Introduction to Chapter 2

Introduction to Chapter 2

Democracy alone is

Not the Solution

We are entering a troubling transition, and the irony is that while we preach our version of democracy abroad, it slips away from us at home.

Robert D. Kaplan

After discussing the extent of the rot under the glittering labels of democracy, the author moves to the second chapter to explain that democracy alone is not the only solution to the problems faced by suffering humanity. In the author's words: "If we have a look at countries other than the US, we may find that democracy is not a criterion for progress and peace. A quick comparison of the status of democracy in some countries will help." After giving examples from every corner of the world, the author argues:

In short, throughout the so-called democracies there is anxiety that the wave of democratization will remain weak until enlargement of the shrinking middle classes and modernization of obsolete institutions. Corruption, exploitation and unemployment are high. Every passing day is raising more questions about democracy’s sustainability — questions that the Desert Storm seemed to have laid to rest in 1991.

Without a serious assessment of the weaknesses of democracy in the US and elsewhere, it is out to democratize the whole world, the Muslim part of it in particular. It is not to conclude that dictatorship is good and democracy is bad. It is that it is neither feasible nor final that democracy is the ultimate form of governing mechanism. Of course, the ideals of democracy still hold. However, as far as its implementation, look at Haiti, a small country only ninety minutes by air from Miami, where 22,000 American soldiers were dispatched in 1994 to restore "democracy." Five percent of eligible Haitian voters participated in an election in April 1997 — chronic instability continues, and famine threatens. Those who think that America can establish democracy the world over need both to look at the status of democracy around the world, and the scope of the task the US claims to have shouldered.

The journey of democracy so far shows that it evolved not through the kind of moral fiat the US is trying to impose throughout the world but as an organic outgrowth of development. The objective of democracy was not to achieve a higher purpose in individual and collective life. It simply evolved as a response to the problem of tyranny and anarchy....

Discussing the US led wars and occupations in the name of freedom and democracy, the author believes this tactic will never lead to democracy. Similarly, installing puppets, such as Karzai, or the Iraqi Council and holding smokescreen elections do not lead to viable governing mechanism. States put together by geography, settlement patterns, and ethnic cleansing are not what is required for peaceful and productive co-existence of human beings. Israel is both a "democracy" and State founded with the help of force and terrorism, and sustained through incessant ethnic cleansing. It exists as a "democracy" partly because the US injects unprecedented amounts of funds for keeping its economy and military hardware updated and partly because the world legitimizes it occupation, apartheid policies and ethnic cleansing.

In author's view, "the point is that neither State nor democracy is the end of human existence. Supporting an idea or a system that does not serve the ultimate objective of human existence is of no use, no matter how long it may survive."

...With the strings of secularism attached, liberal democracy does not allow human beings to achieve the ultimate objective of their existence. Democracy has failed because it neither forms States nor strengthens them initially. Although multi-party systems suit those nations that already have efficient bureaucracies and a middle class that pays income tax — where primary issues such as borders and power sharing have already been resolved. Still leaving politicians free to bicker just about budget and other matters do not lead to addressing the basic requirements of human nature: a just social and economic order...

...Imposing democracy without giving due heed to the requirements of human nature and existence of social, religious and political setup in the target communities since centuries, is a recipe for disaster. Actually, the very institutional base that is required to run a democracy is hard to establish without incorporating the human development factor for consolidating each individual component of these institutions. Modern bureaucracies generally require high literacy rates over several generations and most governments remain composed of corrupt, bickering, ineffectual politicians due to avoiding the basic factors...

If ruling or aspiring elites feel the world will abide by their authoritarian alternatives in the garb of democracy, they are not likely to look for some normative or ideological justification of it if democracy is widely seen to be malfunctioning, decadent, corrupt, inept, abusive, and contemptuous of the real concerns and interests of ordinary citizens. These are the classic conditions for democratic breakdown — a real possibility in the coming years. The author predicts:

To many it might be a joke, but we must not forget that the swing of pendulum towards democracy following the Cold War — despite its apparent triumph for liberal philosophy — will definitely come to rest where it belongs, in the middle, to the real core of Islam: between the tyranny of democracy and the realities of all the past empires. Like the previous governing system, based on human rationalism, logic and reason alone, democracy, too, has leaned too far in one direction. Fundamental realignment or disaster is inevitable. It is now beyond the power of its proponents to hide the exposed limits of their worldwide liberal, humanist enterprise.

Then the chapter moves to the core of first section of the book, where the subtitle reads: Why democracy failed? The next 12 pages are devoted to discussion on this question. After conclusively proving the case for the failure of democracy, mostly through the argument by Western analysts and think tanks, the author concludes the chapter with the following words:

The problem is thus not to realize that democracy has failed and identify its shortcomings. The problem is that it is becoming hard for many to identify the solution and suggest an alternative.

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