Boris Johnson talks democracy, Israel-Hamas war and Brexit – The Hoya

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson highlighted the importance of protecting democracy around the world at Georgetown University at a time April 11 event.

THE Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics) and Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) hosted the conversation, called Tthe global struggle for democracy, with Mo Elleithee, executive director of GU Politics (SFS 94) moderation. At the event, Johnson, a member of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom who served as Prime Minister of the country from 2019 to 2022argued that democracy is the only morally and economically effective form of government.

“The argument we have to make for democracy is that not only is it the right thing, but it is also the thing, even though it is stressful and painful, it is also the thing that produces the greatest prosperity,” Johnson said at the event.

Elleithee said the aim of the event was to provide students with an international perspective on democracy.

Throughout the year, we have focused on the issue of trust in democracy, an issue that extends beyond our borders, Elleithee wrote to The Hoya. We were excited to give Georgetown students the chance to engage with a leader who can offer an international perspective.

Johnson's remarks come as political polarization and support for authoritarianism increases. Thirty-two percent of Americans and 37% of Britons support authoritarianism. according to to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey.

Johnson also encouraged Western countries to provide financial and military support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, saying that Ukraine's continued success is largely due to Western aid.

They did it primarily because of the heroism of Ukraine's armed forces, but they also did it because of Western support, Johnson said. I want to pay tribute to the United States of America, because without the weight of American support, things could have been very different.

Although the US Senate pass a $95 billion proposal for foreign aid in February, including 60 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine, the bill is currently blocked in the United States House of Representatives.

I think the Ukrainians can and will win, but they can only win with Western support, Johnson said.

Johnson also addressed the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Following Hamas attacks on October 7 kill around 1,200 people and resulted in Hamas's capture of more than 240 hostages, Israel spear an ongoing military campaign that resulted in the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians as of April 12.

Johnson said the UK, US and other countries should continue to support Israel, despite the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza.

I think it's a nightmare, Johnson said. I would like this to stop, but I don't see an easy solution, and I certainly can't envisage a solution in which we abandon our fundamental support for the region's only democracy and allow Hamas to win. This is why I am totally opposed to an arms embargo against Israel, and I find it bizarre that six months after the greatest massacre of Jews since World War II, we are here.

Johnson began his term as Prime Minister in July 2019, leading his party won a landslide electoral victory in December of the same year. During his tenure, Johnson finalized Brexit, exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU), with the United Kingdom officially leaving the EU in January 2020. Later that year, Johnson led the United Kingdom's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Johnson said Brexit had had many positive impacts on the UK and allowed the country to escape red tape.

The UK does not want to lock itself endlessly into something that attempts to create a single political entity and erodes its democratic freedoms, Johnson said. I think part of the problem was that we had a system of top-down bureaucratic regulations that didn't respond to what people actually wanted. This is what the EU wanted.

A 2023 study entitled Early Impacts of the Post-Brexit Immigration System on the UK Labor Market from the think tank Center for European Reform find that Brexit has led to a UK job shortfall of 330,000, with UK economy down 0.9% since 2019.

Johnson said the UK had a bright future thanks to the country's new-found political and economic freedom after Brexit.

The UK in the EU would not have taken the line we took on Ukraine, Johnson said. The future of the United Kingdom looks bright.

Johnson said the UK must defend democracy more forcefully, adding that the outcome of the war in Ukraine was crucial to the global fight against democracy.

I think we need to be more robust and more optimistic in our defense of democracy around the world, Johnson said. The bottom line is that Ukraine must win and Putin must lose, and that will advance democracy more than anything else.