davidvoegtle.net

I want to play a game. The game is “Let’s suppose.”

Let’s suppose that there is an oppressive, dictatorial regime somewhere in the world. You have to power to grant to that society one of the two following characters: either you can make grant them a democratic form of government or you can engender in them an appreciation of Western liberalism (in the sense of interested in personal liberty, not in the sense of American political liberals). Regardless of any other feelings that you have about “granting” anything like this to another, probably sovereign society, which one do you grant?

Is there one that would definitely be better than the other? Is there one that might lead you to getting “two for the price of one?” Would a democratically elected government probably lead to a more liberal society or would a more liberal society probably lead to a democratic government?

Or is it a “chicken and egg” problem?

A few days ago, Ilya Somin began a series of posts over at The Volokh Conspiracy exploring one possible answer to this game. It’s worth a read:

Promoting Democracy vs. Promoting Human Rights::

The recently published annual State Department report on human rights notes that “democracy does not guarantee what President Bush has called a commitment to ‘the non-negotiable demands of human dignity.’” It cites Russia and Venezuela as nations with democratically elected governments that violate basic human rights. Obviously, the case of the Afghan who may be executed by that nation’s elected government for converting to Christianity raises the same issue. So too does the victory of the terrorist group Hamas in the recent Palestinian election. In these and other cases, democracy might conflict with other liberal values, including human rights, equality for women and minority groups, and the rule of law.

(Via The Volokh Conspiracy.)

Personally, I agree with him. Transforming an illiberal society to a liberal one is, although the more difficult and time consuming of the two, the more important task to ensure that the changes being sought are actually achieved. The US has now shown in two different recent cases (Afghanistan and Iraq) that a constitutionally-based democratic-style government can be imposed upon a country without the people of the country necessarily rushing to embrace Western-style personal liberties (freedom of the press, of association, of expression, of religion, etc.)

Technorati Tags:
military, middle east, politics, Iraq