President George W. Bush recently declared America's commitment to
democracy in the Middle East. But democracy in this and other regions of the
world has not had much success. There are good reasons for this failure.
by Melvin Rhodes
The words democracy and democratic have been much abused.
During all the years that I lived with my family in Ghana, there were two
German embassies in our neighborhood. There was the embassy of the Federal
Republic of Germany, which is still there. But, on the corner of a busy junction
in the capital city of Accra, there was the heavily protected embassy of the
German Democratic Republic.
This building represented the communist eastern part of Germany. The bars
on the windows and the barbed wire at the top of high walls were as much to
keep the employees in as they were to keep intruders out. It was often said
that the GDR wasn't "German" or "democratic," nor
was it a "republic," but countries can call themselves what they
want. North Korea's official name is the "Democratic People's
Republic of Korea."
What is a democracy?
Highlighting the problem of defining democracy was the recent Commonwealth
meeting in Nigeria, where sharp differences emerged over how to handle the
perennial problem of Zimbabwe. By any Western definition, Zimbabwe is a dictatorship.
The president can do what he likes. The country does have a parliament, but
so did Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Less than a year ago, Iraq's parliament
backed him 100 percent.
Zimbabwe's neighbor is Zambia. The Zambian president's comment
on the Commonwealth dispute was rather interesting. He said Western democracies
should remember that their democratic systems took centuries to evolve, so
they should be more patient with Africa. Well, maybe, but if a country is
going to call itself a democracy, it should be one, if only to avoid confusion.
And confusion there is on this issue.
Democracy is defined in my 1982 Collins Standard Reference Dictionary
as "government in which the people hold the ruling power either directly
or through elected representatives; a country, state, etc. with such government;
majority rule; the principle of equality of rights, opportunity, etc., or
the practice of this principle."
