The Western Herald - Introducing democracy to hostile environment requires time, effort
Introducing democracy to hostile environment requires time, effort
A Western Herald Editorial
September 22, 2004
One of the largest issues facing our country has been cloaked in partisan debate throughout this entire political, presidential season. It’s one of those subjects that is talked around by both the Democrats and the Republicans, but in the end, the argument goes back to the differences between the two parties, and the issues faced instead are minor ones that touch more on character and personality than on the real issue itself. If you looked at the issues being fought over this election season, you might come away from the debate believing that Vietnam, terrorism, the economy’s highs or lows and military power being used overseas are the most important concepts our country is facing. However, what is possibly the real issue is one of simplicity, made complicated only because of how no one wants to deal with it. That issue is whether or not transplanting democracy is really a viable issue for our country.
On Tuesday, President Bush spoke before the United Nations General Assembly and stated: “Iraq will be a free nation. And as a free nation, our world will be safer and America will be more secure.” Presidential hopeful John Kerry responded: “I think this president has actually lost credibility with the international community.” From there, it is easy to fall into a political camp and then make arguments based on political ideology.
However, what is probably more important is the issue that no one is discussing, and that is the idea that the United States is working under a policy of believing that it can install democracy in countries where democracy has not existed before. While this might be a wonderful and lofty goal, it is important to point out that our current policy, which is actually not partisan at all, but seems to be accepted by both sides of the U.S. political spectrum, is an offshoot of a lot of Western philosophy that accepts without much argument that democracy is the end goal for all societies and that once introduced to the concept, democracy will come naturally.
Most Western countries have had the luxury of growing up in an atmosphere of evolving toward democracy. When Eastern European countries dropped communism, there was already a tendency to accept democratic institutions that were curtailed during the Soviet expansion period. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, countries re-introduced to the concepts of democracy moved immediately to create democratic institutions in their own countries. Some faltered, but for the most part, there was eventual progress after several struggles.
But creating democracy in an environment that is hostile toward anything involving democracy is another matter. It is a nice belief to think that countries like Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia would welcome democracy if they just had it brought to them, but our experience so far has not been all that successful in making that happen. There are still many countries in the world that view the United States, capitalism and Western democracy with hostility. Before attempting to force democracy on one of these countries, perhaps it might be more conducive to develop an intelligence service that actually understands these countries and then make sure the administration listens.
It would be nice to see the world turn to democracy, but it’s not going to happen with happy thoughts or tanks. We have to convince them to want it first, and that takes a lot more work.
Stumble It!
Introducing democracy to hostile environment requires time, effort
A Western Herald Editorial
September 22, 2004
One of the largest issues facing our country has been cloaked in partisan debate throughout this entire political, presidential season. It’s one of those subjects that is talked around by both the Democrats and the Republicans, but in the end, the argument goes back to the differences between the two parties, and the issues faced instead are minor ones that touch more on character and personality than on the real issue itself. If you looked at the issues being fought over this election season, you might come away from the debate believing that Vietnam, terrorism, the economy’s highs or lows and military power being used overseas are the most important concepts our country is facing. However, what is possibly the real issue is one of simplicity, made complicated only because of how no one wants to deal with it. That issue is whether or not transplanting democracy is really a viable issue for our country.
On Tuesday, President Bush spoke before the United Nations General Assembly and stated: “Iraq will be a free nation. And as a free nation, our world will be safer and America will be more secure.” Presidential hopeful John Kerry responded: “I think this president has actually lost credibility with the international community.” From there, it is easy to fall into a political camp and then make arguments based on political ideology.
However, what is probably more important is the issue that no one is discussing, and that is the idea that the United States is working under a policy of believing that it can install democracy in countries where democracy has not existed before. While this might be a wonderful and lofty goal, it is important to point out that our current policy, which is actually not partisan at all, but seems to be accepted by both sides of the U.S. political spectrum, is an offshoot of a lot of Western philosophy that accepts without much argument that democracy is the end goal for all societies and that once introduced to the concept, democracy will come naturally.
Most Western countries have had the luxury of growing up in an atmosphere of evolving toward democracy. When Eastern European countries dropped communism, there was already a tendency to accept democratic institutions that were curtailed during the Soviet expansion period. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, countries re-introduced to the concepts of democracy moved immediately to create democratic institutions in their own countries. Some faltered, but for the most part, there was eventual progress after several struggles.
But creating democracy in an environment that is hostile toward anything involving democracy is another matter. It is a nice belief to think that countries like Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia would welcome democracy if they just had it brought to them, but our experience so far has not been all that successful in making that happen. There are still many countries in the world that view the United States, capitalism and Western democracy with hostility. Before attempting to force democracy on one of these countries, perhaps it might be more conducive to develop an intelligence service that actually understands these countries and then make sure the administration listens.
It would be nice to see the world turn to democracy, but it’s not going to happen with happy thoughts or tanks. We have to convince them to want it first, and that takes a lot more work.
Stumble It!
posted by Duane @ 6:56 AM
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