nota democracy and social movement (unimas) enjoy

1. The Significance of Democracy

2.  Democracy – most significant development of the
20th
Century
 The most acceptable form of governance
 The most “normal” form of government
 Country becomes “fit” through democracy

3.  Generally, seen as the “right form” of government vs.
other ‘not so right’ forms
 Yet, the achievement of democracy has not been easy.
It has been struggle and sometimes fatal
 But democracy today – seen as a universal value

5.  The Freedom House Index:
◦ https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world-2015/maps

6. http://voxeu.org/article/democracy-and-
accountability-perverse-effects-term-limits

9. How well has democracy
worked?
 India – partition 1947
 Untried govt
 Unclear politics
 Religious/communal
tension and killings
 But today – Indian
democracy OK

10.  India
 Survived despite huge diversity and differences
 Smooth political transitions – govts have come and gone
peacefully
 Politics according to political guidelines
 Parliamentary rules workable
 Respect for and adherence to the separation of powers
 Politicians who attempt to cause sectarian violence are
condemned

11.  Democracy & Economic Devt
◦ Is democracy good for econ devt?
 Botswana = high econ growth and healthy democracy
 Germany = high econ growth and healthy democracy
 Japan = high econ growth and healthy democracy
◦ Or does authoritarianism do a better job at econ devt
compared to democracy? (The Lee Hypothesis – South
Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China vs. India, Jamaica,
Costa Rica).

12. ◦ What’s the link betw democracy & econ devt?
◦ No direct link but an indirect one.
◦ Democracy and political liberties stand on their
own importance.
◦ Healthy econ growth depends on good policy
environment
◦ Good policy environments arise from healthy
discussion and debates (more heads better
than one only!) = healthy policies

13.  “Helpful policies“ = includes:
openness to competition
the use of international markets
public provision of incentives for investment and export
a high level of literacy and schooling
successful land reforms
social opportunities that widen participation in the
process of economic expansion.
 So, democracy or authoritarianism?

14.  Econ Devt = (1) growth and (2) preservation of current levels of
economic and social security
 So, to examine link betw democracy and econ devt, we need to focus
on both perspectives
 Authoritarian govts focus only on first perspective and neglects the
second.
 Thus, look at the link betw political/civil rights and economic disasters
 Econ disasters better avoided when people can “draw attention
forcefully to general needs and to demand appropriate public action”.

15.  History of Famines – realised that “in any independent
and democratic country with a relatively free press”,
“no substantial famine has ever occurred”.
 Countries with healthy working democracies manage
famines and natural disasters very well.
 In fact, famines are preventable. Even the poorest
democratic countries that have faced terrible droughts
or floods or other natural disasters (such as India in
1973, or Zimbabwe and Botswana in the early 1980s)
have been able to feed their people without
experiencing a famine.

16.  Why?
 If “primary victims of a famine are the poor - deaths can
be prevented by recreating incomes (for example,
through employment programs), which makes food
accessible to potential famine victims.
 How?
 Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to
do so, and a democratic government, facing elections
and criticisms from opposition parties and independent
newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort.

17.  When things go fine and everything is routinely good, this
instrumental role of democracy may not be particularly missed.
 It is when things get fouled up, for reason or another, that the
political incentives provided by democratic governance acquire
great practical value.
 Thus, economic incentives without political incentives can be
dangerous = allows us to be careless and take our econ progress
for granted.

18.  Democracy:
Must not identify democracy with majority rule
Democracy has complex demands
 includes voting and respect for election results
 requires the protection of liberties and freedoms
 respect for legal entitlements
 guaranteeing of free discussion and uncensored distribution of
news and fair comment
Democracy is a demanding system, and not just a
mechanical condition (like majority rule) taken in isolation

19.  Democracy enriches the lives of the citizens. How?
A) Intrinsic Value to human life and well-being
political freedom is a part of human freedom
exercising civil and political rights is a crucial part of
good lives of individuals as social beings.
to be prevented from participation in the political life
of the community is a major deprivation.

20. B) Important Instrumental value
enhances ability of people to express and support their claims
for political attention (including claims of economic needs).
C) Constructive Value
allows citizens opportunity to learn from one another, and
helps society to form its values and priorities.
Even the idea of "needs," including the understanding of
"economic needs," requires public discussion and exchange of
information, views, and analyses.

21.  The reach and effectiveness of open dialogue are
often underestimated in assessing social and
political problems.
◦ For example, public discussion has an important role to
play in reducing the high rates of fertility that characterize
many developing countries.
◦ Public discussion has an important role to play in sourcing
new ideas from all segments of societies to address social
issues of concern (e.g. drug addiction in Malaysia)

22. It has been said that democracy is
the worst form of government except
all the others that have been tried. --
Winston Churchill

23.  But is Amartya Sen correct about the
march of democracy?
 Around the world:
◦ Coup d’etats (Honduras/Fiji)
◦ Military governments (Thailand)
◦ One-party states (China/VN/NK/Cuba)
◦ Authoritarian govts (M’sia/SQ/Myanmar)
◦ Dictatorships (Zimbabwe)
◦ Feudal Kingdoms (Saudi Arabia/Brunei)
◦ Social Breakdown/Violation of the rule of law:
(Afghanistan/Iraq; Somalia; Congo; Sudan; Russia)
◦ Militarism: (Israel/Palestine/Eritrea/Sri Lanka/NK)
◦ Moneyed Interests (USA)
◦ Extreme Poverty (Haiti)
◦ Ignorance (everywhere)
◦ Apathy (Young people generally don’t vote except for
reality TV!!!)

24.  ARENA’s view – Militarising State, Society and
Culture in Asia: Critical Perspectives – shows a
completely different view – militarisation
completely at odds with democracy.
Militarisation in National Security – India, Pakistan
Militarisation and protracted civil war – Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Philippines
Militarisation of Public Life – Malaysia, Japan, S.Korea;
USA
Militarism as National Ideology – Singapore, Thailand
 So, has the march of Democracy come to a standstill?
(Economist 2012 Report)

25.  Sen, Amartya, Democracy as a Universal Value
 Cardoso, F.H. – Democracy as Starting Point
 Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/freedom_s_march
 Gilley, Bruce – Is Democracy Possible.
 The Economist Intelligence Unit (2013), Democracy Index 2012:
https://portoncv.gov.cv/dhub/porton.por_global.open_file?p_doc_id=1034