Discouraging
Democracy and good governance are on the retreat in a number of countries around the world, a wide-ranging report says on Tuesday.The report, compiled by Freedom House, a US government-supported campaigning organisation, concludes that human rights and governance have worsened in Russia and Iran, arguing that corruption in Iran has intensified in spite of the campaign promises of President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad.
It also indicates that states across the world are attempting to follow the model of China and Russia by seeking to modernise parts of their economy while keeping a central grip on power.
(via Instapundit)
I have been worried about Russia’s slide toward authoritarianism for a long time, and obviously China and Iran still remain concerns (although of a very different nature.) It is an obvious failure that Bush’s second term, premised on the goal of speading Democracy, has met with such little success.
Of course a lot of this is beyond are ability to strongly influence. At the end of the day, we can’t control the internal policies of Russia or China in any meaningful way. It is probably worth noting though that America’s image has been tarnished in the last few years, and our moral authority is less then it should be. Some if this is simply based on perception, rather then truth, but I do think that some of it can be credibly laid at Bush’s feet. There have been many times when the President in fighting the war on terror has chosen to assert authority rather then seek broad support from Congress. In particular the issues involving the trials of enemy combatants and the need for changes to FISA stand as strong examples of that. I don’t necessarily disagree with what has been done in these cases, or even that a credible argument can be made that Bush did indeed have the inherent authority to act as he did, but it does I think mute our message of democracy when Presidential authority is constantly being strongly asserted. Further, I think as a practicle matter this assertion of authority was uneccesary and counter-productive, setting the Whitehouse and Congress in more of an adversarial role then is desirable. This isn’t entirely the President’s fault, and it might have been inevitable due to the increased level of partisanship that has been rising since the acrimonious Clinton years and the bitterly contested 2000 election. At the end of the day though, the President is the one holding the buck.
Of course this probably had little effect on the setbacks for democracy we have seen recently, but every little bit matters.
Help Create Democracy 2.0
Week Released: September 17-21, 2007
The Millennial Generation, including myself, is interested in being an
active part of changing public policy. This interest led me to be a part of
Mobilize.org¹s Democracy 2.0 Campaign.
On July 4, Mobilize.org began the Democracy 2.0 project to call attention to
the ways that our democratic process and institutions are properly serving
and failing to serve the interests of Americans, specifically young
Americans. The purpose of Democracy 2.0 is to call attention to the main
problems of our current political system, highlight the distinct
characteristics of the Millennial Generation, and provide guidelines for
change to help cultivate a renewed political process in America.
Currently, our political system is trying to manage a 21st century society
with 18th century political institutions. Democracy 2.0 will upgrade our
current political system, empowering citizens to identify community
problems, propose solutions, be a part of the implementation of these
solutions, and change the way politics is done in this country.
To begin this endeavor, Mobilize.org asked a series of questions and
collected data from youth, ages 16-30 that will be reviewed and evaluated by
Democracy 2.0 Ambassadors at the Democracy 2.0 Summit on October 3, 2007,
with the intention of releasing the Democracy 2.0 Declaration of Our
Generation. The Declaration of our Generation is a short statement of
principles describing a citizen-centered approach to democracy. The
Declaration will focus on three themes: 1) What currently works and what
does not work in our democracy; 2) What defines our generation; and 3) What
Democracy 2.0 should look like.
The Declaration will call attention to areas in which the government is
succeeding and failing to serve the public interest, highlight the unique
and defining characteristics of our generation, and provide guidelines that
will serve as a call to action for American citizens to help create this
renewed form of democracy.
I wanted to mention this opportunity since every posting here has an
interest in this. Mobilize.org is looking for people who want to serve as
Democracy 2.0 Online Ambassadors to be a part of the drafting process. If
you have any questions, please shoot me an e-mail at brendan.chan@mail.utexas.edu.