President Donald Trump’s second term in office started with a crackdown on immigration, the introduction of sweeping tariffs and efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce. Hours after taking office, Trump signed executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in business and higher education; reduced prescription drug costs; repealed green energy alternatives in favor of coal and gas, and started claiming rights on Greenland, and Venezuela, among several other issues.

Especially since the publication of Trump’s presidential memorandum of January 7, 2026, which confirms the withdrawal of the United States from international organizations, conventions and treaties that conflict with the interests of the United States, international comments have become increasingly harsh. 

But even before that, the end of democracy had already been pointed out. We have previously discussed the books by Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, ‘How Democracies Die’, as well as Barbara McQuade’s ‘Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America’ (see here and here, or here). They describe how, unlike in the past, most Western democracies are collapsing through the ‘misuse’ of democratic norms in ‘silent coups’.

Globalization and digital capitalism have created significant divides in society, making a reconsideration of democratic governance necessary.

With the advent of digital communication channels, the rise of social media, the formation of digital communities, and the restructuring of work and education, the digital revolution has profoundly changed the way we handle cultural norms and societal values.

The risks of disinformation have worsened in recent months due to new technological tools such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT. These are user-friendly tools that can be used to create fake images, videos, audio, and stories. People no longer need a technical background to use AI tools, but can submit requests via ChatGPT prompts and templates, thus becoming masterful propagandists of their own agendas.

As we move further into the digital age, it is essential to critically examine the lasting impact of the digital revolution on communication and culture. By promoting digital literacy and ensuring equal access to technology and privacy, we can harness the transformative potential of the digital revolution to create a more connected, informed, and culturally enriched global and local society (Servaes 2014). Otherwise, “the algorithms that shape our technical infrastructures will perpetuate and exacerbate the inequalities and social divisions embedded in the tools that structure and shape our daily lives” (Orton-Johnson 2024, 200).

Finding a balance between the benefits of connectivity and technological progress on the one hand, and the need to safeguard individual well-being and privacy on the other, will remain a crucial challenge for the future.

However, the EU lacks harmonized policy measures to curb the extreme concentration of wealth and tax evasion by the richest. Oxfam has been advocating for years for far-reaching reforms, such as an EU-wide or national tax for the super-rich and transparency mechanisms such as an EU wealth register, to finance social needs, climate action, and development.

A European agenda to tax the super-rich and address inequality in the European Union has been long overdue, despite annual warnings from organizations like Oxfam.

The relationship between democracy and globalization is a topic of both academic and policy debate. Some argue that the two go hand in hand—that unrestricted international transactions promote political accountability and transparency, and that politically free societies are least likely to restrict the mobility of goods and services. But others argue that democracies, in which special interest groups suffering from foreign competition have a voice, are more likely to have closed markets, and vice versa.

We borrow the following working definition of digital capitalism from Christian Fuchs:

“Digital capitalism is the dimension of capitalist society in which processes of capital accumulation, decision-making power, and reputation are mediated and organized through digital technologies, and in which economic, political, and cultural processes result in digital goods and digital structures. Digital labor, digital capital, the digital means of production, online political communication, digital aspects of protests and social struggles, online ideology, and influencer-dominated digital culture are some of the characteristics of digital capitalism.” (Fuchs 2022, 312)

A global shift is taking place. Countries are reluctant to collaborate across borders and commit to shared concepts and common standards regarding digital technology. The internet is becoming fragmented into multiple “splinternets,” shifting from an open, globally connected web to a “collection of isolated networks controlled by governments.” Individual countries are erecting digital walls by establishing their own rules for how platforms operate, determining which digital services and products are permitted. Digital solidarity is a thing of the past. Technological sovereignty is the new norm. Policymakers recognize that technological innovation equals power, and they are deploying their resources accordingly.

To understand this changing dynamic, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2025) has........

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