"...voters in most European countries and the United States are increasingly less likely to believe it is “essential” to live in a democracy."
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Of course. Democracy is costly. It's an impediment to corporate profits. The wealthy need democracy like a bicycle needs a fish. If the rich need some rights or some justice they hire a lawyer. 
   Formerly unthinkable, the shrinking of democracy is now a large part of right wing corporate ideology.
    So is dividing the work force into increasingly submissive, conflicting fragments,
   What's good for business...
   As Yogi Berra might have said, conflicts are mostly all economical.