** Milis Nasional Indonesia ppi-india **
Elections do not a democracy make
Stanley A. Weiss IHT Friday, March 26, 2004
Economics
WASHINGTON Call it The Year of the Ballot. Last weekend, voters in three
countries went to the polls. In Malaysia, voters rejected the Islamic Party
in favor of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's moderate brand of Islam.
In Taiwan, the disputed presidential election has been thrown to the courts.
And in El Salvador, a pro-American businessman defeated a pro-Cuban Marxist
for president.
.
In Algeria, the presidential election next month will reveal whether secular
nationalists and moderate Islamic parties can co-exist after a bloody
12-year civil war. In India, the governing nationalist coalition is expected
to prevail in elections next month even as it struggles to preserve what
Nehru called "a secular state in a religious country" of Hindus and Muslims.
And Indonesia's first direct presidential election will show this year
whether the country continues its slow march forward as a
democracy-in-progress.
.
In Iraq, the new interim Constitution - the most progressive document in the
Arab world - calls for national elections by January 2005.
.
Commentators are celebrating these and other electoral milestones as proof
of the triumph of democracy. But as demonstrated by the recent phony
election in Iran and the coronation of Czar Vladimir Putin in Russia,
elections do not a true democracy make.
.
>From Hitler to Milosevic to Aristide, history is littered with examples of
democratically elected leaders undermining democracy itself. The aborted
Algerian elections of 1991 threatened to empower the Radical Islamic
Salvation Front, one of whose leaders declared, "When we are in power, there
will be no more elections because God will be ruling." Put another way: one
man, one vote, one time.
.
Today, a majority of the world's countries are indeed electoral democracies.
At the same time, most countries still are not free, according to the
independent institute Freedom House. How to explain this paradox? Democracy
and freedom are not the same. Democracy is the ability to choose one's
leaders in elections. Freedom is the ability to exercise one's personal,
political and economic rights.
.
The democratic ideal may be universal, but history reveals that democracy is
a luxury. A country can afford democracy only after it fulfills the most
basic needs of its citizens, especially their economic security. No one can
think of democracy on an empty stomach. Many conflicts around the world
attributed to ethnic or religious rivalries are in fact battles over
economics, resources and wealth. In Indonesia, the 27-year separatist revolt
in Aceh is as much about keeping more of the province's oil and gas profits
as about the right to practice Islamic law. Muslim agitation in southern
Thailand stems less from religious fundamentalism than economic neglect from
Bangkok. The root causes of Algeria's troubles are not religious but
economic - the persistent inequities between the francophone elite and the
unemployed masses.
.
Good economics, on the other hand, promote good politics. The seed of
democracy and prosperity was planted in autocratic South Korea, Taiwan,
Thailand and elsewhere by building market-based economies. Political and
economic stability helped attract investment. Economic growth eventually
produced history's greatest catalyst for democratic change - a prosperous
middle class that demanded more political freedom.
.
Get the economics right, and a country has a much better chance of getting
democracy right. Developing nations can learn from Japan and the "four
little dragons." South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore achieved high
growth by investing in the education and health of their peoples.
Conversely, from Angola to Venezuela, citizens of resource-rich countries
that fail to diversify their economies tend to be worse off by every
measure - income, jobs, education, health - than people in resource-poor
countries.
.
The great task of building stable, prosperous, democratic states is neither
quick nor easy. The American experience counsels patience. After the first
eight years as a weak confederation, the United States was divided and
bankrupt. The word democracy appears nowhere in the Declaration of
Independence or the U.S. Constitution. Full suffrage was denied to
African-Americans and women until the 20th century.
.
What has taken the West centuries cannot be transplanted or replicated
overnight. As the American poet Archibald MacLeish observed: "Democracy is
never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be
doing." Among the most important things that a nation must do is to give its
citizens a vested economic interest in a stable, prosperous, democratic
future.
.
Full stomachs, not just fair ballots, are the key to a democratic future.
.
Stanley A. Weiss is founder and chairman of Business Executives for National
Security, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington. This is a personal
comment.
***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih
Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.arsip.da.ru
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:
1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Lihat arsip sebelumnya, www.ppi-india.da.ru;
4. Posting: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
5. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
6. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
7. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
