In almost all of my class discussions there is a general assumption that Democracy is what’s good for China. Especially when it comes to discussing urban China and the modern changes in society the question of whether this is good for bringing democracy to China always comes up, usually accompanied with the hope that China will soon realize its mistake and abandon Communism in favor of the western Democracy. They might be right, they might be wrong, but somehow - this bothers me each time, and after one of the classes I even took the time to share my thoughts with the lecturer on e-mail:
It is quite understandable that Israelis, and the west in general, have very clear ideas about what’s right for China, like "Democracy is the right thing for China". But, imagine the response if the Chinese would say they would like to see Israel or the US become communist. Moreover, the "west" believes that it has all the right solutions for the right political and economical model - based on free and open capitalist economy. Yet, I believe it’s important to state that East-Asian countries allow a more in-depth discussion regarding this policy, with fascinating east Asian examples like Singapore, Thailand (former Taiwan) and lately China/Vietnam.
If we take Singapore as an example, then it has a non-democratic rule (one party etc.) with a very tight control over the direction of the economy and it is a very successful country/city with one of the highest standards of living in the world. [...]
Somehow, I still wasn’t able to have an in-depth open discussion about this with anyone here in Israel, and all I have are questions and thoughts about the western commitment to what I perceive is an attempt to change or influence Asia to fit western standards.
(BTW - the same question can be asked regarding Arab nations, with the recent "democratic" fiascos in the Palestinian Territories, Iraq and Lebanon)
Who’s to say whether "Democracy is better than Communism" or whether "Communism is better than Democracy" (GooogIe) :
tzvika avnery
| January 10th, 2007 at 12:59 am #
hi and thanks for your comment!
and have a good year as well
your blog looks great and i hope to see you around
all the best
tzvika
China Law Blog
| January 11th, 2007 at 12:46 pm #
Democracy has to be the ideal and this applies to China too. But, it cannot just be air-dropped pell-mell onto another country. To a great extent, they must get there themselves. I believe China will eventually get there but I do not know when. I do not see it happening in any Arab country in my lifetime and I actually overrated Bush when I thought he was just feeding the American public a line about democratizing Iraq. I simply had no clue he actually thought that was possible.
fiLi
| January 13th, 2007 at 4:39 pm #
Has to be ideal? based on what universal values?
I agree I use the term Democracy loosely, and it could mean a lot of things (and I would like to try and separate it from the concept of human rights), but who’s to say that the western concept of democracy is what’s right for everybody?
I’ll ask again - how would you feel about Communists arguing that “communism has to be the ideal and this applies to the US too”? wouldn’t that make you uncomfortable and anti? why is it that we do exactly the same thing?
We can do a comparison to a subject with less contrasts on the issue of the death penalty, which western Europe is against and most of the US is for. How could one tell the other what is ideal? it’s differences in values, and in this case both are blooming democracies.
It bothers me some whenever one country tries to enforce its values and views on another. That is not to say that I’m not pro democracy, ofcourse I am, but I think that the world needs to address the injustices within the political system, preferably domestically, and not other countries’ political system… and that works for both the US and China.
China Law Blog
| January 13th, 2007 at 9:09 pm #
I agree with everything you have said, except your challenging democracy as the ideal. It is the ideal because freedom is the ideal. Hell, even Marxism/Communism sees democracy (eventually) as being the ideal.