ch-1-Democracy in the Contemporary World

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This book is about democracy. In this first chapter we see how democracyhas expanded during the last hundred years to more and more countriesin the world. More than half of the independent countries in the worldtoday are democracies. The expansion of democracy has not been smoothand straight. It has seen several ups and downs in different countries. Itstill remains an unstable and uncertain achievement.

This chapter begins with different stories on the making and unmakingof democracy from different parts of the world. These stories are meant togive a sense of what it means to experience democracy and its absence.We present the pattern of the spread of democracy first with a series ofmaps and then with a short history. The focus in this chapter is ondemocracy within a country. But towards the end of the chapter, we takea look at democracy or its absence in the relations among differentcountries. We examine the working of some international organisations.This allows us to ask a big question: are we moving towards democracy atthe global level?

CHAPTER I

Democracyin theContemporaryWorld

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leader of the Socialist Party of Chileand led the Popular Unity coalitionto victory in the presidential electionin 1970. After being elected thePresident, Allende had taken severalpolicy decisions to help the poor andthe workers. These included reformof the educational system, free milkfor children and redistribution of landto the landless farmers. He wasopposed to foreign companies takingaway natural resources like copperfrom the country. The landlords, therich and the Church opposed hispolicies. Some other political partiesin Chile also opposed his government.

MMMMMilitarilitarilitarilitarilitary Cy Cy Cy Cy Coup of 1973oup of 1973oup of 1973oup of 1973oup of 1973On the morning of 11 September1973, the military took over theseaport. The Defence Minister wasarrested by the military when hearrived at his office. The military

President Salvador Allende(wearing a helmet) and hissecurity guards in front of

La Moneda, Chile’sPresidential Palace, on 11

September 1973, hoursbefore his death. What do

you read on everyone’sface in this photograph?

“Workers of my homeland! I have faith inChile and its future. Chileans willovercome this dark and bitter momentwhen treason became dominant. Youmust never forget that, sooner rather thanlater, the grand avenues will be openedwhere free men will march on to build abetter society. Long live Chile! Long livethe people! Long live the workers!

These are my last words and I havecertainty that my sacrifice will not be invain; I have certainty that, at the least,I will be a moral lesson to castigate felony,cowardice, and treason.”

These are some extracts from thelast speech of Salvador Allende(pronounced Ayen-they). He wasthen the President of Chile, acountry in South America. Thespeech was given on the morning of11 September 1973, the day hisgovernment was overthrown by themilitary. Allende was the founder

Why did PresidentAllende addresshimself mainly to

‘workers’? Whywere the rich

unhappy with him?

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commanders asked the President toresign. Allende refused to resign orleave the country. But realising thedanger to the country and to his life,he addressed the people on theradio, part of which we read in thebeginning. Then the militarysurrounded the President’s houseand started bombing it. PresidentAllende died in the military attack. This was the sacrifice he was talkingabout in his last speech. Agovernment elected by people wasoverthrown by the military throughconspiracy and violence.

What took place in Chile on 11September 1973 was a militarycoup. General Augusto Pinochet(pronounced Pinoshe), an Armygeneral, led the coup. Thegovernment of the United States ofAmerica was unhappy with Allende’srule and is known to have supportedand funded activities that led to thecoup. Pinochet became thePresident of the country and ruledit for the next 17 years. From agovernment that was elected by thepeople, the power shifted to the

President Michelle Bacheletaddressing her supportersafter her victory in thepresidential election inJanuary 2006. From thisphotograph do you noticeany difference between anelection rally in Chile and inIndia?

Did the army haveany legal right toarrest the defenceminister of thecountry? Shouldthe army have thepower to arrest anycitizen?

military officers. They could do asthey wished and no one couldquestion them. Thus a militarydictatorship was established inChile. Pinochet’s governmenttortured and killed several of thosewho supported Allende and thosewho wanted democracy to berestored. These included GeneralAlberto Bachelet of the Chilean AirForce and many other officers whorefused to join the coup. GeneralBachelet’s wife and daughter wereput in prison and tortured. Morethan 3,000 people were killed by themilitary. Many more were reported‘missing’. No one knows whathappened to them.

A C T I V I T Y

Locate and shade Chile on the map. Whichstate in our country has a shape similar toChile?Follow the newspaper for one month and collectnews items related to any country in LatinAmerica. Did you find the news covergeadequate.

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RRRRRestestestestesto ro ro ro ro raaaaation of Dtion of Dtion of Dtion of Dtion of Democremocremocremocremocra ca ca ca ca cyyyyyPinochet’s military dictatorshipcame to an end after he decided tohold a referendum in 1988. He feltconfident that in this referendum,the people would say ‘yes’ to hiscontinuing in power. But the peopleof Chile had not forgotten theirdemocratic traditions. Their vote wasa decisive ‘no’ to Pinochet. This ledto Pinochet losing first his politicaland then his military powers. Thehope Allende expressed in his lastaddress was realised: felony,cowardice and treason were finallypunished. Political freedom wasrestored. Since then Chile has heldfour presidential elections in whichdifferent political parties haveparticipated. Slowly, the army’s rolein the country’s government hasbeen eliminated. The electedgovernments that came to powerordered inquiries into Pinochet’srule. These inquiries showed that hisgovernment was not only verybrutal, but also very corrupt.

Do you remember a little referencemade earlier to General Bachelet’sdaughter who was imprisoned andtortured along with her mother?That girl, Michelle Bachelet(pronounced Mishel Bashelet), waselected President of Chile in January2006. A medical doctor and amoderate socialist, Michelle becamethe first woman to be a DefenceMinister in Latin America. In thepresidential elections she defeated

one of Chile’s richest men. In thisphotograph of her victory speech,she is saying to her supporters:

“Because I was the victim of hatred, Ihave dedicated my life to reverse thathatred and turn it into understanding,tolerance and — why not say it — intolove.”

DDDDDemocremocremocremocremocra ca ca ca ca cy in Py in Py in Py in Py in PolandolandolandolandolandLet us turn to another event, thistime from Poland, in 1980. At thattime Poland was ruled by the PolishUnited Workers’ Party. This was oneof the many communist parties thatruled in several countries of EastEurope at that time. In thesecountries no other political partywas allowed to function. The peoplecould not freely choose the leadersof the communist party or thegovernment. Those who spokeagainst the leaders or the party orthe government were put in prison.The government in Poland wassupported and controlled by thegovernment of the Soviet Union(USSR), a vast and powerfulcommunist state.

On 14 August 1980, the workersof Lenin Shipyard in the city ofGdansk went on a strike. Theshipyard was owned by thegovernment. In fact all the factoriesand big property in Poland wereowned by the government. Thestrike began with a demand to takeback a crane operator, a womanworker, who was unjustly dismissed

Poland is famous for itsposter art. Most of the

posters of Solidarity carriedthis special way of writing

‘Solidarnosc’. Can you findsimilar examples of posterart or wall writing in Indian

politics?


Lech Walesa


from service. This strike was illegal,because trade unions independentof the ruling party were not allowedin Poland. As the strike continued,a former electrician of the shipyard,Lech Walesa (pronounced LekWalesha), joined the strikers. He wasdismissed from service in 1976 fordemanding higher pay. Walesa soonemerged as the leader of the strikingworkers. The strike began to spreadacross the whole city. Now theworkers started raising largerdemands. They wanted the right toform independent trade unions. Theyalso demanded the release of politicalprisoners and an end to censorshipon press.

The movement became so popularthat the government had to give in.The workers led by Walesa signed a21-point agreement with thegovernment that ended their strike.The government agreed to recognisethe workers’ right to formindependent trade unions and theirright to strike. After the Gdanskagreement was signed, a new tradeunion called Solidarity (Solidarnoscin Polish) was formed. It was the firsttime an independent trade unionwas formed in any of the communiststates. Within a year, Solidarityswept across Poland and had aboutone crore members. Revelations ofwidespread corruption andmismanagement in the governmentmade matters worse for therulers. The government, led byGeneral Jaruzelski, grew anxiousand imposed martial law inDecember 1981. Thousands ofSolidarity members were put inprison. Freedom to organise, protestand express opinions was onceagain taken away.

Another wave of strikes, againorganised by Solidarity, began in1988. This time the Polish

government was weaker, thesupport from Soviet Union uncertainand the economy was in decline.Another round of negotiations withWalesa resulted in an agreement inApril 1989 for free elections. Solidaritycontested all the 100 seats of theSenate and won 99 of them. InOctober 1990, Poland had its firstpresidential elections in which morethan one party could contest. Walesawas elected President of Poland.

A C T I V I T Y

Locate Poland on the map. Write down thenames of the countries that surround it.Which other East European countries wereruled by communist par ties in the 1980s?Shade them on the map.Make a list of political activities that you couldnot have done in Poland in 1980s but you cando in our country.

TTTTTwwwwwo Fo Fo Fo Fo Fe ae ae ae ae aturturturturtures of Des of Des of Des of Des of Democremocremocremocremocra ca ca ca ca cyyyyyWe have read two different kinds ofreal life stories. The story from Chilewas of a democratic government ledby Allende being replaced by a non-democratic military government ofPinochet, followed by restoration ofdemocracy. In Poland we tracked thetransition from a non-democraticgovernment to a democraticgovernment.

Let us compare the two non-democratic governments in thesestories. There were many differencesbetween Pinochet’s rule in Chile andthe communist rule in Poland. Chilewas ruled by a military dictator,while Poland was ruled by a politicalparty. The government of Polandclaimed that it was ruling on behalfof the working classes. Pinochetmade no such claim and openlyfavoured big capitalists. Yet bothhad some common features:

Why was anindependent tradeunion so importantin Poland? Why aretrade unionsnecessary?

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The people could not choose orchange their rulers.There was no real freedom toexpress one’s opinions, formpolitical associations and organiseprotests and political action.

The three democratic governmentsidentified above — Allende’s Chile,Walesa’s Poland and Michelle’s Chile— are different in their approachtowards social and economic matters.Allende preferred government controlon all big industries and the economy.Walesa wanted the market to be freeof government interference. Michellestands somewhere in the middle onthis issue. Yet these threegovernments shared some basicfeatures. Power was exercised by

governments elected by the peopleand not by the army, unelectedleaders or any external power. Thepeople enjoyed some basic politicalfreedoms.

From these two stories let us drawa rough way to identify a democracy.Democracy is a form of governmentthat allows people to choose theirrulers. In a democracy:

only leaders elected by peopleshould rule the country, andpeople have the freedom to expressviews, freedom to organise andfreedom to protest.

We shall come back to this questionin Chapter Two and develop adefinition of democracy. We shall alsonote some features of a democracy.

WidespreadcorruptionCriticism of the

government not

allowed

Ruler electedby the people

The president

was once a

political prisonerGovernmentowned allindustries More than oneparties exist

Ruler notelected by the

people

Anita made a list of the features of all the five governments that we have discussed so far. Butsomehow the list got mixed up. Now she has a list of many features but she does not rememberwhich feature applies to which government. Can you help her by writing the correct feature under thename of the government in the table below? Remember, some of these features may apply to morethan one government and would need to be written separately under each of these.Features:

Chile Chile Chile Poland PolandAllende Pinochet Bachelet Jaruzelski Walesa

Missing peoplePeople enjoyed

basic political

freedomsForeignintervention indomestic affairs

CHECKYOUR

PROGRESS


Militarydictatorship


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Twentieth century was full of thekind of stories we have read above:stories of transition to democracy,of challenges to democracy, ofmilitary coups, of struggles of thepeople to bring back democracy.Was there a pattern to these storiesthat record both the march towardsdemocracy and the setbacks todemocracy? Let us use the basicfeatures we noted earlier andidentify democracies amongdifferent countries of the world.

This is what the three maps shownhere do. Take a look at these threemaps below and find out if there wasa pattern in the way democracieshave evolved in the twentieth century.The first map depicts the countries

that were democratic in 1950, a fewyears after the end of the SecondWorld War. This map also showscountries from this set that hadalready become democratic by 1900.The second map presents a pictureof democratic regimes in 1975, aftermost of the colonies had gainedindependence. Finally, we takeanother leap and look at democraciesin the year 2000, at the beginning ofthe twenty-first century.

As we look at these maps, let usask ourselves some questions. Howhas democracy marched throughthe twentieth century? Is there aclear pattern of expansion? Whendid the expansion take place? Inwhich regions?

MAP 1.1: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS IN 1900-1950

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 1900 AND 1950

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 1950 BUT NOT IN 1900

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Source: Historical data for these maps is taken from Polity IV Project dataset of Universtiy of Maryland. This dataset defines democracy as existenceof choices about policies and leaders, checks on executive power and guarantee of civil liberties. Here we have used positive ‘Polity’ scores asindicating the existence of democracy. In some cases the scores of dataset have been modified. For details see http://www.cidcm.umd.edu


MAP 1.3: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS IN 2000

MAP 1.2: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS IN 1975

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 2000

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 1975


On the basis of these maps identify up to three countries (in some cases you won’t find three countries)that were democratic in these continents for the given years and make a table as given below.

Year Africa Asia Europe Latin America195019752000

Identify some countries from map 1.1 that became democratic between 1900 and 1950.Identify some countries from map 1.1 and 1.2 that were democratic in 1950 and 1975.Identify some European countries from map 1.2 and 1.3 that were democratic in 1975 and 2000.Identify some countries in Latin America that became democratic after 1975.Make a list of big countries that were not democratic in 2000.

CHECKYOURPROGRESS

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In Britain, the progress towardsdemocracy started much before theFrench Revolution. But the progresswas very slow. Through theeighteenth and the nineteenthcenturies, series of political eventsreduced the power of monarchy andfeudal lords. The right to vote wasgranted to more and more people.Around the same time as the FrenchRevolution, the British colonies inNorth America declared themselvesindependent in 1776. In the next fewyears these colonies came togetherto form the United States of America.They adopted a democratic

Looking at thesemaps, which perioddo you find mostimportant in theexpansion ofdemocracy? Why?

Let us summarise the main pointsthat emerge from a reading of thesemaps. You need to go back to themaps to answer the question thatcomes after each point.

Democracy has expandedthroughout the twentiethcentury. Is it correct to say thatat each point in these maps, thenumber of democratic countries islarger than at the previous pointin time?Democracy did not spreadevenly in all parts of the world.

It was established first in someregions and then spread to otherregions. Which continents in theworld had a large number ofdemocracies in 1900 and 1950?And which continents did not havealmost any?While a majority of countries aredemocratic today, there are stilllarge parts of the world that arenot democratic. Which regions inthe world account for most of thecountries that were notdemocracies in 2000?

TTTTThe Bhe Bhe Bhe Bhe BeginningeginningeginningeginningeginningThese maps do not tell us muchabout what happened before thetwentieth century. The story of mod-ern democracy began at least twocenturies ago. You may have readthe chapter on the French Revolu-tion of 1789 in the history book ofthis course. This popular uprisingdid not establish a secure and stabledemocracy in France. Throughoutthe nineteenth century, democracyin France was overthrown and re-stored several times. Yet the FrenchRevolution inspired many strugglesfor democracy all over Europe.

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constitution in 1787. But here toothe right to vote was limited to veryfew men.

In the nineteenth century strugglesfor democracy often centred roundpolitical equality, freedom and justice.One major demand was the right forevery adult citizen to vote. ManyEuropean countries that werebecoming more democratic did notinitially allow all people to vote. Insome countries only people owningproperty had the right to vote. Oftenwomen did not have the right to vote.In the United States of America, theblacks all over the country could notexercise the right to vote until 1965.Those struggling for democracywanted this right granteduniversally to all adults — men orwomen, rich or poor, white or black.This is called ‘universal adultfranchise’ or ‘universal suffrage’. Thebox here tells us when universalsuffrage was granted in manycountries of the world.

When was universaladult franchise granted?

1893 New Zealand1917 Russia1918 Germany1919 Netherlands1928 Britain1931 Sri Lanka1934 Turkey1944 France1945 Japan1950 India1951 Argentina1952 Greece1955 Malaysia1962 Australia1965 US1978 Spain1994 South Africa

As you can see, by 1900 NewZealand was the only country whereevery adult had voting right. But ifyou go back to the map, you can seemany other countries are marked as‘democracies’ by the beginning of thetwentieth century. These countrieshad by then governments elected bya significant number of people,mostly men, and had grantedpolitical freedom in some measure.Early democracies were establishedin Europe, North America and LatinAmerica.

EEEEEnd of Cnd of Cnd of Cnd of Cnd of ColonialismolonialismolonialismolonialismolonialismFor a very long time most countriesin Asia and Africa were coloniesunder the control of Europeannations. People of the colonisedcountries had to wage struggles toachieve independence. They not onlywanted to get rid of their colonialmasters, but also wished to choosetheir future leaders. Our countrywas one of the few colonies wherepeople carried a nationalist struggleto liberate the country from thecolonial rule. Many of thesecountries became democraciesimmediately after the end of theSecond World War in 1945. Indiaachieved Independence in 1947 andembarked on its journey to transformitself from a subject country to ademocracy. It continues to be ademocracy. Most former colonies didnot have such a good experience.

The case of Ghana, a country inwestern Africa, illustrates the morecommon experience of formercolonies. Ghana used to be a Britishcolony named Gold Coast. It becameindependent in 1957. It was amongthe first countries in Africa to gainindependence. It inspired otherAfrican countries to struggle forfreedom. Kwame Nkrumah(pronounced Enkruma), son of a

Why were womengiven voting rights

much later thanmen in most

countries? Why didthis not happen in

India?


Note: This is only anillustrative list from differentparts of the world. The yearindicates when the principleof one person one vote was

fully realised in thatcountry. The list does not

include those cases wherethe right to vote was

withdrawn later.


goldsmith and himself a teacher,was active in the independencestruggle of his country.

After independence, Nkrumah be-came the first prime minister andthen the president of Ghana. He wasa friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and aninspiration for democrats in Africa.But unlike Nehru, he got himselfelected president for life. Soon af-ter, in 1966, he was overthrown bythe military. Like Ghana, most coun-tries that became democracies aftergaining independence had a mixedrecord. They could not remain de-mocracies for long.

A C T I V I T Y

Locate Ghana in an atlas and then spot it in thethree maps in the previous section. Was Ghanaa democracy in 2000?Do you think it is good to elect someonePresident for life? Or is it better to hold regularelections after every few years?

RRRRReeeeeccccce ne ne ne ne nt phaset phaset phaset phaset phaseThe next big push towards democracycame after 1980, as democracy wasrevived in several countries of LatinAmerica. The disintegration of theSoviet Union accelerated this process.From the story of Poland we knowthat the then Soviet Union controlledmany of its neighbouring communistcountries in Eastern Europe. Polandand several other countries becamefree from the control of the SovietUnion during 1989-90. They choseto become democracies. Finally theSoviet Union itself broke down in1991. The Soviet Union comprised 15Republics. All the constituentRepublics emerged as independentcountries. Most of them becamedemocracies. Thus the end of Sovietcontrol on East Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union led to a big

change in the political map of theworld.

In this period major changes alsotook place in India’s neighbourhood.Pakistan and Bangladesh made atransition from army rule todemocracy in 1990s. In Nepal, theking gave up many of his powers tobecome a constitutional monarch tobe guided by elected leaders.However, these changes were notpermanent. In 1999 GeneralMusharraf brought back army rulein Pakistan. In 2005 the new kingof Nepal dismissed the electedgovernment and took back politicalfreedoms that people had won in theprevious decade.

Yet the overall trend in this periodpoints to more and more countriesturning to democracy. This phasestill continues. By 2005, about 140countries were holding multi-partyelections. This number was higherthan ever before. More than 80previously non-democratic countrieshave made significant advancestowards democracy since 1980. But,even today, there are manycountries where people cannotexpress their opinion freely. They

Kwame Nkrumah MemorialPark in Accra, the capital ofGhana. This park wascommissioned in 1992,twenty years after Nkrumahpassed away. What mighthave caused this delay?

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still cannot elect their leaders. Theycannot take big decisions about theirpresent and future life.

One such country is Myanmar,previously known as Burma. Itgained freedom from colonial rule in1948 and became a democracy. Butthe democratic rule ended in 1962with a military coup. In 1990elections were held for the first timeafter almost 30 years. The NationalLeague for Democracy, led by AungSan Suu Kyi (pronounced Soo-chi),won the election. But the militaryleaders of Myanmar refused to stepdown and did not recognise theelection results. Instead, the militaryput the elected pro-democracyleaders, including Suu Kyi, underhouse arrest. Political activistsaccused of even the most trivialoffences have been jailed. Anyonecaught publicly airing views orissuing statements critical of theregime can be sentenced up totwenty years in prison. Due to thecoercive policies of the military-ruled

government in Myanmar, about 6 to10 lakh people in that country havebeen uprooted from their homes andhave taken shelter elsewhere.

Despite being under house arrest,Suu Kyi continued to campaign fordemocracy. According to her: “Thequest for democracy in Burma is thestruggle of the people to live whole,meaningful lives as free and equalmembers of the world community.” Herstruggle has won internationalrecognition. She has also beenawarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yetthe people in Myanmar are stillstruggling to establish a democraticgovernment in their country.

A C T I V I T Y

Locate Myanmar on an atlas. Which Indianstates border this country?Write a short essay on the life of Aung SanSuu Kyi.Collect newspaper reports on the struggle fordemocracy in Myanmar.

What should be thepolicy of the

government ofIndia towards the

military rulers ofMyanmar?


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1. 4 D1. 4 D1. 4 D1. 4 D1. 4 DEMOCREMOCREMOCREMOCREMOCRACACACACACYYYYY AAAAATTTTT THETHETHETHETHE G G G G GLLLLLOOOOOBBBBBALALALALAL L L L L LEEEEEVELVELVELVELVEL?????After reading about the variousphases of expansion of democracy,a teacher, Mr. Singh, asked thestudents to summarise what theyhad learnt. This is how theconversation took place:

Farida: We have learnt that democracy has beenexpanding to more and more regions andcountries all over the world.

Rajesh: Yes, we live in a better world than before.It seems we are moving towards a worlddemocracy.

Sushmita: World democracy! How can you saythat? I saw a television programme that showedhow the Americans invaded Iraq without anyjustification. The people of Iraq were notconsulted at any stage. How can you call thata world democracy?

Farida: I am not talking about the relationshipbetween different countries. I am only sayingthat more and more countries are becomingdemocratic.

Rajesh: But what is the difference between thetwo? If more and more countries becomedemocratic, isn’t it obvious that the world alsobecomes more democratic? After all the Iraqwar was all about taking democracy to thatcountry.

Sushmita: No, it is not obvious to me.Singh sir: I think we are talking about two very

different things here. Farida spoke aboutestablishment of democratic governments withindifferent countries in the world today. Sushmitaand Rajesh have differences over something else.Their difference is over the relationship amongdifferent countries. It is quite possible, Rajesh,that the rulers of a country who aredemocratically elected by their people may wantto dominate over other countries.

Sushmita: Yes sir. That is exactly what happenedin the case of the war on Iraq.

Surinder: I am confused. How can we talk aboutdemocracy at the global level? Is there anyworld government? Who is the president of theworld? If there is no government, how can itbe democratic or non-democratic?

I nI nI nI nI nttttte re re re re rn an an an an ational Organisational Organisational Organisational Organisational OrganisationstionstionstionstionsLet us respond to the question thatcame up in this conversation: Doesan increase in the number ofdemocratic countries all over theworld automatically lead todemocratic relations amongcountries? Before we do that, let usthink about the point raised bySurinder. There is a government ofIndia, a government of the UnitedStates of America, and so on. Butthere is no government of the world.No government can pass any lawthat will apply to all the people ofthe world. If there is no suchgovernment, if there are no rulersand ruled, how can we apply the twofeatures of democracy here? Thesetwo features, you would recall, werethat the rulers should be elected bythe people and that people shouldhave basic political freedoms.

Should there be aworld government?If yes, who shouldelect it? And, whatpowers should ithave?

This cartoon was publishedin Mexico in 2005 and wastitled ‘International Games’.Which games is thecartoonist talking abouthere? What does the ballsymbolize? Who are theplayers?

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While Surinder is right in a simplesense, we cannot say that thequestion of democracy does not arisehere. There is no single WorldGovernment, but there are manyinstitutions in the world thatperform partially the functions ofsuch a government. Theseorganisations cannot commandcountries and citizens in a way agovernment can, but they do makerules that put limits on whatgovernments can do. Consider thesepoints:

Who makes laws and rules togovern the seas that do not fallwithin the boundaries of any onecountry? Or who takes steps tocontrol environmental degradationthat threatens all the countriestogether. The United Nations (UN)has evolved many Conventions onthese questions that are nowbinding on most countries of theworld. The UN is a globalassociation of nations of the worldto help cooperation ininternational law, security,economic development and socialequity. The UN Secretary Generalis its chief administrative officer.What happens when a countryattacks another country in anunjust manner? The UN SecurityCouncil, an organ of the UN, isresponsible for maintaining peaceand security among countries. Itcan put together an internationalarmy and take action against thewrongdoer.Who lends money to governmentswhen they need it? The Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) doesso. The World Bank also givesloans to the governments. Beforelending they ask the concernedgovernment to show all itsaccounts and direct it to makechanges in its economic policy.

AAAAArrrrre these dee these dee these dee these dee these decisionscisionscisionscisionscisionsdemocrdemocrdemocrdemocrdemocraaaaatic?tic?tic?tic?tic?

So, there are many institutions atthe world level that perform someof the functions that a worldgovernment would perform. But weneed to know just how democraticthese organisations are. Theyardstick here is whether each ofthe countries has free and equal sayin the decisions that affect them.In this light let us examine theorganisation of some of these worldbodies.

Everyone of the 192 membercountries of the UN has one vote inthe UN General Assembly. It meetsin regular yearly sessions under apresident elected from among therepresentatives of the membercountries. General Assembly is likethe parliament where all thediscussion takes place. In thatsense the UN would appear to be avery democratic organisation. Butthe General Assembly cannot takeany decision about what actionshould be taken in a conflictbetween different countries.

The fifteen-member SecurityCouncil of the UN takes such crucialdecisions. The Council has fivepermanent members – US, Russia,UK, France and China. Ten othermembers are elected by the GeneralAssembly for two-year terms. Thereal power is with five permanentmembers. The permanent members,especially the US, contribute mostof the money needed for themaintenance of the UN. Eachpermanent member has veto power.It means that the Council cannottake a decision if any permanentmember says no to that decision.This system has led more and morepeople and countries to protect anddemand that the UN becomes moredemocratic.

Should thepermanent

members of theUN be given the

power to veto?



International Monetary Fund (IMF)is one of the biggest moneylendersfor any country in the world. Its 173member states do not have equalvoting rights. The vote of eachcountry is weighed by how muchmoney it has contributed to the IMF.Nearly half of the voting power in theIMF is in the hands of only sevencountries (US, Japan, France, UK,Saudi Arabia, China and Russia).The remaining 166 countries havevery little say in how theseinternational organisations takedecisions. The World Bank has asimilar system of voting. ThePresident of the World Bank hasalways been a citizen of the US,conventionally nominated by theTreasury Secretary (Finance Minister)of the US government.

A C T I V I T Y

Find out more about the history and variousorgans of the United Nations.Collect any news about the decisions of theWorld Bank and the IMF.

Compare these to the kind ofdemocratic practices that we havebeen discussing in this chapter.What would you say about a countrywhere some persons have apermanent position in the ministryand have the power to stop thedecision of the entire parliament? Ora parliament where five per cent ofthe members hold a majority ofvotes? Would you call thesedemocratic? Most of the globalinstitutions fail to pass the simpletest of democracy that we use fornational governments.

If global institutions are notdemocratic, are they at leastbecoming more democratic thanbefore? Here too the evidence is notvery encouraging. In fact, while

nations are becoming moredemocratic than they were earlier,international organisations arebecoming less democratic. Twentyyears ago there were two big powersin the world: the US and the SovietUnion. The competition and conflictbetween these two big powers andtheir allies kept a certain balance inall the global organisations. After thecollapse of the Soviet Union, the USappears to be the only superpowerin the world. This Americandominance affects the working ofinternational organisations.

This is not to say that there is nourge or move towards globaldemocracy. The urge comes frompeople who get more opportunitiesto come in touch with one another.Over the last few years the people ofdifferent countries have cometogether without their governments’support. They have formed globalorganisations against war andagainst domination of the world bya few countries and businesscompanies. As in the case ofdemocracy within the nations, theinitiative for democracy amongnations has come from the strugglesof the people.


Wolfowitz was asenior official in the

Department ofDefence in the US(commonly called

Pentagon). He was anaggressive supporter

of the invasion ofIraq. The cartooncomments on his

appointment as thePresident of the WorldBank. What does thecartoon tell us about

the relationshipbetween the WorldBank and the US?

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Here are some suggestions to strengthen world democracy. Do you support these changes? Arethese changes likely to happen? Give your reasons for each of these.

More nations should become permanent members of the Security Council.UN General Assembly should become like a world parliament with representatives from each countryin proportion to the population of the country. These representatives should elect a world government.Individual countries should not have armies. The UN should maintain task forces to bring aboutpeace in case of conflict between nations.A UN President should be elected directly by all the people of the world.

rule in 1932. Three decades laterthere were a series of coups bymilitary officers. Since 1968, it wasruled by Arab Socialist Ba’th Party(the Arabic word Ba’th meansrenaissance). Saddam Hussein, aleading Ba’th party leader, played akey role in the 1968 coup thatbrought the party to power. Thisgovernment abolished traditionalIslamic law and gave women theright to vote and several freedomsnot granted in other west Asiancountries. After becoming thepresident of Iraq in 1979, Saddamran a dictatorial government andsuppressed any dissent oropposition to his rule. He was knownto have got a number of politicalopponents killed and persons ofethnic minorities massacred.

The US and its allies like Britain,alleged that Iraq possessed secretnuclear weapons and other‘weapons of mass destruction’which posed a big threat to theworld. But when a UN team wentto Iraq to search for such weapons,it did not find any. Still the US andits allies invaded Iraq, occupied itand removed Saddam Hussein frompower in 2003. The US installed aninterim government of itspreference. The war against Iraqwas not authorised by the UNSecurity Council. Kofi Annan, theUN Secretary General, said that theUS war on Iraq was illegal.


DDDDDemocremocremocremocremocra ca ca ca ca cy promotiony promotiony promotiony promotiony promotionTake a close look at the two cartoonson this and on the next page. Thesecartoons raise a fundamentalquestion related to globaldemocracy. Recently, manypowerful countries in the world,particularly the United States ofAmerica, have taken on the task ofdemocracy promotion in the rest ofthe world. They say that propagatingthe values of democracy is notenough. Existing democraciesshould directly intervene incountries that are non-democraticto establish democracy there. Insome cases powerful countries havelaunched armed attack on non-democratic countries. This is whatSushmita was talking about.

Let us see what happened in Iraq.Iraq is a country in Western Asia. Itbecame independent from British

CHECKYOUR

PROGRESS


The cartoon “Cactusof Democracy” waspublished in 2004.

What does the cactuslook like here? Who is

gifting it, and towhom? What is the

message?

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A C T I V I T Y

Collect information on the debate related to Iraqwithin the US and the UK. What were the reasonsoriginally offered for the Iraq invasion by thePresident of US and the Prime Minister of UK?What were the reasons offered after the war?

The example of Iraq raises somebasic questions that we need tothink about:

Is this the right way to promotedemocracy? Should a democraticcountry wage a war and invadeother countries for establishingdemocracy there?Does external help work in everycase? Or does it work only whenthe people of a nation are activelyengaged in a struggle to make theirsocieties democratic?Even if external intervention leadsto the establishment of democracyin a country, would it last long?Would it enjoy the support of itscitizens? Finally, is the use of external forceto gift democracy to the people inkeeping with the spirit ofdemocracy?

Think about these questions in thelight of all that you have learnt inthis chapter.


‘Helping Democracy’was a comment onthe presence of USforces during the

elections in Iraq. Doyou think the cartoon

can apply to manyother situations?

Identify someexamples from thischapter which thiscartoon can help

understand.

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exercises

GLOSSARY

Censorship: A condition under which the freedom of expression is takenaway. Citizens have to take prior permission from the censor authorities

of the government for making a speech or publishing news and views.Anything that the government finds objectionable cannot be published.

Coalition: An alliance of people, associations, parties or nations. Thisalliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience.Colony: Territory under the immediate political control of another state.Communist state: A state governed by a communist party without allowingother parties to compete for power. The state controls all the big propertyand industry.Coup: A coup d’état (pronounced ku de’ta), or simply a coup, is the suddenoverthrow of a government illegally. It may or may not be violent in nature.The term is French for ‘a sudden blow or strike to a state’.Martial law: A system of rules that takes effect when a military authoritytakes control of the normal administration of justice.Political prisoners: Persons held in prison or otherwise detained, perhapsunder house arrest, because a government considers their ideas, imageor activities as a threat to the authority of the state. Often exaggerated orfalse cases are foisted on them and they are kept in detention withoutfollowing normal law.Referendum: A direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to eitheraccept or reject a particular proposal. This may be adoption of a newconstitution, a law or a specific governmental policy.Strike: Mass refusal by workers or employees to perform work due tocertain grievances or because of demands not met. In most democraticcountries the right to strike is legal.Trade Union: An association of workers for the purpose of maintaining orimproving the conditions of their employment.Veto: The right of a person, party or nation to stop a certain decision orlaw. The word comes from Latin, which means ‘I forbid’. A veto givesunlimited power to stop a decision, but not to adopt one.

1 Which of the following does not lead to the spread of democracy?a Struggle by the peopleb Invasion by foreign countriesc End of colonialismd People’s desire for freedom

2 Which of the following statement is true about today’s world?a Monarchy as a form of government has vanished .b The relationship between different countries has become more

democratic than ever before.c In more and more countries rulers are being elected by the people.d There are no more military dictators in the world.



3 Use one of the following statements to complete the sentence:Democracy in the international organisations requires that …a The rich countries should have a greater say.b Countries should have a say according to their military power.c Countries should be treated with respect in proportion to their

population.d All countries in the world should be treated equally.

4 Based on the information given in this chapter, match the followingcountries and the path democracy has taken in that country.

COUNTRY PATH TO DEMOCRACY

a Chile i Freedom from British colonial ruleb Nepal ii End of military dictatorshipc Poland iii End of one party ruled Ghana iv King agreed to give up his powers

5 What are the difficulties people face in a non-democratic country?Give answers drawing from the examples given in this chapter.

6 Which freedoms are ususally taken away when a democracy isoverthrown by the military?

7 Which of the following positions can contribute to democracy at theglobal level? Give reasons for your answer in each case.a My country gives more money to international institutions.

Therefore, I want to be treated with more respect and exercisemore power.

b My country may be small or poor. But my voice must be heardwith equal respect, because these decisions will affect my country.

c Wealthy nations will have a greater say in international affairs.They cannot let their interests suffer just because they areoutnumbered by poor nations.

d Big countries like India must have a greater say in internationalorganisations.

8 Here are three opinions heard in a television debate on the strugglefor democracy in Nepal. Which of these do you agree with and why?Guest 1: India is a democracy. Therefore, the Indian government

must support the people of Nepal who are strugglingagainst monarchy and for democracy.

Guest 2: That is a dangerous argument. We would be in the sameposition as the US was in Iraq. Remember, no outside forcecan promote democracy.

Guest 3: But why should we bother about the internal affairs ofanother country? We should be worried about our businessinterests there, not about democracy. exerc

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exercises 9 In an imaginary country called Happyland, the people overthrew theforeign ruler and brought back the old royal family. They said: “Afterall their ancestors were our kings before foreigners started ruling us. It is goodthat we have one strong ruler, who can help us become rich and powerful”.When someone talked about democracy the wise men said it is aforeign idea. Their struggle was to throw the foreigners and theirideas out of the country. When someone demanded freedom for themedia, the elders thought that too much criticism of the ruler wouldnot help them improve their living standards. “After all, the king is sokind and interested in the welfare of all the subjects. Why create problems forhim. Don’t we all want to be happy? ”

After reading the above passage, Chaman, Champa and Chandrumade the following observations:Chaman: Happyland is a democratic country because people were

able to throw out the foreign rulers and bring back theking.

Champa: Happyland is not a democratic country because peoplecannot criticise the ruler. The king may be nice and mayprovide economic prosperity, but a king cannot give ademocratic rule.

Chandru: What people need is happiness. So they are willing to allowtheir new ruler to take decisions for them. If people arehappy it must be a democracy.

What is your opinion about each of these statements? What do youthink about the form of government in this country?

Form different groups in your class and collect different types of information(news clippings, articles, photographs, cartoons, etc.) about struggles fordemocracy in any country that is currently not democratic. Focus on thefollowing questions:

What makes the government non-democratic?What are the main complaints and demands of the people in thatcountry?How do the existing rulers react to people’s demands?Who are the main leaders of the struggle for democracy?

You could present the information thus collected in various forms: anexhibition, a collage, a report or a wallpaper.

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ch-1-Democracy in the Contemporary World

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