Is world leadership at its worst today?

Outside the Arab world too...

Most countries in the West are established democracies. So there is not much scope for a further constitutional change. But their leaders are also getting bogged down.

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi has ruled Italy for ages and is no stranger to controversy. But he may now spend more time in courts and taking legal advice than actually running the country.

A Prime Minister refusing to quit amidst court summons on sex and corruption scandals is an ugly sight indeed.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy continues to remain in the news for all the wrong reasons. Issues like Carla Bruni and the burqa ban are hardly pressing issues for the French people.

In neighbouring England, Gordon Brown fell from Grace to pave way for the country's first coalition government in ages headed by David Cameron. Cameron has hired Nick Clegg as his deputy, whom he once called a "joke".

In Russia rumours of Vladimir Putin's secret enormous wealth have started doing the rounds. Clearly all the skeletons are tumbling out of the closet off late.

Revolution in Egypt? Not again!


In America, Barack Obama came as one of the most hyped Presidents in history. Half-way through his term, he's struggling to live up to that. He is looking at the shakiest West Asia in recent history, his Afghan policy is going nowhere and he has enough detractors at home.

India gets the bug too

When the UPA won the elections in 2009, Manmohan Singh strode like a colossus. The Congress looked invincible. But the global leadership virus has hit India too.

With a spate of scams like 2G, CWG ISRO and Adarsh, Manmohan looks like going down as a PM who headed one of the most corrupt governments in Independent India.

Of course Indians have the famous "chalta hai" policy and are used to corruption by now. So don't expect them to take to the streets in large numbers demanding Manmohan's head. But the discontent simmering across the country is similar to most places in the world.

At the state level, the chief ministers are fighting their own demons.

A total media revolution

But the question that has to be asked is this. Has world leadership suddenly crashed, or is this a result of new media, which has totally morphed in the last decade. Newspapers started taking on governments centuries ago. TV has had politicians squirming for decades.

It is now only we are entering the era where there is non-stop news and follow-ups 24X7. Any global citizen can make his voice heard.

Twitter was a buzzword in Iran's protests after the last presidential elections. The Tunisian government unsuccessfully hacked into Facebook accounts.

You can upload a YouTube video of a protest and gain immortality. You can blog your way to a cause. China is clamping down on the Internet in a desperate bid to ensure that there is no major uprising in the communist state.

Libyan city celebrates freedom from Gadhafi


Then there are those 24X7 TV channels which don't let go of an issue till it has been done to death. Basically, nothing can be brushed under the carpet any more.

That may be a very good sign for the world and one can only hope that this ushers in a world order.
In a true democracy, every citizen gets his voice heard. Whether that happens in real life or not, it has already happened in cyberspace.

The icing on the cake has been WikiLeaks, which shows all the governments in bad light. The holy grail of secret Swiss bank accounts has also been breached.

The world is getting more and more transparent and all the world leaders are squirming in their glass houses.

The author is a Bangalore-based journalist and blogger.


More articles by Sunil Rajguru