Democratization and Reversal Democracy - Term Paper Example

Democratization and Reversal Democracy The process of achieving democracy has been thought of as not only being aninternal and a local affair but also that which can be externally acquired. As Larry Diamond puts it, the process of liberating technology can be helpful in enhancing democratic trends in a situation in which the existing regime is totalitarian (Diamond 11). Technology has been applauded for faster dissemination of information to reach the various places of the nation and this enhances the participation of the people in the very weighty issues that are thought provoking and are deemed a violation and infringement of the human rights and freedom. The exploration of the internet services coupled with other social sites like twitter, face book and internet related ways of disseminating information have been known to enhance the scope of participation and contribution on issues that directly attract the public debate (Diamond 35). The contribution of the liberal technology in enhancing democratization is coming with a couple of threats to the existing regime. The regimes are also hell-bent in cushioning themselves from the looming exposure of the actions that are perceived to be rolling back the democratic processes gained in the country. In this regard, most of the totalitarian regimes have opted to censor media houses and as well as the internet providers that enables the citizen to participate in the discussion the reprimands the government conduct on abuse some fundamental human rights (Diamond 43). The media operators have also been in the same trouble with the regimes they serve under following their efforts to expose the unorthodox ways of handling issues. Technological liberation has also enabled the public to not only scrutinize the government conduct but also increased the amount of participation on issues of public interest. The contribution of the technology in democratization in this regard can not be underestimated as a key player in the democratization process (Diamond 32). The role of liberal technology has attracted the concern of the optimist and the pessimists in equal measure. The optimists of the liberal technology views it as a way of empowering the individuals, instituting a strong and viable civil society that is able to agitate and champion for the rights of the people and reach a critical mass of individuals in the shortest time possible. The technology will also facilitate utmost independent communication and mobilization (Diamond 55). On the other side, the pessimist of the liberal technology have a contrary view, they cite china as one of the countries that heavily explore the use of technology as having not realized any significant change in the political arena. The Chinese Communist Party has continued ruling with iron fist and has firmly shielded external intrusion as it is beyond what accountability means (Diamond 61). Liberal technology has been defined as the variety of information and communication technology that has the ability to enhance the social, economic, and political freedom. In this sense, the technology facilitates on the way news are reported, exposure of the wrongdoings in the country, enables quick and most efficient ways of opinion expression, mobilization of the protest, close monitoring of the elections to ensure they are free and fair (Diamond 68). In addition to all these, the initiative also facilitates scrutiny of the government, entrench deep public participation and most importantly enhance and expand the horizons that come with freedom. Malaysia is one of the countries that have the record of consistently controlling the operation of the technological flow of information as they deem it a factor that is detrimental to the existence of the government. The utilization of the technology has also been on the rise as in the records of the recent statistics. Liberal technology has a convincing history in the revolutionary world, the effect of technology in the dissemination and perception changes can be traced during the period of the scientific and industrial revelation. Again during the early times, the revolution in the church and the emergence of the protestant churches from the Catholic Church stemmed due to the revolutionary changes brought about by the then emergence of the printing press (Diamond 69). In the same breadth, telegraph was also hailed for the immense contribution in the development and promotion of peace. The development of technology will surely contribute to the enhancement of democratization given the nature and the ease with which informational flow can reach the target population (Diamond 70). The current uprisings in the Arabian countries have been facilitated by the enabling environment created by the technology. The effect of the technology is thus envisaged to give life to the democratization process if not interfered with. The political Wave Democratization can also be enhansed by the revolutionary waves that can emerge in the countries due to the oppressive nature of the contemporary regimes. The revolutionary waves are normally caused by the discontention of the citizens in the way fundermantals of the country as managed. Some of the prompt issues that causes the waves include massive unemployement level in a country or high inflation rate in which the common people find acquisation of the basics needs impossible (Huntington 13). Tyrrany is also one of the factors that the people do recent with time and the need to have a democratically instituted governmet becomes neccesary. The totalirarian system cahracterised by the police brutality and the detention of people without trial are some of the issues that can led to the emergence of a political wave to impeach a government. The rise of Illiberal Democracy All over the world, the one democraticall elected regimes have changed the platform with which they were elected and has embarked into the most totalitarian government which defies the need of its people and instead advance their own course (Zakaria 11). There is the widespread tendency of these type of government to deprive its citizens of the basic human freedom. This trend is not selective in certsin countries but it can be conspicously be observed in as many countries as one can imagine; from Peru to philiphines, the worrying phenomenons are in the rise: the aspect of illiberal democracy (Zakaria 9). Contrary n the west, democratic movement has been known to go intandem with constitutional liberalism. This has been characterised with free and fair elections. The rule of law and upholding the fundementals of human rights are essential in the democratization process within the western block, this is a mirage in the other parts of the world, where the two basic concepts are sharply divided and can not be spoken inhesam breadth. Exercising democracy in the absence of constitutional liberalism always culminates into a centralized system which is always characterised with ethnic race, liberty erosion, civil wars and constant conflicts (Huntington 10). This degeneration of the democratics systems must be halted by the international community and the united states by promoting the balloting to enhance the societal liberalization to curb the obssession. The Rise of the Muslim Democracy The rapid development of the islamic democracy can nolonger be denied. The islamic political parties have increasingly field candidates for the various positions in the electoral processes in the countries where they are situated (Nasr 7). The view of the islamic toward democracy is that it is the best legitimate way of instituting a pragmatic ideals for the people. For instamce for the understndin gof the democratic processes in the country of turkey, one has to consider the liberalization of the economic policies of the country’s prime minister by 1993 (Nasr 8). The private sectro was empowerd by the regime and grew much vibrant and this is perceived to have positively contributed to the democratuzation. Democratic Reversals Actions the reverse the gains and the ideals of the democracy have been realized in the world where the incumbent gorverment employs the use of unlawful actions that are not embraced democratically. The actions supresses any of the efforts by either the lobby groups or the oppositions to champion for the needs of the people. For instance in China, a 27 year old Sun Zhigang could not produce a permit that could proove her temporary living and was detained for the same,. In a span of three days , she died and the police fabricated the cause of her death as being that fom heart attack. The parents were not convinced of the explanation and demanded an independent autopsy which revealed that she succumbed to brutality attributed to have emanated from he police oficers (Diamond, 2). Sun’s story reached the the media groups known as the liberal newspaper, Namfang Dushi Bao, otherwise known as the Southern Metropolis daily. The investigation of the matter did actuall prooved that the middle aged woman was subjected to police brutality and succumbed to the the same. This strory was floated in the news paper and the internet sources and within the shortest time it became a national story which engulled people with fear and and it was vehementely reprimanded by the people of the country (Diamond, 3). The police were forced to carry out another independent investigation on the issue and a total of twelve people were found guilty of the murder of the young woman. Sun’s case could be said with authority as being one of the most rare cases of the authorities in China being reprimaned for comntravening the law (Diamond, 2). The issue was hotly debated in China as every other personality who had experienced a similar episode share there anguish over the internet provision modes of conveying and sahring informatoion. Interestingly , the chief editor of the news paper that exposed sun’s story, Cheng Yizhong and three other were later confiscated by the police for allegedly for counts of charges (Diamond, 4). Even though he was found innocent, they lost their jobs and the operations were later found illegal and that they had been evading taxation. These could be deemed as how a repressive regime can defy democratic moves to reprimand her own people for no apparent reason. The same process has been seen in the Arab world where, the leadership of the country has been authoritative and has ignored the needs of the people. The people have responded by waging demonstrations that resulted into a revolution in which the duly and legitimate governments have been forced to leave office. It is typical of these regimes that doo not want to abide by the law and rule with Iron fist to do all what is possible to suppress the people not to articulate their grievances (Lane, and Svante 198). In this regard, the people are deprived of the very basic human rights and freedom including that of speech and association. This can be vividly be demonstrated as in the Arab world were peaceful demonstrators have been beaten and detained contrary to the provisions of the law. While the west have strongly institutionalize the democratic processes the other side of the world have shown the gains made in instituting a proper democratic system rolling back in the entry of every regimes. Works Cited Lane, Jan, and Svante O. Ersson. Democracy: A Comparative Approach. London: Routledge, 2003. Print. Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-six Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. Print. Diamond, Larry. "Foreign Affairs." A Fourth Wave or False Start? (May 22, 2011): 5. Diamond Larry. "Journal of Democracy." Liberation Technology (July 2010, Volume 21): 83. Huntington, Samuel P. "Will More Countries Become Democratic?" Political Science Quarterly (19/08/2008 10:01): pp. 193-218. Nasr, Vali. "The Rise of Muslim Democracy." Islam and the Making of the State (2001): 22. Zakaria, Fareed. "Foreign Affairs." The Rise of Illiberal Democracy (November/ December 1997): 14. . Read More