| From Venezuela to Thailand, democratic
| |
| | Spearheaded by the United States, the
|
| regimes are being toppled by
| |
| | white and Christian nations of the West
|
| authoritarian substitutes: the military,
| |
| | embarked with missionary zeal on a
|
| charismatic left-wingers, or mere
| |
| | transformation, willy-nilly, of their
|
| populists. Even in the USA, the bastion
| |
| | erstwhile charges into paragons of
|
| of constitutional rule, civil and human
| |
| | democracy and good governance.
|
| rights are being alarmingly eroded
| |
| | And not for the first time. Napoleon
|
| (though not without precedent in
| |
| | justified his gory campaigns by claiming
|
| wartime).
| |
| | that they served to spread French ideals
|
| The prominent ideologues of liberal
| |
| | throughout a barbarous world. Kipling
|
| democracy have committed a grave error by
| |
| | bemoaned the "White Man's (civilizing)
|
| linking themselves inextricably with the
| |
| | burden", referring specifically to
|
| doctrine of freemarketry and the emerging
| |
| | Britain's role in India. Hitler believed
|
| new order of globalization. As Thomas
| |
| | himself to be the last remaining barrier
|
| Friedman correctly observes in "The Lexus
| |
| | between the hordes of Bolshevism and the
|
| and the Olive Tree", both strains of
| |
| | West. The Vatican concurred with him.
|
| thought are strongly identified with the
| |
| | This self-righteousness would have been
|
| United States of America (USA).
| |
| | more tolerable had the West actually
|
| Thus, liberal democracy came to be
| |
| | meant and practiced what it preached,
|
| perceived by the multitudes as a ruse
| |
| | however self-delusionally. Yet, in dozens
|
| intended to safeguard the interests of an
| |
| | of cases in the last 60 years alone,
|
| emerging, malignantly narcissistic empire
| |
| | Western countries intervened, often by
|
| (the USA) and of rapacious
| |
| | force of arms, to reverse and nullify the
|
| multinationals. Liberal democracy came to
| |
| | outcomes of perfectly legal and
|
| be identified with numbing, low-brow
| |
| | legitimate popular and democratic
|
| cultural homogeneity, encroachment on
| |
| | elections. They did so because of
|
| privacy and the individual, and
| |
| | economic and geopolitical interests and
|
| suppression of national and other
| |
| | they usually installed rabid dictators in
|
| idiosyncratic sentiments.
| |
| | place of the deposed elected
|
| Liberal democracy came to be confused and
| |
| | functionaries.
|
| confuted with neo-colonial exploitation,
| |
| | This hypocrisy cost them dearly. Few in
|
| social Darwinism, and the crumbling of
| |
| | the poor and developing world believe
|
| social compacts and long-standing
| |
| | that the United States or any of its
|
| treaties, both explicit and implicit. It
| |
| | allies are out to further the causes of
|
| even came to be associated with
| |
| | democracy, human rights, and global
|
| materialism and a bewildering variety of
| |
| | peace. The nations of the West have sown
|
| social ills: rising crime rates,
| |
| | cynicism and they are reaping strife and
|
| unemployment, poverty, drug addiction,
| |
| | terrorism in return.
|
| prostitution, organ trafficking,
| |
| | Moreover, democracy is far from what it
|
| monopolistic behavior, corporate
| |
| | is made out to be. Confronted with
|
| malfeasance, and other antisocial forms
| |
| | history, the myth breaks down.
|
| of conduct.
| |
| | For instance, it is maintained by their
|
| The backlash was, thus, inevitable.
| |
| | chief proponents that democracies are
|
| "Never doubt that a small group of
| |
| | more peaceful than dictatorships. But the
|
| thoughtful concerned individuals can
| |
| | two most belligerent countries in the
|
| precipitate change in the world ...
| |
| | world are, by a wide margin, Israel and
|
| indeed, it is the only thing that ever
| |
| | the United States (closely followed by
|
| has"
| |
| | the United Kingdom). As of late, China is
|
| (Margaret Mead)
| |
| | one of the most tranquil polities.
|
| I. The Democratic Ideal and New
| |
| | Democracies are said to be inherently
|
| Colonialism
| |
| | stable (or to successfully incorporate
|
| "Democracy" is not the rule of the
| |
| | the instability inherent in politics).
|
| people. It is government by periodically
| |
| | This, too, is a confabulation. The Weimar
|
| vetted representatives of the people.
| |
| | Republic gave birth to Adolf Hitler and
|
| Democracy is not tantamount to a
| |
| | Italy had almost 50 governments in as
|
| continuous expression of the popular will
| |
| | many years. The bloodiest civil wars in
|
| as it pertains to a range of issues.
| |
| | history erupted in Republican Spain and,
|
| Functioning and fair democracy is
| |
| | seven decades earlier, in the United
|
| representative and not participatory.
| |
| | States. Czechoslovakia, the USSR, and
|
| Participatory "people power" is mob rule,
| |
| | Yugoslavia imploded upon becoming
|
| not democracy.
| |
| | democratic, having survived intact for
|
| Granted, "people power" is often required
| |
| | more than half a century as tyrannies.
|
| in order to establish democracy where it
| |
| | Democracies are said to be conducive to
|
| is unprecedented. Revolutions - velvet,
| |
| | economic growth (indeed, to be a
|
| rose, and orange - recently introduced
| |
| | prerequisite to such). But the fastest
|
| democracy in Eastern Europe, for
| |
| | economic growth rates in history go to
|
| instance. People power - mass street
| |
| | imperial Rome, Nazi Germany, Stalinist
|
| demonstrations - toppled obnoxious
| |
| | Russia, and post-Mao China.
|
| dictatorships from Iran to the
| |
| | Finally, how represented is the vox
|
| Philippines and from Peru to Indonesia.
| |
| | populi even in established democracies?
|
| But once the institutions of democracy
| |
| | In a democracy, people can freely protest
|
| are in place and more or less functional,
| |
| | and make their opinions known, no doubt.
|
| the people can and must rest. They should
| |
| | Sometimes, they can even change their
|
| let their chosen delegates do the job
| |
| | representatives (though the rate of
|
| they were elected to do. And they must
| |
| | turnover in the US Congress in the last
|
| hold their emissaries responsible and
| |
| | two decades is lower than it was in the
|
| accountable in fair and free ballots once
| |
| | last 20 years of the Politburo).
|
| every two or four or five years.
| |
| | But is this a sufficient incentive (or
|
| As heads of the state in Latin America,
| |
| | deterrent)? The members of the various
|
| Africa, Asia, and East Europe can attest,
| |
| | elites in Western democracies are mobile
|
| these vital lessons are lost on the
| |
| | - they ceaselessly and facilely hop from
|
| dozens of "new democracies" the world
| |
| | one lucrative sinecure to another. Lost
|
| over. Many of these presidents and prime
| |
| | the elections as a Senator? How about a
|
| ministers, though democratically elected
| |
| | multi-million dollar book contract, a
|
| (multiply, in some cases), have fallen
| |
| | consultant position with a firm you
|
| prey to enraged and vigorous "people
| |
| | formerly oversaw or regulated, your own
|
| power" movements in their countries.
| |
| | talk show on television, a cushy job in
|
| And these breaches of the democratic
| |
| | the administration?
|
| tradition are not the only or most
| |
| | The truth is that voters are powerless.
|
| egregious ones.
| |
| | The rich and mighty take care of their
|
| The West boasts of the three waves of
| |
| | own. Malfeasance carries little risk and
|
| democratization that swept across the
| |
| | rarely any sanction. Western democracies
|
| world 1975. Yet, in most developing
| |
| | are ossified bastions of
|
| countries and nations in transition,
| |
| | self-perpetuating interest groups aided
|
| "democracy" is an empty word. Granted,
| |
| | and abetted and legitimized by the
|
| the hallmarks of democracy are there:
| |
| | ritualized spectacle that we call
|
| candidate lists, parties, election
| |
| | "elections". And don't you think the
|
| propaganda, and voting. But its quiddity
| |
| | denizens of Africa and Asia and eastern
|
| is absent. It is being consistently
| |
| | Europe and the Middle East are blissfully
|
| hollowed out and rendered mock by
| |
| | unaware of this charade.
|
| election fraud, exclusionary policies,
| |
| | II. Democracy and Empire
|
| cronyism, corruption, intimidation, and
| |
| | As the United states is re-discovering in
|
| collusion with Western interests, both
| |
| | Iraq and Israel in Palestine, maintaining
|
| commercial and political.
| |
| | democratic institutions and
|
| The new "democracies" are
| |
| | empire-building are incompatible
|
| thinly-disguised and criminalized
| |
| | activities. History repeatedly shows that
|
| plutocracies (recall the Russian
| |
| | one cannot preserve a democratic core in
|
| oligarchs), authoritarian regimes
| |
| | conjunction with an oppressed periphery
|
| (Central Asia and the Caucasus), or
| |
| | of colonial real estate.
|
| Vichy-like heterarchies (Macedonia,
| |
| | The role of imperial power entails the
|
| Bosnia, and Iraq, to mention three recent
| |
| | suppression, subversion, or manipulation
|
| examples).
| |
| | of all forms of free speech, governance,
|
| The new "democracies" suffer from many of
| |
| | and elections. It usually involves
|
| the same ills that afflict their veteran
| |
| | unsavory practices such as torture,
|
| role models: murky campaign finances,
| |
| | illegal confinement, assassinations, and
|
| venal revolving doors between state
| |
| | collusion with organized crime. Empires
|
| administration and private enterprise,
| |
| | typically degenerate into an abyss of
|
| endemic corruption, self-censoring media,
| |
| | corruption, megalomaniacal projects,
|
| socially, economically, and politically
| |
| | deceit, paranoia, and self-directed
|
| excluded minorities, and so on. But while
| |
| | aggression.
|
| this malaise does not threaten the
| |
| | The annals of both Rome and Britain teach
|
| foundations of the United States and
| |
| | us that, as democracy grows entrenched,
|
| France - it does imperil the stability
| |
| | empires disintegrate fitfully. Rome chose
|
| and future of the likes of Ukraine,
| |
| | to keep its empire by sacrificing its
|
| Serbia, and Moldova, Indonesia, Mexico,
| |
| | republic. Britain chose to democratize by
|
| and Bolivia.
| |
| | letting go of its unwieldy holdings
|
| Worse still, the West has transformed the
| |
| | overseas. Both polities failed to uphold
|
| ideal of democracy into an ideology at
| |
| | their erstwhile social institutions while
|
| the service of imposing a new colonial
| |
| | they grappled with their smothering
|
| regime on its former colonies.
| |
| | possessions.
|
