Democratisation
Democratisation is the process of developing a political regime that offers more freedom and more participation in decision making. It includes elections that are fair and free, a separation of powers, a judiciary independent of the executive and legislature, laws protecting human rights, and freedom of assembly and association. Democracy also requires that citizens be able to express their opinions freely, and that decisions made by public authorities are openly debated and scrutinised. Democratisation is a difficult task, and the path to democracy is not linear or free from hazards.
While the number of democracies in the world has quadrupled since the 1970s and it is widely believed that democracy will soon dominate the global political landscape, democratisation is far from being a foregone conclusion. Even the ‘old’ democracies have fallen short in various ways of meeting all the essential criteria of democracy, and many ‘new’ democracies are at different stages of progress from civil-society changes to procedural democracy, let alone a liberal or substantive democracy.
The democratisation of a society cannot be achieved unless a sufficient level of political and social maturity is attained, so that the ‘new’ democratic values and practices can be grasped and accepted as not threatening but complementary to traditional referents of cultural identity and beliefs as to what might constitute the ‘common good’. The failure of foreign-induced democratisation in Afghanistan and Iraq (as well as other cases like East Timor before 2006) has reconfirmed that democratisation can only be successful when it emerges from within the societies concerned, and not simply imposed from outside.
The process of democratisation is a long-term one, and young people should be involved from childhood in order to nurture an interest in democracy as part of their identity. However, the development of a democracy is also dependent on the existence of viable economic conditions and a stable social fabric that can provide for a wide range of political, business and community organisations to develop and function.
In addition, a democracy needs to be supported by a strong international system of democratic institutions that can protect and support emerging democracies. This will require a clear commitment by the major developed countries to respect democratic principles and to help those in transition to democracy avoid the pitfalls that can undermine their fragile development.
Moreover, democracy will only be fully realised when there is an end to ‘undemocratic’ forms of corporate power. The current undemocratic nature of multinational corporations, which are controlled by a small group of shareholders and do not account to their employees or the wider community, is creating massive problems throughout society, including spiraling inequality and environmental destruction. There are currently no democratically-owned companies in the world’s top 100, and this is a serious barrier to global democratisation. Democratising the corporation can be done in a variety of ways, but it has to be done carefully and gradually. A rushed or coercive approach will do more harm than good.
Democratisation is the process of developing a political regime that offers more freedom and more participation in decision making. It includes elections that are fair and free, a separation of powers, a judiciary independent of the executive and legislature, laws protecting human rights, and freedom of assembly and association. Democracy also requires that citizens be able to express their opinions freely, and that decisions made by public authorities are openly debated and scrutinised. Democratisation is a difficult task, and the path to democracy is not linear or free from hazards. While the number of democracies in the world has quadrupled since the 1970s and it is widely believed that democracy will soon dominate the global political landscape, democratisation is far from being a foregone conclusion. Even the ‘old’ democracies have fallen short in various ways of meeting all the essential criteria of democracy, and many ‘new’ democracies are at different stages of progress from civil-society changes to procedural democracy, let alone a liberal or substantive democracy. The democratisation of a society cannot be achieved unless a sufficient level of political and social maturity is attained, so that the ‘new’ democratic values and practices can be grasped and accepted as not threatening but complementary to traditional referents of cultural identity and beliefs as to what might constitute the ‘common good’. The failure of foreign-induced democratisation in Afghanistan and Iraq (as well as other cases like East Timor before 2006) has reconfirmed that democratisation can only be successful when it emerges from within the societies concerned, and not simply imposed from outside. The process of democratisation is a long-term one, and young people should be involved from childhood in order to nurture an interest in democracy as part of their identity. However, the development of a democracy is also dependent on the existence of viable economic conditions and a stable social fabric that can provide for a wide range of political, business and community organisations to develop and function. In addition, a democracy needs to be supported by a strong international system of democratic institutions that can protect and support emerging democracies. This will require a clear commitment by the major developed countries to respect democratic principles and to help those in transition to democracy avoid the pitfalls that can undermine their fragile development. Moreover, democracy will only be fully realised when there is an end to ‘undemocratic’ forms of corporate power. The current undemocratic nature of multinational corporations, which are controlled by a small group of shareholders and do not account to their employees or the wider community, is creating massive problems throughout society, including spiraling inequality and environmental destruction. There are currently no democratically-owned companies in the world’s top 100, and this is a serious barrier to global democratisation. Democratising the corporation can be done in a variety of ways, but it has to be done carefully and gradually. A rushed or coercive approach will do more harm than good.