Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Should There be a Solution for Dictatorship in Third World Countries?

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    In the twenty-first century dictatorship is viewed as a menace. Most people think that dictatorship means an abuse of people's rights, which makes dictatorship a problem. The best way to solve this problem is said to be '' democratization''. In a democracy, the people choose the leader they want which means that the government doesn't have total control over the people. Most of the time poverty in third world countries is blamed on dictatorship, yet “ One group of economists found growth induced democracy in East Asia; democracy did not lead to growth”(The Economist). This proves that the development of a country doesn't depend on whether it is democratic or not.
       Democracy is not a solution to dictatorship in third world countries. Democracy is not for all countries, it is a western idea of government. Just as the western culture, Asian cultures and African cultures are different it should be obvious that such differences would lead to a different way of country and political organization. In many third world countries especially in Africa, there are many tribes and the introduction of democracy led to tribal competition to getting government power. “The challenge to democracy in Africa is not the prevalence of ethnic diversity, but the use of identity politics to promote narrow tribal interests. It is tribal”(''How Tribalism Stunts African Democracy"). As the Westerners thought of bringing democracy into the third world countries, they never thought of the consequences and the cultural differences. The Westerners developed the idea of democracy, they were not forced into or imposed on with democracy; it was an idea that took time to grow and insert in their society. This is why they should stop imposing it on third world countries.
          The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had introduced a policy that would lend money to the developing countries that have ''good governance'' that could allow economic growth. Today the policy of good governance broadly involves the idea of having a democratic institution. In most of third world countries democracy leads to tribal rivalry, then the promotion of democracy would lead to tribes fighting therefore war in the country will not be stable enough for development. Some developing countries tried to adapt democracy into their political system and most of them have failed. The reason why those developing countries failed is because they were trying a western political way to run a country that didn't have a good understanding of western ways or cultures. An example to this would be Egypt, two years after the fall of their dictator Mubarak the country is still in chaos trying to adapt the democratic system. '' The events in Egypt show that there is no quick and peaceful transition from authoritarian regimes to democratic politics'', said Pushkov in the Israel national news. The chaos in Egypt led to economic crisis because the investors were not comfortable going to start business or invest their money in an unstable country. If democracy can not be a solution to dictatorship, then what is? Perhaps dictatorship doesn't need a solution. Dictatorship could just be the right way to govern those third world countries.
        If the problem as many mention is that dictatorship could lead to poverty. They could perhaps look at South Korea as an example. South Korea has not always been a democracy. In the 1960's to 70's, South Korea was ruled by autocrats and during that time, Korea went from a state of poverty to a state of prosperity. It is not until Korea had prosperity that democracy came along. This example shows that it is not only having a democratic government that leads to a prosperous country. A dictatorship might just be the right way of some countries to develop so democracy shouldn't be imposed to all the countries in the world.
Resources

  • "Russian Official: Democracy Not Good For Everyone - Global Agenda - News - Israel National News."Israel National News. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. <http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169583>.
  • "Participatory Development and Good Governance."Participatory Development and Good Governance. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. <http://www.gdrc.org/u-gov/doc-jica_gg.html>.
  • Juma, Calestous. "Viewpoint: How Tribalism Stunts African Democracy."BBC News. BBC, 27 Nov. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20465752>. 

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