|
by J.P., 6 OCT 2007
“The Latest Fashion Trend: Democracy”
We all have different views on politics. Some look at it as a dirty game of cutthroat power struggles and serious blackmail. Some find it to be a competition of moral values, to see who can play this game the “cleanest”. Others are completely indifferent. But one of the few things we all agree to when it comes to politics is that it never ceases…to change. Political trends are as vibrant as our clothing trends – countries are constantly changing, putting on different outfits and colors in attempt to try to be more accepted in the world just like us teenagers endeavor to be more accepted by our friends.
So what’s happening now? One of the most prominent political trends becoming endemic around the globe right now is "democracy". In fact, United States president George W. Bush said in 1998, “I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy”, and (for once) the world seems to agree.
What exactly is democracy? A region can be called democratic if they display one component: ANY kind of elections…they don’t even have to be in the form of universal suffrage (if you live in Hong Kong, does that term ring any bells?).
Why is it becoming so popular? As I’ve stated above, due to globalization, countries and individuals have been increasingly dependent on other nations for their economic survival (e.g. products sold by American companies are usually made outside its borders in places such as China) and hence have a greater want to be able to “fit in”, thereby securing good relations with other countries. And to protect their image, having a good record of human rights seems to have a strong domino effect.
There are two kinds of democracy. The first is called “direct democracy”, in which every single adult citizen votes for all major government decisions (as was advocated by Aristotle, practiced in Ancient Greece, as well as some small cities today.) However, this is largely ineffective for big countries like India and the United States.
The more popular type is called “representative democracy”, in which citizens vote for certain politically focused individuals to best represent their interests (think Congress or even our own Legislative Council); and it is this specific kind of democracy that has become the ‘government of choice’ in recent history.
Of course representative democracy has its pros and cons. For one, it’s relatively more efficient, and the decision-making body has more experience with what works with that particular region. However, like all democracies, it is still very inefficient, and a possible result of this is the “tyranny of the majority” – since minority groups have very few (if any) representatives, then the rights and voices of those people will be easily drowned out by that of majority opinion.
Moreover, another issue that rises with this trend is ‘faux’ democracies. For example, it’s rare that people would associate North Korea as democratic, yet they go by the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”. Let’s take another example – the Kremlin-dominated Russia also holds elections, and so even though it’s more authoritarian, it’s still classified as a democracy.
In conclusion, while democracy, with all its merits, is seemingly the “best” form of government, for reasons stated above, that clearly isn’t true. Just like there’s no one ideal outfit, there isn’t an ideal form of government; so beware of blindly submitting to all the media hype about this.
In fact, many years into his term as President, George Bush finally admitted, “you can’t put democracy and freedom back into a box.”
|
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
