk to the prime minister, 0:13:01.452,0:13:03.050 why he made this decision. 0:13:03.050,0:13:04.766 He said, "Listen, this is the best way 0:13:04.766,0:13:09.394 to keep the mouths of my ministers closed. 0:13:09.394,0:13:12.479 Because it's going to be very difficult for them to dissent 0:13:12.479,0:13:14.661 knowing that 24 hours after 0:13:14.661,0:13:16.565 this is going to be on the public space, 0:13:16.565,0:13:20.511 and this is in a certain way going to be a political crisis." 0:13:20.511,0:13:21.978 So when we talk about transparency, 0:13:21.978,0:13:23.577 when we talk about openness, 0:13:23.577,0:13:25.694 I really do believe that what we should keep in mind 0:13:25.694,0:13:29.444 is that what went right is what went wrong. 0:13:29.444,0:13:33.628 And this is Goethe, who is neither Bulgarian nor a political scientist, 0:13:33.628,0:13:36.110 some centuries ago he said, 0:13:36.110,0:13:39.447 "There is a big shadow where there is much light." 0:13:39.447,0:13:40.979 Thank you very much. 0:13:40.979,0:13:42.629 (Applause)