democratic succession
The gerentocracy that rules this planet is clinging to power, as the powerful typically do. At this point in time, when so many of the leading nations are led by men in their seventies and eighties, the issue of succession is paramount. Succession is the main problem with most forms of government, and the results are regularly played out on the world stage.
Russia really embraced civil rights in the late 19th century, as did many nations of the time. Once the serfs became peasants they were free to demand more. In 1917 Tzar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, and the centuries-old ruling class was discarded. Without a clear path of succession, the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and now Russian Federation leaders would continue to struggle with the peaceful transfer of power.
The crusty old FSB (former KGB) patriarchy that runs Russia today struggles to pass the reigns to the next generation. If Putin names a successor, that person immediately becomes a rival, yet not having a designated successor gives rise to instability. Potential successors must be vanquished because the leader must remain all-powerful until the end in order to maintain stability.
The power center in China is similarly a tight-knit partriarchy of elders who rose to power in the 20th century. Consolidation of power has given them temporary stability, in exchange for the longer term instability around the succession issue.
The United States is different because democracies are inherently more flexible. They are far less stable day to day, and citizens stay more engaged in the process because of the turmoil they occasionally produce. But substantial changes can happen in an orderly way, including transitioning away from an older, established leadership to a younger generation.
I believe this is the current state of the presidential race in the US. In the most democratic way imagineable the groundswell of support for Kamala Harris demonstrates this. Biden, a man in his eighties, yielding to the younger generation to run against another elderly man who is almost 80 shows how dynamic our system can be.
It's time for change in the United States and around the world. That change feels natural and has a very grassroots feel to it, because it comes from the citizens. In stark contrast are more authoritarian governments like in Russia, where it's never clear if the next change in leadership will be peaceful.