How the Liberal Democracies in the Western States Such the US, U.K and France Changed - Research Paper Example

?Liberal democracy Democratization is a significant trend and concept in modern political science. On one hand, democratization is a simple idea because it simply entails the establishment of a political regime, which is democratic. On the other hand however, democratization is not easy to understand and more difficult to achieve. In order to understand what democratization is, we need to define democracy. Democracy can be defined by its empirical conditions and inherent nature. Democracy is a relatively recent phenomenon. Modern democracy can be dated from the late 18th century although medieval Poland and some states of the Greek cities had democratic aspects. Democracy as the rule by people. In order for a country to be considered democratic, it should choose its leaders using competitive and fair elections. It should adhere to the constitution and ensure fundamental civil liberties. While some analysts assert that a democracy needs to have a strong civil society, civic culture, and capitalist economy, others do not include these criteria when defining democracy. Democratization is therefore the process by which a country adopts such a regime as defined above. This means that when a country is democratized, it is democratic. It also means that every other person is entitled to his or her opinion regarding matters that concern governance. Unlike dictatorial regimes where one voice speaks and others follow, in democratic regimes it is the voices of the majority rule. This means that in case of elections or matters that bring disagreement, every person is given an opportunity to stand by what he or she thinks is the right option. As stated above democratization is a relatively recent practice. In the early days, monarchs ruled nations. These were kings and queens and in some cases, the church. The king’s word was final. What the king would declare or order to be done was considered the final word and anybody objecting would be punished severely, sometimes with execution. In these regimes, the word ‘order’ was a common word. The king would order things to be done or implemented (Darl 1971, 89). However, with the advent of democracy, the people would elect leaders. Democracy ensures the people who decide on the person they want to lead them. There however seems to be little agreement among political analysts regarding how the process of democratization occurs, including the criteria used to ascertain if democratization has indeed occurred. Many countries adopt democratic governments only to watch them collapse through military coups and other revolts that lead to authoritarian regimes. The first pointer is that citizens should be able to govern themselves by conducting regular elections, which determine their top leaders periodically. This is referred to as representative democracy. These regular elections also serve as avenues through which policies that govern the people are chosen. An example is the voting process which determines if a constitution is to be passed or not through a referendum. Secondly, the right to vote is accorded to all adults. This however has been a recent addition since governments that were referred to as democratic not so long ago used to exclude women, slaves, and free males who did not meet certain literacy or property requirements. If a country restricts this franchise from the voting process, then it cannot be considered as democratic. A perfect example is the apartheid regime in South Africa whereby the only people who voted were minority whites. The third indicator is the acceptance of democratic rights. These particular rights include the right to contest for the highest office, the right to have everyone’s vote count equally, the right to vote and the right to create and form political parties and groups. Then there is a law, which is above the state. All authorities on the particular country should adhere to this law. It provides the framework for democratic rule and protects the democratic rights of the people. Therefore, democratization is the process by which a country reaches a stage whereby people rule themselves by having periodic election to elect their leaders. In this process, almost every adult is allowed to contest for offices, which they are eligible according to the constitution, which is the constitution. The process of democratization is gradual. A stable democracy is achieved through gradual developments in the ruling structures. Rose (34) describes Great Britain is a perfect example of gradual change that has taken place over centuries from when it was an absolute monarchy to become among the most stable democracies in the world today. However, not all democratization is gradual. Some are revolutionary. These are evidenced by revolutions such as the Chinese revolution in 1912, the French revolution, the Russian revolution in 1917 and the American Revolution. These revolutions created foundations for stable and long lasting democracies. In some countries, the process is practiced by the governing elite whereby authoritarian leaders claim that their rule is aimed at creating favorable conditions for democracy. This top-down process often ends up in unstable democracies. The process can also be created by foreign powers. Perfect examples include Japan and West Germany democracies, which were mainly influenced by the United States after the Second World War. This foreign imposed democratization in Japan created a democracy that was stable enough such that in 1993, the most powerful governing party was defeated in the elections. Democratization is therefore a process and many factors are involved during the creating of stable democracies. How power of western democratized states changed In 1989, the Berlin wall fell. This fall, together with the widespread adoption of democracy in governments in Asia, Africa and the Soviet countries as well as the restitution of democratic governance in Latin America was welcomed as a sign of victory by the Western countries. This historic moment termed as the third wave marked a major change in the world map politically while giving tribute to western practices. According to Schumpeter (1991, 259), liberal democracy, accompanied by capitalism seemed the only way to ensure development and political stability. Military leaders are now a rare sight in the politics with little exceptions, which include Burma and Pakistan. There no longer exist single party presidents and ayatollahs, sheikhs; emirs are under growing pressure for reform in the past of their societies. After the September 9/11 attacks on the United States, the political climate has heaped more pressure on the Middle East to embrace democratization. The undercurrent for democracy in China also seems to be growing with time. Denis (1995, 2) identifies four major factors that posed serious threats to the success of democracy in non-western countries. He says these are economic promise, political worries, and social problems. These factors vary in level of strength in restored and new democracies. Such democracies were because of long struggles, contestations, and trial and error. Therefore, many people would have too much expectations of democracy while the reality might not be necessarily so. There was a rapid rejection of pluralist and post-independence institutions in Asia and Africa. In these regions, there was a rapid replacement of institutions and constitutions of democratic governance with autocratic regimes and structures. For example, Africa has seen the gains of democracy being eroded by autocratic leaders ranging from Mobutu Seseko to Hosni Mubarak. There have been significant steps in the progress of democracy in western countries whereby elections are held fairly without many irregularities. Dahl (1971, 26) notes that there must be contribution in a democratic process. However, in the developing countries, democratic progress has been made difficult. This is due to the prevalence of social ills such as social exclusion, poverty, violence, corruption, and disease. These ills combine with ultra-nationalistic tendencies, which have made the process difficult. These problems are a manifestation of the political system failure to accommodate and respond to the political needs of diverse people. The local government regimes, constitutions and the electoral systems in many of the developing countries do not address the plights of the social and political minorities. This has witnessed civil strife in several of these nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many autocratic leaders in these countries hold on to authority using all means even if it means rigging elections and suppressing the opposition. A case in point is the clinging to power of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo. Even after election results clearly indicated that his main rival Ouattara had won the majority vote, he refused to relinquish power and had to be ousted by force. It applies to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe who is seeking another term despite being in his 80s. Therefore, such leaders have continued to deter the progress in democracy. Democracy goes together with capitalism. Though embraced by many countries, democracy and capitalism have led to the creation of a very wide gap between the rich and the poor. The ruling class has managed to hijack the democratization process for their own personal benefits. Elective posts are considered as positions, which people can use to enrich themselves and their kin. Therefore, corruption, unemployment, and ethnicity have prohibited the progress since people realign themselves with their ethnic groups and hence killing the spirit of nationalism. Economic development is directly proportional to democratic progress. Developed countries have relatively stable democracies unlike the developing countries. This boils down to equity in resource allocation. Elections conducted in young democratic countries have become a source of negative trends. Having elections regularly does not necessarily make a country democratic. The important thing is that the process is free and fair. Despite many hurdles in the progress of democratization, there have been major gains, some of which are openly visible. The civil rights movement has been empowered, not only in the United States but also all over the world. People now have a right to express their opinions openly without fear of being maimed. This can be evidenced by the numerous protests and demonstrations that take place throughout the world. A more recent example is the protests in Moscow against the just elected Russian president Vladimir Putin. In some regimes, protesters would be arrested, tortured, or even shot at by police. However, such acts as that in Moscow shows that democracy has really made great progress. The other perfect example is the Arab Spring, which has swept and continues to sweep many Arab nations. The other indicator of democratic progress is the free media. Media and other sources of information can now broadcast freely without interference by the state. This media freedom was a scarce resource when democracy was not so popular. Anything published by newspapers had to be first checked by the government before being given a go ahead. It still happens in some countries but media freedom is one leading testimony that indeed there have been significant gains in democracy. Instead of defining the democratization process, many have defined the empirical conditions that are necessary for the success and creation of a democratic system. There is dissimilarity between the democracy conditions themselves and the conditions that allow for the progress of successful democratization. Conditions of democracy include factors such as political parties, civil society groups, regular elections, a free press, and many others. Pateman (1970, 22) notes that the conditions that allow for successful democratization consists of those factors that lead to the creation of democracy facilitate its stability and ensure that confusion is avoided. One such condition is economic development. Economic development is a significant feature in the procedure of democratization. This is because economic development helps in setting up and sustaining the structures that are necessary to realize a stable democracy. With economic development comes the reduction in poverty levels and inequality. This therefore means that a country, which is developed, can support its population with ease. This includes the provision of the essential social amenities to every member of the population. This sort of development therefore fosters democracy since inequality and poverty are very rare. An example is a country like the United States of America. Being the world’s top economy, the US has one of the most stable democratic systems. However, a look at the least developed nations tells a different story. Levitsky and Lucan (2002, 56) holds that many such countries have authoritarian regimes, which do not uphold the democratic process. In addition, the many that practice democracy, it is a shaky one. Another condition is the education and literacy levels. Countries with high education and literacy levels tend to have stable democracies. The reason for this is that majorities of the citizens in these countries are able to read and write and therefore they are informed. Being informed about the up to date trends in the nation and the world also means that they can make informed decisions. Countries with low education and literacy levels however have shaky democratic regimes. This is because there are small-educated elite and many people who are uneducated. Therefore, the few elite whereby they follow what they are told exploit the majority. This means that they do not make informed decisions but rather decisions are made for them regarding those they want t lead them. This is accompanied by incidents such as voter buying and voter bribery. Democracy needs an educated electorate in order for it to be effective. Another condition that guarantees successful democratization is the use of modern communications. The latest development in modern communications has been social media. Social media has facilitated the sharing of ideas among people from different countries and diverse cultures concerning administrative and other issues. This development has even shaped democracies as witnessed by the Arab spring in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. In all the cases, social media has played a fundamental role in the spread of the revolutions. Then there is the role of culture. Democratic analysts now agree that democracy needs a political culture of accommodation, compromise, negotiation, and willingness to lose. Elkins (2000, 291) observes that in the absence of this culture, democracy cannot succeed even if it is brought about by revolution of the people. Democracies such as France, Japan, India, and Germany had pre-democratic cultures, which favored authoritarian rule. However, their political cultures became democratic gradually. Therefore, political democracy is significant to democratic stability, whether it comes before or after the democratic culture. The other conditions that are looked at in relation to successful democratization include the significance of vigorous and bourgeois middle class as well as the need for a military, which is depoliticized. The middle class is the anchor of any nation since it consists of a majority of the people who are employees in industries and other major sectors, which shape the economic status of a country. Therefore, with a middle class that is vigorous, democratic practices prosper. In fact, in most elections, the leader who is popular among this middle class group has a very high chance of winning the election. The middle class includes public service workers, medical staff, industrial workers, and others working in key sectors of the economy. Countries with a large middle class such as the UK, US and Germany have very stable democracies. Depoliticizing the military is a crucial step towards successful democratization. This eliminates events such as military coups, which are rampant in some African nations. Conclusion The third wave is therefore far from over. This has been greatly evidenced by the Arab spring. People will continue to struggle towards the formation of free and fair governments, which protect and respect the rights of their citizens. In Tunisia, a high rate of unemployment among the youth sparked the riots, which led to what became known as the Tunisian revolution. This led to the incumbent being toppled and reforms being promised to address the concerns. This was followed by revolts in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. Just as the American and the French revolutions happened, these revolts have happened too and this is just an indicator that the third wave will continue. The paper has depicted how the liberal democracies in the western states such the U.S. U.K and France changed in recent decades, which influenced the whole world. References Dahl, R, 1971, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press. Dennis, A, 1995, Liberal Democracy in Non-Western States. Professors World Peace Academy, St. Paul, Minnesota. Elkins, Z, 2000, “Gradations of Democracy? Empirical Tests of Alternative Conceptualizations.” American Journal of Political Science 44: 287-294, 200. Levitsky, S & Lucan A, 2002, “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 13: 51?65, 2002. Pateman, C, 1970, Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rose, R, 2009, “Democratic and Undemocratic States.” New York: Oxford University Press. Schmitter, K, 1991, “What Democracy Is…and Is Not.” Journal of Democracy. vol. 2: 75-88. Schumpeter, J, 1950, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York: Harper and Row. 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