In the face of democratic crises spreading across the globe, where does the African continent stand? Despite successful transitions of power in several countries, the "long cycle of tyranny," reinforced by the colonial era, is far from over, according to Cameroonian historian and philosopher Achille Mbembe, director of the Innovation Foundation for Democracy. In an interview with Le Monde, he discusses the future of democracy in light of the continent's unique history, major global challenges and the rise of conservatism and far-right voting in liberal democracies in Europe and the United States. What do you see as the major challenges of our time that are forcing us to rethink democracy?

To break free from the dead ends into which fossil-fuel capitalism has plunged the world, it is no longer possible to separate democracy from environmentalism. The metabolic interaction between humans and all living things has now become the foundation from which we must reimagine democracy. We need to put an end to the race toward the destruction of the commons, driven by social media and artificial intelligence. Our capacity for critical thinking, deliberation and reasoning has increasingly been replaced by automated processes that give rise to a narcissistic self. The relationship to the world generated by machines and algorithms does not allow us to meet the normative expectations required by democracy.