Responsible Development: Vulnerable Democracies, Hunger and Inequality by Omar Noman

Author:Omar Noman [Noman, Omar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Economics, Development, Economic Development, History, Asia, General, Political Science
ISBN: 9780710313485
Google: wAPgOixEMosC
Goodreads: 8250473
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2008-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Evaluating democracy

Some analysts define democracy along minimal lines; democracy exists if there are free and relatively fair elections to choose political leaders.4 Others impose more demanding criteria, stipulating various institutional arrangements for distributing and checking power, mechanisms for popular input into politics and ways of overseeing what government does.5 In this context, it is useful to examine democracy within the context of three broad elements: the nature of electoral politics, the role of civil society organisations in expanding accountability of power-holders and the protection of rights and liberties.

A meaningful democracy cannot exist without multiparty elections in which all adult citizens can vote. While this may be a necessary ingredient of democracy, it is far from sufficient in creating a liberal democratic order. It has been argued that at the end of the twentieth century there has been a significant increase in ‘illiberal democracies’,6 as noted in the previous chapters. There are many places where regular elections are held, where there may even be multiple candidates contesting the election, but where additional measures of democratic accountability and protection of rights are missing. The idea of an ‘illiberal democracy’ is especially important to understand when studying Asia. Since the 1970s, most countries in Asia have held elections and most have even allowed multiple candidates to compete for seats. However, until the end of the twentieth century, only a few states could be called just democracies in the sense that elements other than elections existed to allow for the protection of rights and the assertion of interests. The first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed the consolidation of a number of these democracies.

One of the more prominent debates about limiting the power of the state addresses the degree of autonomy that civil society has:7 the term civil society is used politically to describe the ability or tone of the debate or opposition that exists in society. That is, do groups use violence to oppose the regime, or do they play by the rules and engage in ‘civil’ behaviour to articulate their interests? The term describes the role and position of associational groups within society and to assess whether they are working to channel ideas, interests or preferences to the state. The degree to which groups in society are free to operate and to channel interests or challenge the state is one indication of how democratic a regime is. It is a fair assumption that in order for civil society to have an impact on democratisation or on policymaking, it must be reasonably free from state domination.8

Modernisation theory’s basic argument is that democracy happened from below when citizens grouped themselves together with other like-minded citizens to assert their interests on the state. Democracy, in other words, was the product of the actions of civil society. Schmitter and Diamond9 theorise the role of groups or associations in society as articulating the demands and interests of various sectors of the population. In such a position civil society is poised to play a significant role in encouraging greater accountability and democratisation.

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