RSSFreedom is marching, but in the wrong direction
Jan 26
Good article about the state of freedom around the world: The Limits of Democracy
2006 was a bad year for freedom. I totally agree with his analysis about Bush’s goals. It’s just not feasible to attack and invade countries with the hopes of quickly installing a democratic government where none existed before. Democracy takes more than just voting infrastructure. It takes commitment from the vast majority of a society and a certain level of maturity, for lack of a better term. Democracies are relatively fragile and can’t necessarily be thrown on top of an unstable society.
With Iraq it seems a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. People assume the civil war is caused by not having power sharing agreements ironed out, therefore feel the answer is to keep pushing the democratic government. But, the government is paralyzed due to the civil war. Even worse: the assumption above about the cause of the civil war is at least partially false. The factions are fighting at least partially just because they can. No political deal will solve that, although it would likely lessen it.
Jan 27, 2007 @ 22:13:08
I agree somewhat with your analysis. Additionally, the democratic “world” has failed the Iraqi people. Our “civil” society was never behind Iraq and it shows. “Souring” to democracy happened long before 2003.
Having said that, the responsibility is that of the Iraqis to either fight for freedom or become another Syria or Lebanon or Saudi Arabia. The Social Contract dictates that the Iraqis own their problem and make strides towards fixing it. If not, well then they can live in a State of Nature for ever.
http://arenablog.blogspot.com/2007/01/one-of-smartest-men-in-world-misses.html
Jan 28, 2007 @ 17:33:42
I definitely agree that a large part of the responsibility to better Iraq lies with the Iraqi people. The factional fighting is the worst possible way to respond to this situation, which I think shows that their society is not ready for a full-on democracy yet. Similarly I cannot comprehend why the Palestinians are fighting amongst themselves.
Jan 29, 2007 @ 13:34:26
I like Fareed Zakaria. He makes some very logical insights. Among them, this nugget: “The basic problem confronting the developing world today is not an absence of democracy but an absence of governance.”
This is a distinction the Bush administration has never made. A democratic government can still govern badly. Bush’s administration has set a singularly bad example of governance in their home country, a bribery-ridden pro-corporate system with an emphasis on military buildup at the expense of domestic needs. A one-sided system where opposition was ridiculed and oppressed. A self-sustaining, jerrymandered oligarchy with a 98% incumbancy rate and a deaf ear to public opinion. A bunch of yes-men worshipping an unquestionable authority figure. In fact, if nothing else, they have demonstrated the potential for a democracy to implode.