Litnet

"We may all agree that freedom is valuable while fundamentally disagreeing about what this claim, if true, implies for our politics"

"A democracy never has to worry about the crown prince being a psychotic bastard. It never has to worry about being forced to accept the last leader's feeble-minded son as the successor. I mean, we did it anyway, back in 2000. But we weren't forced to"

Hello Jan et al,

Hello,

In die naweek se WSJ is daar 'n uitreksel uit Democracy in Retreat, The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government van Joshua Kurlantzick. (Fellow for Southeast Asia - The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher).

Aangesien die inligting soos dit huidiglik bekend is van Freedom House alreeds geplaas is in hierdie siklus van kommentare sal dit nie weer herhaal word nie, aangesien die opstel van Joshua Kurlantzick as oogmerk het om die faktore wat demokrasie stuit te bespreek.

Die inleiding bevestig van die statistieke soos bekend weens die plasing van Freedom House se verslag. Dit kan argumenteer word dat Freedom House en ander instellings wat demokrasie ondersteun fokus op die lande waar demokrasie suksesvol is. Die ongeveer 153 lande uit 195 lande.

Kurlantzick begin sy argument om te fokus op die volgende bevindinge.

"One of the most comprehensive studies of global democracy, the Bertelsmann Foundation's Transformation Index, has declared that "the overall quality of democracy has deteriorated" throughout the developing world. The index found that the number of "defective" and "highly defective democracies" -- those with institutions, elections, and political culture so flawed that they hardly resemble real democracies -- was up to 52 in 2012. 

In another major survey, by the Economist Intelligence Unit, democracy deteriorated in 48 of 167 countries surveyed in 2011.

Even countries often held up as new democratic models have regressed over the past decade.

When they entered the European Union in 2004, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia were considered success stories. After nearly a decade as EU members, however, all of these bright lights have dimmed.

Populist and far-right parties with little commitment to democratic norms gained steady popularity; public distaste for democracy increased; and governments showed more willingness to crack down on activists. Hungary has deteriorated so badly that its press freedoms rate barely better than they were under the communists".

Selfs Europa is nie meer bestand teen die tipe van agteruitgang nie. Die redes vir hierdie ontwikkeling volgens Kurlantzick is die volgende:

SO WHAT WENT wrong?

Let's start by blaming an unlikely culprit: the middle class. Today, roughly 70 million people worldwide each year begin to earn enough to join the middle class. It seems, however, that this new global middle is choosing stability over all else. From Algeria to Zimbabwe, the rising middle class has often supported the military as a bulwark against popular democracy, fearing that it might empower the poor, the religious, and the less-educated.And in many countries, middle classes have increasingly come to disdain norms of democratic culture such as using elections, not violent demonstrations, to change leaders. From Bolivia to Venezuela to the Philippines, middle classes have turned to street protests or appeals to the judiciary to try to remove elected leaders.

Die krisis van 2008 speel ook 'n rol en word soos volg bespreek:

A comprehensive study of Central and Eastern Europe by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development released in 2011 found that the crisis severely lowered support for democracy in all 10 of the new EU countries. "Those who enjoyed more freedoms wanted less democracy and markets when they were hurt by the crisis," the report noted.

In die kommentaar is van die redes uitgelig en moet in konteks gesien word van die lande wat vry en gedeeltelik vry is en is dit werd om die volgende lande se mening oor demokrasie ook in oorweging te bring:

The respected Globalbarometer series uses extensive questionnaires to ask people about their views on democracy. It has found declining levels of support for democracy throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. In Central Asia and the former Soviet Union, the story is the same. In Kyrgyzstan, which despite its flaws remains the most democratic state in Central Asia, a majority of the population did not think that a political opposition is very or somewhat important. And recent polls show that only 16 percent of Russians surveyed said that it was "very important" that their country be governed democratically. Likewise, in Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru, either a minority or only a tiny majority of people thinks democracy is preferable to any other type of government.

Nog meer om oor te dink.

Baie dankie

Wouter