...The role of the middle class in achieving democratic reforms in Asia Table of Contents 1. Abstract 3 2. Introduction 3 3. What is Middle Class? 3 4. Democratization (Democratic Reforms) 4 5. Democratization in Asia 4 6. Historical Cases of Democratization from Asia 4 6.1. Philippine 4 6.2. Taiwan 5 6.3. South Korea 5 6.4. Indonesia 5 6.5. Thailand 5 7. Middle Class & Democratization in Asia 6 8. Conclusion 7 9. References 7 10. Discussion Questions 8 1. Abstract This essay is about the role of middle class in the democratic reforms in Asia. It briefly discussed significance of middle class with many examples of democratic transitions in the region. 2. Introduction A question that is commonly raised about the democratization is that who make and strengthen the democracy, whether it is consolidated by elites or middle class? Many studies have given much emphasize to the role of elites in creation of democracy but the reforms happened in last two decades in Asia suggests that the contribution of middle class to the process of democratization can never be overlooked. In Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea we cannot imagine the completion of democratization if we ignore the role of middle class although it is mostly seen in supportive role but successful democratic transition was only possible with its active participation. 3. What is Middle Class? Middle class is relatively vague concept as it has different meaning for different people...
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...policy debates of the last several years has concerned the future of democracy and its role in human-rights law. The idea of Western societies encouraging democratization of non-western societies is believed to be cultural imperialism, which abuses the power of states in the developing world. However for the purpose of this paper, I view the support of democratization by Western societies as a positive approach to achieving the core significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that is supposedly recognized by all states. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created on the notion of a common human race. It represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are naturally entitled. Of the fifty-eight countries that were members of the United Nations in 1948, forty-eight countries initially approved the document. Essentially all of the world’s states have approved it since then, which indicates that in any event its principle articles should be used by all states as an instrument in binding international law in spite of the presence of treaty ratification or state of war. Considering the fact that most countries have agreed to abide by the Declaration of Human Rights, it can be assumed that all states would have the intention to accomplish that in the best way possible. With the intentions of protecting essential human rights, the promotion of democratization is crucial and the most proficient way possible. The twenty second article...
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...Modern Political Science Ruslan Ulizskiy (MPF 151) 30.11.2015 Essay on methodology used in the article “The Effects of U.S. Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building, 1990-2003” (Steven E. Finkel, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and Mitchell A. Seligson) The article “The Effects of U.S. Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building, 1990-2003” was written by Steven E. Finkel, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and Mitchell A. Seligson and published in World Politics (Vol. 59, No. 3) in 2007. The research was focused on the effectiveness of democracy promotion programs by United States. The aim of this article is to make the first detailed investigation into the U.S. contribution to democratization worldwide between 1990 and 2003. And the research puzzle for authors is an interconnection between providing of democracy funds and following democratic outcomes in receiver countries. Authors assumes that U.S. promotion of democratization in different countries is useful: foreign assistance could be helpful and democratization could be heterogenic. Thus, the first hypothesis suggests that foreign NGO can stimulate democratic development. Although there isn’t proper analysis of specific mechanisms which allows international forces facilitate democratization within countries, authors argue that democracy can be promoted by international forces both indirectly and directly. Concerning the matter of causality, indirect promotion works through changing some of structural parameters, which could be prerequisites...
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...Abstract National League for Democracy shocks the Myanmar’s government by winning the 1990 election, and has become the symbol of democratization hope for the people ever since. This paper will reveal what have the NLD truly accomplished during the 1990-2010 period in the term of Myanmar’s democratization, and how effective it is as an opposition side. Chapter 1: Introduction Background Democracy has become a justification for governmental systems to lead themselves into good governance. It is believed that democracy is a part of the best governmental system, which can maintained its growth and stability by positive and pro-active attitude from its people (Rosyada, Jamil. 2005:113). This led to government openness by check and balances mechanism, which open the doors into good governance. The trend has finally reached Southeast Asia region in second half of the twentieth, thanks to third world democratization wave (1974-1990) classified by Samuel Huntington. Some of the nations are having dynamics to face democratization persistence to reduce centralistic power from the authoritarian. They are, to say: Indonesia, Filipina and Thailand. While Myanmar are having the exact opposite when their civilian government being overpowered by the military. However, the development of democracy culture in Myanmar is still highly hoped by its people, shown by the 1990 election where National League for Democracy, Myanmar’s Opposition party, won. Although the result of the election was...
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...emergence of absolute monarchies in the Gulf States takes root from their traditional royal families that were arbitrarily picked by British imperial interest – Saudi Arabia (the Al Saud family), Oman (the Al Said family), Kuwait (the Al Sabah family), Bahrain (the Al Khalifa family), Qatar (the Al Thani family), and UAE (a federation of seven sheikdoms). After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the traditional royal families in the Gulf States fell under British control, which sought to secure the route to India and pledged to protect the Gulf region from external aggression in return. Moreover, Britain’s imperial policy empowered the royal families’ authorities and gave them a recognized ruling identity. The arrival of Western oil companies, seeking concessions in the 1930s, further consolidated the authority of the ruling families (Cleveland and Bunton, 2009). This essay will focus on the impacts of oil-abundance on the Gulf states, which more precisely explain the resilience of incumbent regimes. The concept of ‘rentier state’ accounts for the continued survival of absolute monarchies such that democracy is forgone in favour of an authoritarian regime. The main argument of this essay is, however, that a combination of rentierism; and traditional Islamic culture, which are further reinforced by rentierism, elucidate the survival of absolute monarchies in the Gulf in a more accurate fashion. . The Islamic traditional cultures, such as consultation, consensual...
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...Future of Democracy in Africa With the aid of the book, State, Conflict, and Democracy in Africa, I will try to come up with some type of conclusion to the future democracy in Africa. These Africanists that I will mention in my paper have assessed that contemporary Africa has struggled to deal with false starts, unsatisfactory attempts to reconfigure power and varies political reforms. The first theoretical essay is written by Crawford Young on the Third Wave of Democratization in Africa. Young is a Political Scientist, who received a PhD from Harvard and he specializes in development and politics in developing countries, particularly Africa. His works are “The Politics of Cultural Pluralism” , “Ideology and Development in Africa” , and “The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State”. In his essay, Young offers insight on Africa's experimentation on political liberalization. Young starts off by talking about the “third wave” of democratization which hit Africa in 1989 which was seen as a global dynamic. Factors such as modernization, diffusion and power politics helped shaped this transition. In Africa there were deeper structural factors which started first with the economical field. “In dramatic contrast to the aggressive assertion of economic nationalism in the 1970s, a decade peppered with sweeping indigenization programs and widespread nationalism, the 1980 Organization of African Unity Lagos Plan of Action, and the blistering critique of African development performance...
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...Kim Dae-jung & Truth reconciliation South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established on December 1, 2005, during the presidency of Roh Moo-hyun. This governmental commission was set to investigate incidents in Korean history, all the way back from annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, up to the election of Kim Young-Sam in 1993. South Korea has been subject to a period of military dictatorships, during which there was given little attention to truth-funding. Also, South Korea’s fight for democracy spans out on a long period of civil movements and demonstrations. They often led to uprisings, which were often repressed hard by authoritarian and military power. Demonstrations, like the Kwangju Uprising in 1980, were subject to murder, torture and other abuses of human right. These acts were often covered up and ignored by the government. However, the prosecution and sentencing of two former authoritarian rulers, Chun Doo-Hwan and Rho Tae-Woo in 1995, was a clear sign that times were changing and even successful coups can be punished. At the end of the 90s, laws for rectifying the past were established under the government of Kim Dae-Jung. The Truth & Reconciliation Commission would go stay active until 2010, when the conservative Lee Myung-Bak stopped the funding. What led to this sudden governmental interest in truth and reconciliation under the Kim Dae-Jung government? In this literature review we will look at the factors that instigated interest in...
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...Political Theory Professor K 07/11/2012 Democracy The term democracy is defined as: “a political system by which the citizens of a country govern themselves.... where their elected representatives make laws; the executive branch administers those laws and is responsible for the way it does so.” (www.duhaime.org). This simplified definition of the term democracy adequately defines what it is that the U.S. wants to spread and administer thought all countries around the world. After the Cold War ended, promoting the international spread of democracy seemed poised to replace the containment of democracy as the guiding principle of U.S. foreign policy. Scholars, policymakers, and commentators embraced the idea that democratization could become America's next mission. In recent years, however, critics have argued that spreading democracy may be unwise or even harmful. Because of this, the debate of whether or not the United States should spread democracy or put it on the backburner is never ending. Critics of the spread of democracy argue, “democratic peace is a myth; that the process of democratization increases the risk of war; and that democratic elections are harmful in societies that are not fully liberal.” (belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu). This idea of democratic peace is that countries that have established democracies rarely, if ever, go to war with each other. Critics argue that even though it is rare that countries that have democracies go to war with each other, the fact that...
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...If one country is failing, then its allies and surrounding nations are failing as well. Burkina Faso currently has the world’s lowest literacy rate and is one of the poorest nations in Africa. Burkina Faso’s leadership, allies, and surrounding nations are failing to stop the vicious cycle of poverty from destroying any chance of success for this country. Its decreasing status in society weighs Africa down and requires frequent international aid. Lack of utilizing natural resources, corruption in economic spending, and a large poverty population are all key contributors in Burkina Faso’s current detrimental state. This paper will question if democratization will reduce poverty in a country and analyze natural resources’ impact in this theory. The following model best describes my research design: Natural resources (high): democratization poverty (literacy rate) I will begin by first examining Burkina Faso’s leadership and how its control of natural resources impacts poverty. I will later research these same issues for South Africa and compare the two nations. II. HISTORY/ EASING INTO LITERATURE REVIEW History In order to understand the issues of Burkina Faso’s natural resources, we must understand the history and foundation of the nation. Burkina Faso was originally called Upper Volta and became independent within weeks of many other French colonies, on August 5th 1960. The nation started off as a sovereign country with a multiparty system and a regime inspired by the...
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...Tanja Jahn Professor McBride ENG 090 05 April 2011 Democratization Processes in Post-War Germany Germany’s first attempt at democracy occurred under the government of the Weimar Republic. It was unsuccessful for several reasons; it was forced under uncertain defeat, and the population had little faith in democracy. Democratization after World War II was a completely different scenario, and it flourished due to international support and the willingness of the German people to assimilate to a democratic government. The Treaty of Versailles negotiated the terms of defeat for Germany after the First World War. The Weimar Republic, established in 1919, was a democratic government with parliamentary and federal systems. Frank Wilson indicates that the Weimar Republic looked great on paper and appeared to contain important features for democracy to succeed. For example, the constitution offered extensive rights and universal suffrage (128). “However, in practice the Weimar Republic was a failure. Reparation costs placed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty were astronomical” (Goldman 1). These demands were designed to punish them, and blame was placed entirely on Germany for causing the war. In additions to reparations, Germany had to concede much of its territory. Inflation further disabled the economy. Democracy was thus viewed as being detrimental to economic growth. The constitution also had its weaknesses. “First...
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...Compare the political leaders profiled in Susan Lawrence’s article “The New Guard: Five Younger Officials Make Their Way to the Top”. According to Lawrence (1998), the future of China will largely depend on its top leaders. Their priorities, reputations, and ability to get local officials and society at large to support their policies will shape the course of future events. At the vanguard of the group of up-and coming leaders is Hu Jintao, who joined the Communist Party’s most senior body, the seven-man politburo Standing Committee, at the age of 49 in 1992. These new leaders are united in their commitment to ensuring the primacy of the Communist Party and to implementing market-oriented economic reform. Trained as engineers (or, in one case, a geologist), they had reputations as good managers and operated primarily as party bureaucrats. The up-and-comer who has risen highest is Hu, now 55 years old. He was appointed vice-president of the People Republic of China in March. He may take over as party general secretary when Jiang Zemin completes his second term in that position in 2002. He was trained in hydroelectric engineering at the prestigious Qinghua University, and rose to national prominence through the ranks of the Communist Youth League (Lawrence, 1998, p. 570). The brightest of the five young leaders is Li Changchun, 54, the party boss of wealthy Guangdong, the province that borders Hong Kong. Li, an electrical engineer, spent most of his first five decades...
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...Nigeria’s democracy. Elections in Nigeria continue to elicit more than casual interest by Nigerian scholars due to the fact that despite the appreciation that only credible election can consolidate and sustain the country’s nascent democracy, over the years, Nigeria continues to witness with growing disappointments and apprehension inability to conduct peaceful, free and fair, open elections whose results are widely accepted and respected across the country (Ekweremadu, 2011). All the elections that have ever been conducted in Nigeria since independence have generated increasingly bitter controversies and grievances on a national scale because of the twin problems of mass violence and fraud that have become central elements of the history of elections and of the electoral process in the country (Gberie, 2011). Despite the marked improvement in the conduct of the 2011 elections, the process was not free from malpractices and violence (National Democratic Institute, 2012). Thus over the years, electoral processes in the history of Nigeria’s democratic governance have continued to be marred by extraordinary display of rigging, dodgy, “do or die” affair, ballot snatching at gun points, violence and acrimony, thuggery, boycotts, threats and criminal manipulations of voters' list, brazen falsification of election results, the use of security agencies against political opponents and the intimidation of voters (Bekoe, 2011). Despite the vital place that election holds in democracy in this...
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...The works “Preventive War and Democratic Politics”, “Democratization and the Danger of War”, “Terrorism, the Use of Force, and International Law After 11 September”, and “Failed States: Fixing a Broken World” all describe and aim to formulate the motivations for modern wars between two states. By using historical precedents, each author makes assertions about war theory, leaving the reader with a framework to analyze conflicts occurring in the world today. While each entry makes a unique assumption, the content of arguments invariably overlaps. In my response I will examine each piece and the questions I was left with after contemplating the implications of their respective theories. In “Preventive War and Democratic Politics”, Levy first distinguishes preemptive wars from preventive wars, claiming that the former involves an immediate threat to a state’s safety while the latter is determined by the presence of a non-immediate threat—often an adversary “crossing a particular threshold of military power, leading to a stop-level power shift” (Levy, 7). He goes on to discuss that since the advent of nuclear military developments, the majority of wars have been preventive. This argument is logical because as the stakes are raised, states have the responsibility to their constituents to mitigate threats; citizens are much more willing to tolerate smaller skirmishes than risk the threat of an over-militarization of another state with different social and political values, beliefs...
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...The Jacksonian Era The Jacksonian Era is often described as a time when the United States experienced the “democratization of politics.” Jackson did like to get the people’s insight on his ideas but most of the time he went his own way and did things that upset the Americans. Although the Jacksonian Era showed signs of democratization of politics, democracy was not as relevant as you might think. There are several ways in which president Andrew Jackson was not “democratic”, including a Bank of the United States, American politics and society in general; and the most significant cause of Jackson’s undemocratic approach is the Indian Removal Act. The Bank of the United States was something that Andrew Jackson hated. Even though most of Jackson’s...
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...Democratic Transition in Nigeria Challenges of Democratization The election of Olusegun Obasanjo to the presidency of Nigeria in 1999 effectively brought an end to 16 years of military rule. Obasanjo became only the third head of government to be elected by the people (not counting the election of 1993, won by Chief Moshood Abiola but later annulled). Nigerians greeted the transition from military to civilian rule with widespread jubilation as they looked forward to a new era of stability, peace, and prosperity. Nigerians had good reason to be optimistic about the future. After all, Obasanjo assumed the presidency with an avowed commitment to combating many of the ills that plagued the country. His pronouncements before and after his election suggested that he intended to follow through on this platform, bridging the cleavages between ethnic and religious groups, and guiding the country through the process of democratization. The general public's expectation was that the country's return to democratic governance would lead to the restoration of freedoms lost under the previous regimes. Nearly seven years later, it is worth examining Obasanjo's efforts to establish a new order. A reflection of sorts took place when 40 Nigerians and other experts on the country attended a conference at the Kennedy School at Harvard in December 2002. They expressed their profound distress at the parlous state of Nigeria's democracy. Conference participants identified and suggested possible...
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