Deutsche Welle — Democracy debate
02 16th, 2010Deutsche Welle has joined the debate on democracy. Click here: Deutsche Welle — Democracy Kills
Hawksley though, goes a couple of steps further. He suggests replacing the word democracy, by now intrinsically linked to an ideological form of government opposed by countries such as Russia and China, and replacing it with something along the lines of “good governance.”
“If you got together with the UN and said ‘we want to give these people in this African country good governance and we want to build them schools and so on,’ then you would take away the friction that many places see as the West trying to export their own ideology in order to get business contracts.”
Fukuyama in The Spectator
02 12th, 2010
In The Spectator, Francis Fukiyama asks: Is the age of democracy over? Fukiyama is the author of the seminal post Cold War book The End of History and the Last Man in which he became a cult thinker by arguing that liberal democratic principles are the end point of any form of government. Twenty years later — by watching Russia and most recently Ukraine – Fukiyama concludes: “We need to match those high ideals with unglamorous but steady investments in institution-building if liberal democracy is to deliver on its promises.”
Six months after the publication of Democracy Kills: What’s so good about having the Vote this debate is really hotting up.
Heart of Darkness? Not at all.
02 12th, 2010A New Zealand friend sent me a piece by author James Jackson about Africa. It was depressing and spoke of Africa’s word associations – Famine. Drought. Conflict. Cruelty. Machetes. Child Soldiers. Massacres. Diamonds. Warlords.Tyranny. Corruption. Despair. Disease. Aids. Africa. She asked whether I agreed. I have just returned from Uganda.
I don’t agree. I detected signs that reminded me of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia 20-30 years ago — hugely intelligent and motivated people picking their way through bad government. Back in the 60s & 70s, there was famine in China, genocide in Cambodia, war in Vietnam and poverty throughout Asia. Back in the 1940s there was hunger, cruelty, massacres, tyranny corruption, disease and despair in Europe — for the second time that century.
It is not Africa. It is the way the human spirit is mismanaged.
Living Wage
02 10th, 2010A follow up contribution from the note about how much it costs to live in Britain from Donald Hirsh www.donaldhirsch.com
The bare minimum for a couple with two children renting a council flat in the Midlands – £28,000 a year — almost a third more than the average wage.
Click here: Democracy Kills Click here: Democracy Kills
A New Capitalism
02 5th, 2010Anatole Kaletsky hot foot back from Davos writes in The Times :-
The question that nobody wants to raise is whether the new model of capitalism that emerges to dominate the world will be a radically reformed version of the Western democratic system or some variant of the authoritarian state-led capitalism favoured in China, Russia and many other emerging economies.
“The West must come up with a new model of capitalism that’s consistent with our political values,” he quotes a US diplomat as saying. “Either we reinvent ourselves or we will lose.”
Dead Aid and Democracy
01 31st, 2010I am reading Dambisa Moyo’s book, Dead Aid, in which she writes: “In a perfect world, what poor countries at the lowest rungs of economic development need is not a multi-party democracy, but in fact a decisive benevolent dictator to push through the reforms required to get the economy moving.”
She may be right. But how to make it work?
Broken society
01 30th, 2010The average income in Britain is around £20,000 which is not enough for a family to live on. Employers knows this, but the lower the wages the higher their bonuses. Therefore, both parents have to work full time. Because parents are too exhausted to raise their children society has become ‘broken.’ This was the conclusion around the dinner table last night to the question of how can anyone live on the average salary. What a dangerous economic balance for a society to get itself into!
Paradoxical ideology
01 24th, 2010The concept of having to hold elections to give government’s credibility unravelled a fraction with Afghanistan’s decision to postpone its parliamentary elections for four months. It shows up the paradoxical ideology advocated by Western democracies who pushed for the postponement — after the chaos of the presidential elections in August. Elections are all very well, but they must be held in an environment where they work.
Arguing Democracy’s Corner
01 23rd, 2010I’m finding increasing pressure for the advocates of ‘instant democracy’ to get off their butts and argue their case. This is a very interesting site from the US. http://principalitiesandpowers.blogspot.com/
It is a disgrace, given all that political theorists have to teach, that there has been such enthusiasm for “democracy” and multi-party elections, in isolation of the other pre-requisites for liberty……With the rise of dictators (Chavez), kleptocrats (Putin), and Islamocrats by the ballot box, democracy has been earning a justifiably bad reputation. David C. Innes, Asst. Professor, The King’s College in New York City.
Al Qaeda — South Asian Threat
01 20th, 2010Al-Qaeda is trying to destabilise the whole of South Asia hoping to provoke war between India and Pakistan, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says. “It’s important to recognise the magnitude of the threat,” Mr Gates said, after meeting his Indian counterpart AK Antony in Delhi.
The scenario is laid out in:-
