Post by jadedsage on Apr 27, 2004 12:07:30 GMT -5
A Warning From Latin America
by Barbara Crossette
....
UNITED NATIONS—The publication last week of an alarming report showing that more than half the people of Latin America would support an authoritarian regime if it would better their lives will only confirm for many that the euphoria of the early 1990s over the spread of democracy is now history.
The message is not coming only from Latin America. Two years ago, the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Report 2002 focused on the central role of democracy, noting approvingly that in the last two decades of the 20th century, 81 countries—29 in sub-Saharan Africa, 23 in Europe, 14 in Latin America, 10 in Asia and five in the Arab states—moved to one degree or another into democratic governance.
"But," the report also said, "the recent mixed experience with democracy in these countries—and around the world—shows that the process of deepening democracy and making it work for people has barely begun." Since then, the world has watched one crisis after another erupt. Three elected Latin American presidents have been driven from office, in Argentina, Bolivia and Haiti. A fourth, in Venezuela, faces repeated calls to resign after surviving a coup. In the Caucasus, the people of Georgia forced out their president. A popularly elected government in Sri Lanka was driven from power in a political implosion caused by personal rivalries. In Cambodia, a political standoff preventing the swearing in of a new Parliament continues eight months after the July 2003 vote. Polling in Russia over the last year or two reveals a staggeringly low regard for democracy and high tolerance for curtailed civil liberties including freedom of the press. Almost everywhere, including in the United States, voter turnout seems to be dropping.
The new report, Democracy in Latin America: Towards a Citizens' Democracy, also produced by UNDP, takes measure of just how bad things are in one region where democracy was on the upswing not so long ago. This unusual survey, led by Dante Caputo, a former Argentine foreign minister and director of UNDP's project on democratic development in Latin America, draws on a broad range of sources from public opinion polls in 18 countries to interviews with 231 past and present regional leaders. An independent team of Latin American experts wrote the report, which was commissioned by Elena Martinez, director of UNDP's bureau for the region.
Their findings show that only 43 percent of Latin Americans fully support democracy, 30.5 percent are ambivalent and 26.5 percent hold "nondemocratic" views. More than 54 percent of people polled said they would support an authoritarian government if it would resolve economic problems. Even government leaders had doubts, with 59 percent of those consulted saying that political parties are failing to do their jobs. "The first generation of Latin Americans to come of age in functioning democracies has experienced no per capita income growth and widening, world-record disparities in the distribution of national income," the report says. "In 2003, 225 million Latin Americans had incomes below the poverty line."
Secretary General Kofi Annan called the decline of support for democracies in the region "very sad" in a message delivered by video at a news conference launching the report in Lima last week.
Democracy in Latin America calls for more work on democracy "beyond the ballot box," and will be the basis of discussion in cities the length of the hemisphere. Worldwide, there has been a growing realization that instilling a culture of democracy is as important if not more so than holding elections, especially now that angry electorates feel free to oust officials before these once-popular politicians can complete their terms in office.
In this report, UNDP has taken another step under a proactive administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, toward involving the intellectual and political leaders of regions in making tough assessments of their own societies. The Arab Human Development Report was a pioneering accomplishment in this process, involving leading Arab thinkers in framing a very incisive picture of deficits to development in the Arab world.
In Iraq, the United States and its coalition partners are now discovering most painfully how the absence of a democratic culture can block even the most well-meaning development, and atrophy nascent institutions before they can begin to grow in strength. From a good reading of the Arab Human Development Reports (two have now been published) Americans could learn a lot not only about Iraq but also its neighborhood, where there are not many examples of places where civil rights, democratic practices, cosmopolitan education systems or the public role of women flourish.
U.S. interest in Latin America has been on the wane since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. This is a recurrent lament in media in the region. It would be tragic not only for Latin Americans but also for the United States if a new era of "men on horseback" should dawn in the region, fueled by disgruntled publics that feel cut out of global economic growth.
Both Arab and Latin American reports talk about unpleasant realities in society, politics and governance that are not usually faced squarely by member states of the United Nations, particularly in General Assembly debates and big, unwieldy commissions. Regrettably, politics and democracy are also missing from the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, now the touchstone of discussion on the future of the developing world and its hopes of escaping poverty. Regional reports can begin to fill the gap by engaging political and intellectual leaders more directly where they live and work, backed by the unique international standing of an agency like UNDP and the clout of top U.N. officials.
The Latin American report shows that even in regions where democracy is understood and practiced and the middle class may be strong and well-educated, nothing can be taken for granted about the political health of nations. Latin America was the first region in the developing world to become almost universally democratic.
There are lessons in the faltering of support for democracy in Latin America even for the United States, now enmeshed in a singularly partisan political atmosphere as a national election approaches and anger over the bitter experience of Florida in 2000 still preoccupies and clouds the minds of many voters.
The 2002 Human Development Report sounded a clear warning: "People around the world seem to have lost confidence in the effectiveness of their governments," it said, "and often seem to be losing faith in democracy."
by Barbara Crossette
....
UNITED NATIONS—The publication last week of an alarming report showing that more than half the people of Latin America would support an authoritarian regime if it would better their lives will only confirm for many that the euphoria of the early 1990s over the spread of democracy is now history.
The message is not coming only from Latin America. Two years ago, the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Report 2002 focused on the central role of democracy, noting approvingly that in the last two decades of the 20th century, 81 countries—29 in sub-Saharan Africa, 23 in Europe, 14 in Latin America, 10 in Asia and five in the Arab states—moved to one degree or another into democratic governance.
"But," the report also said, "the recent mixed experience with democracy in these countries—and around the world—shows that the process of deepening democracy and making it work for people has barely begun." Since then, the world has watched one crisis after another erupt. Three elected Latin American presidents have been driven from office, in Argentina, Bolivia and Haiti. A fourth, in Venezuela, faces repeated calls to resign after surviving a coup. In the Caucasus, the people of Georgia forced out their president. A popularly elected government in Sri Lanka was driven from power in a political implosion caused by personal rivalries. In Cambodia, a political standoff preventing the swearing in of a new Parliament continues eight months after the July 2003 vote. Polling in Russia over the last year or two reveals a staggeringly low regard for democracy and high tolerance for curtailed civil liberties including freedom of the press. Almost everywhere, including in the United States, voter turnout seems to be dropping.
The new report, Democracy in Latin America: Towards a Citizens' Democracy, also produced by UNDP, takes measure of just how bad things are in one region where democracy was on the upswing not so long ago. This unusual survey, led by Dante Caputo, a former Argentine foreign minister and director of UNDP's project on democratic development in Latin America, draws on a broad range of sources from public opinion polls in 18 countries to interviews with 231 past and present regional leaders. An independent team of Latin American experts wrote the report, which was commissioned by Elena Martinez, director of UNDP's bureau for the region.
Their findings show that only 43 percent of Latin Americans fully support democracy, 30.5 percent are ambivalent and 26.5 percent hold "nondemocratic" views. More than 54 percent of people polled said they would support an authoritarian government if it would resolve economic problems. Even government leaders had doubts, with 59 percent of those consulted saying that political parties are failing to do their jobs. "The first generation of Latin Americans to come of age in functioning democracies has experienced no per capita income growth and widening, world-record disparities in the distribution of national income," the report says. "In 2003, 225 million Latin Americans had incomes below the poverty line."
Secretary General Kofi Annan called the decline of support for democracies in the region "very sad" in a message delivered by video at a news conference launching the report in Lima last week.
Democracy in Latin America calls for more work on democracy "beyond the ballot box," and will be the basis of discussion in cities the length of the hemisphere. Worldwide, there has been a growing realization that instilling a culture of democracy is as important if not more so than holding elections, especially now that angry electorates feel free to oust officials before these once-popular politicians can complete their terms in office.
In this report, UNDP has taken another step under a proactive administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, toward involving the intellectual and political leaders of regions in making tough assessments of their own societies. The Arab Human Development Report was a pioneering accomplishment in this process, involving leading Arab thinkers in framing a very incisive picture of deficits to development in the Arab world.
In Iraq, the United States and its coalition partners are now discovering most painfully how the absence of a democratic culture can block even the most well-meaning development, and atrophy nascent institutions before they can begin to grow in strength. From a good reading of the Arab Human Development Reports (two have now been published) Americans could learn a lot not only about Iraq but also its neighborhood, where there are not many examples of places where civil rights, democratic practices, cosmopolitan education systems or the public role of women flourish.
U.S. interest in Latin America has been on the wane since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. This is a recurrent lament in media in the region. It would be tragic not only for Latin Americans but also for the United States if a new era of "men on horseback" should dawn in the region, fueled by disgruntled publics that feel cut out of global economic growth.
Both Arab and Latin American reports talk about unpleasant realities in society, politics and governance that are not usually faced squarely by member states of the United Nations, particularly in General Assembly debates and big, unwieldy commissions. Regrettably, politics and democracy are also missing from the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, now the touchstone of discussion on the future of the developing world and its hopes of escaping poverty. Regional reports can begin to fill the gap by engaging political and intellectual leaders more directly where they live and work, backed by the unique international standing of an agency like UNDP and the clout of top U.N. officials.
The Latin American report shows that even in regions where democracy is understood and practiced and the middle class may be strong and well-educated, nothing can be taken for granted about the political health of nations. Latin America was the first region in the developing world to become almost universally democratic.
There are lessons in the faltering of support for democracy in Latin America even for the United States, now enmeshed in a singularly partisan political atmosphere as a national election approaches and anger over the bitter experience of Florida in 2000 still preoccupies and clouds the minds of many voters.
The 2002 Human Development Report sounded a clear warning: "People around the world seem to have lost confidence in the effectiveness of their governments," it said, "and often seem to be losing faith in democracy."