The rise of democracy

You see it everywhere. Democracy is on the rise. Yes, that imperfect, at times chaotic system of governance we call democracy is on the ascendancy. From Tunisia to Bahrain, from Morocco to Putin’s Russia, it is marching ever more determined.

In some countries we only see a glimmer of hope that perhaps a more representative governance could prevail, in others revolutions are completed with normal elections. Who could have dreamed of such a drastic spread of democracy in the post-Bush era that precipitated such global reaction toward the United States? Not even the aggressive democracy promoters in conservative think tanks in Washington could have dreamed of it.

The kratos of the people is making its presence known at every corner of the globe. Citizens are rising for justice and dignity in Tunisia, Libya and Yemen; they demand fair representation in Bahrain, they rise against the odds in Syria as they demand that the people have more say in the decisions that affect their lives. They are sick and tired of decades-old dictatorships, authoritarian rule and the stubbornly corrupt elites that benefit from these arrangements. Even the Russians decided that enough is enough and that it is time to raise their voice against what they perceive as a fixed election.

What does it say to authoritarian regimes elsewhere? We understand that the Russians and the Chinese are worried by the spread of democracy. It is a matter of concern and their reactions to a potential vote in the United Nations Security Council on Syria is telling. However, I believe it is in vain. What authoritarian states can do is to delay popular moves for more representative governance, but they can rarely prevent it from ultimately prevailing. That is not to say that I favor only a Western model of representative governance. There is no doubt that in some contexts the political culture lends itself to adjust the model of representation. However, fundamentally, dictatorships, monarchies and autocrats are unlikely to survive for too long. Eventually the kratos of the people will catch up with them.

The biggest danger to a more representative governance is the capability of the authoritarian countries to construct structures that appear like democracies — as is the case in Russia. A strong security apparatus, a state-controlled media, government-organized NGOs and elections are designed to appear fair. These are electocracies. These are the most dangerous forms of governance models designed to thwart the ambitions of the people to govern themselves.

Turkey has had a long and bumpy road toward normal representational governance. Our model is still a “work in progress” and we still need to consolidate our democracy by drafting a constitution that will confirm the gains of recent years. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index unfortunately still places us in the third category as a “hybrid democracy,” behind 88 states, of which some are full democracies and others are flawed democracies. That said, the real test for Turkey will be in 2012. Currently Parliament is busy passing the budget, but once the budget is passed, attention will shift to the Constitution. Informed friends whisper to me that it is almost impossible to draft a constitution with the current set-up and rules of moving forward. I hope they are wrong. If they are not wrong, we will have a crisis on our hands in 2012. The demos in this country want compromise on the constitutional process, but the dividing lines of the parties look very much irreconcilable. After all, compromise is almost a dirty word in this language. So, while the rise of democracy continues right up to our borders, we are still searching for a historic compromise that would launch this country forward.