Consolidation of Democracy
Introduction
The road to democracy implies changes in the current political and social structure of a state, as existent literature reveals. This essay discusses about consolidated democracies and about how countries reach the democratic government, passing from an authoritative regime, offering definitions of consolidated democracy and discussing about what countries need to adopt or adapt for achieving this type of government. The current study also discusses about the transition process from the authoritarian to democratic government and what does this involve. It also advances a hypothesis, which will be assessed by analyzing two case studies. The discussion of consolidated democracy and democratic transition is significant for understanding the international politics that characterize the political scene in several world regions. The current report will be focused on two Asian countries, respectively Myanmar and South Korea, in their attempts (or perceived attempts) of reaching democratic government.
Paragraphs
The establishment of democracy implies a transition from authoritarian regimes to a democratic regime, which occurs in two stages: through the installation of a democratic regime and through the consolidation of democracy, wherein consolidation of democracy refers to strengthening certain institutions, creating new political parties, increasing the interest towards human rights or instituting the judicial independence. As Linz and Stepan observe in their study, transition phases represent a process that has a beginning, but has no ending, as transition may never be completed, although the restitution of another authoritarian regime is not likely to occur. The democratic consolidation is achieved when it is perceived as lasting indefinitely and when a country is no longer under the influence of tutelary powers, dominated by distortions of the electoral system or where the nonelectoral means are considered obstacles for the formation of the national government. However, in achieving a consolidated democracy there might appear difficulties, which can generate the reversion of the democracy in countries that face the difficulties in establishing this government form. In defining the consolidated democracy, Linz and Stepan state that this regime is instituted when the significant political, economic, social or institutional actors are not concerned with achieving their objectives through a nondemocratic manner. Valenzuela considers that democratic regimes are instituted when states manage to subordinate the military and when they succeed in solving the conflicts that appear between political parties and within the society
Linz and Stepan advance the hypothesis according to which democracy needs to be “the only game in town” for instituting consolidated democracy, this implying rapid changes towards achieving democracy and separating from other political regimes. The current research will be now assessing the value of this hypothesis, by studying two cases where two Asian countries attempted to institute democratic regimes.
The case of the Myanmar sustains this hypothesis. In 2003 General Khin Nyunt, having the role of the Myanmar’s prime minister, took the initiative of establishing a seven step map to a “disciplined democracy”, which implied, among others “reconvening the constitutional convention, holding a referendum on a new constitution, national elections, and the formation of a new civilian constitutional government.” Nevertheless, this plan was not completed, because one year later Nyunt has been removed from his function and the democracy was not instituted. Despite this turn of events, his politic echoed in the state, as there was re-established the market oriented economy, which has imposed more freedom for the population, allowing Myanmar people to become involved in political activities. In addition, as a result if Nyunt’s politic, the army’s control over the state’s businesses became less visible. However, the fact that the military force continued to play a role in the state’s affairs indicate that General Nyunt’s plan was not completed, hence the democracy was not consolidated, as the democracy was not, in fact, the only game in town, as hypothesized by Linz and Stepan. Therefore, this case study comes to confirm the hypothesis according to which if democracy is not the single politic vision applied, there is not a rapid commitment to solving the matters required for reaching democratic transition and the democratic consolidation will not follow.
South Korea followed the road to consolidated democracy by rapidly addapting to the changes required for achieving this political regime. The democratic vibe was transmitted deep into the social structure of this state, as there have been adopted shifts towards respecting and applying broadly liberal values, “such as the rule of law, freedom of speech and judicial independence” and even its citizens are rejectong the authoritarian regimes. This indicates the fact that the country is totally committed to democracy and in this case, democracy is the only game in town. Therefore, South Korea also sustains Linz and Stepan’s hypothesis, based on Diamond’s study. This hypothesis is again proven in Huntington’s study, which observes that although South Korea was previously blocked in an bacwardness economy, starting with 1980 the country started to develop from an economic point of view, promoting economic productivity, which is a key strategy followed for achieving the democracy. Moreover, the ellections from 2007 represented more that a political shift, but they confirmed the development of South Korean democracy, reaching its full maturation, with the support of the political class that sustained this regime, becoming the key figures of the country’s democratic development. Again, this aspect also sustains Linz and Stepan’s hypothesis, which states that when democratic consolidation is pursued, than the democracy must be the single political objective that must be followed throughout the structures of the state, or the only game in town.
Two cases demonstrated that in order for democracy to be instituted there must be a concentrated effort for achieving the transition from an authoritarian regime. In Myanmar the road to consolidated democracy was stopped by the removal of the General Khin Nyunt, who mapped the directions needed for reaching the democratic transition. After his removal from his function, although the directions that he traced as required for reaching an effective transitions were no longer pursued. Nevertheless, a soft form of democracy followed, as Myanmar’s case indicated. A strong and consolidated democracy occured in South Korea, as a result of the country’s total breakage of the authoritarian regime for pursuing the mechanisms of reaching democracy. Once again, the hypothesis suggested by Linz and Stepan was correct: therefore, states cannot institute consolidated democracies without establishing what the state requires for becoming a democracy, what it further needs to implement for achieving the values and the structure of democracy and without engaging in rapidly resolving all the identified gaps to democracy. Without this approach, the country can remain in the beginning of the democratic transition, without actually really achieving it, considering the fact that the transition implies a commitment to pursuing the consolidation of democracy.
Being committed to reaching the democratic transition by addressing the issues that need to be fixed for a country to become democratic is one step that contribute to the consolidation of democracy. There are other conditions that must be met for becoming a state with a consolidated democracy. Such conditions are mentioned by Valenzuela, who considers as necessary for the consolidation of democracy the management and moderation of socio – political conflicts or the subordination of military forces to democratic government. The case of Myanmar reflected that although the plan imposed by the General Khin Nyunt reduced the involvement of military into the state’s affairs, the army still represented a traditional state power, significant for the government of the state. The case of South Korea, on the other hand, reflected the fact that the state followed the democratic values that implied a strong opponence to military supported governments, resisting through struggles for pursuing this ideology, and being backed up in this action by United States. The country pursued the instituition of democracy through all the availble resources, and a total commitment to achieving all the democratic values rapidly, by integrating the political and the social classes into this objective of reaching consolidated democracy: through their economy, legal system, change of political system freedom of speech, the country transited easily to democracy and it reached its maturation due to the involvement of the entire socio – political structure.
Conclusion
This essay discussed about the consolidated democracy, defining the concept and indicating the conditions required for reaching this regime. The essay has identified that consolidated democracy is an on – going process, which needs to transit from an authoritarian regime, by meeting the standards required for becoming democratic governments. In reaching this objective, the current paper indicated that states need to build a step by step process for achieving the criteria required for becoming democracies. This is one condition, hypothesized by Linz and Stepan, towards which states need to rapidly commit for reaching democratic transit, which leads to democratic consolidation. The essay sustained and confirmed this hypothesis by presenting two case studies, of Myanmar and South Korea. Both countries attempted to institute democratic governments, but where Myanmar almost succeeded (as it did not totally and rapidly commit to making democracy the single game in town), South Korea reached its consolidated democracy, due to its commitment to making democracy the single political regime, separating from the authoritarian rules and values and changing them with the ones promoted by democracy. There are, however, other conditions that countries must meet for becoming democracies, such as the subordination of the military to democratic government or the transparent mediation of the political and social conflicts.
Bibliography
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Huntington, Samuel, P. “Democracy’s Third Wave”. Journal of Democracy.. Vol. 2, no.2. (1991): 12 - 34.
Larry, Diamond. The Comming Wave. Journal of Democracy. Vol. 23, no. 1 (2012): 5 – 13.
Linz, Juan J. & Stepan, Alfred “Democracy and its Arenas”.
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Valenzuela, Samuel J.. “Democratic Consolidation in Post – Transitional Settings: Notion, Process, and Facilitating Conditions”. Kellogg Institute. (1990): 1 – 38.
