Is democracy making gains in Asia C.Q. Researcher, July 24, 1998, vol. 8, issue 27 - Research Paper Example

Economic liberalization has caused setback to democratization 2. Corruption and poverty cause hindrance to growth of democracy 3. Negative impact of war on terrorism affect democratization 4. Instability in the democratic infrastructure prevent stable democracies 5. Tradition-bound societies resist change 6. Expectations focused on “Asian values” did not materialize in a big way There is a widespread belief in the West that Asia is a region where democracy has not yet taken roots. But the truth is that the Asian countries have given the world the best ideas and values, which have helped democracy progress world over.

Democracy, though in its primitive form had been a familiar notion with Asians because the ethical values that the religions of Asia (Budhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam) proclaim, have been almost the same as democracy (1). The democratic implication of the cultural diversity of Asian countries is some thing that the West finds difficult to understand. With so many cultures and languages integrated as one nation, almost every country in this region is a great model of cultural pluralism (2).

The colonization of the Asian subcontinent by the British Empire had its pros and cons for the nations of Asia, in terms of democracy (3). Colonization opened up new channels, which were to bring in, new ideas of equality and democratic governance from Western renaissance to Asia (4). All the same, the colonization process destroyed the inherent social fabric of these countries that had a different kind of cultural tolerance and coexistence built into it (5). And this was the tragedy that occurred for the democracy in Asia.

But changes are visible. It is through an evolving synthesis of economic progress, community oriented development and the strengthening human rights movement in Asia that democracy is making gains in this region. Literally, the meaning of the word, democracy, is “people rule” (6). And the primary definition of democracy can be, “a freely elected government” (7). As Mosley has suggested, the problem that democracy always will have to face and tackle is, the fact that, “ ‘people’ will have many different interests, all clamouring to be heard and acted upon” (8).

In Asia, as said above, the cultural diversity is greater than any other region and hence the clamoring at its peak. But there can also be a second definition for democracy, which says that democracy is a “government by a simple majority” (9). While refuting the arguments of Samuel Huntington regarding the clashes of civilizations, Schmiegelow has pointed out the role of the rising middle class in the democratization process in Asian countries (10). Quoting Henry Rowen, Schmiegelow has also introduced another approach towards the same subject, which says that the economic growth in these countries has contributed to the democratization process (11).

The problem with these two approaches has also been described by Schmiegelow by citing two contrasting examples- the case of Singapore which is very rich but not accepted as a liberal democracy by the world and the case of Burma which is very poor but inherits a very strong democratic movement (12). All these discussion throw light upon the amazing diversity of Asian democratic experience, which can be understood from the following words of Brian Bridges and Lok-Sang Ho: When we view the Asian scene, we can see a vast range of democratic polities, from the huge but