What El Salvador’s Bukele Means for Democracy

What’s happening: El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has reduced his country’s murder rate through mass roundups of anyone suspected of association with gangs that have plagued the country for decades. Though his tough measures are criticized by the Western left, their success has sparked a resurgence of life.

Why it matters: With over 90 percent approval, Bukele represents the evolving meaning of democracy. Traditionally focused on expanding individual liberties, democratic leaders in Bukele’s mold focus on the safety and order of the society and the nation.

• Freely elected: Bukele won a second term last year with almost 85 percent of the vote. With no significant evidence of voter fraud, his victory was deemed solely the result of his extreme popularity for having vanquished gang violence.

Liberal and illiberal democracy: Bukele’s actions — building what he calls his country’s “first true democracy” — rankled Biden’s administration, whose concept of “liberal democracy” maintains that individual rights be protected from majoritarian decision-making — even when a nation is paralyzed by violent gangs.

• Time for action: Gangs in El Salvador wielded profoundly oppressive power. Individuals unable to afford secured compounds and private security were subject to the caprices of organized crime.

Likewise, in Hungary: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — who was never accused of winning through fraud — was accused of “looking for a dictatorship” by Biden. Orbán, who referenced building “an illiberal state,” speaks frequently of religion’s importance and promotes traditional values (and architecture).

• A popular movement: Like Bukele, Orbán enjoys high approval ratings while redefining what it means to be a successful democracy in the modern West.