Where Does Democracy Come From?

[dreamshark]

I've been thinking about this question for the last few days. I would love to know what other thoughtful people think about it.

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How does a society move from authoritarian government to democracy? (using the broadest definition of democracy: roughly "of the people, by the people and for the people.")

1) Has any country ever moved directly from totalitarianism to something approximating democracy without going through at least a generation of something else in between? Is there more than one path to democracy? Are there prerequisites for democracy to work, and what are they?

2) Is it ever possible to impose democracy on another country? (leaving aside the question of whether or not it is desirable. The question is: is it possible?)

3) Is it possible for one country to foster democracy in another country, while still leaving it up to them when or if they want to take the step?


These are not rhetorical questions or invitations to a polemic. Surprisingly, the answer to #2 is "yes." There is one obvious example. It took me quite a while to think of it, but Richard got it immediately.

Comments

Answers

[joelrosenberg.livejournal.com]

1. Yes. Sure. Definitely.
2. Yes; as it's been done. (Japan isn't the only example, but it's the obvious one.) That does not necessarily mean that it ever can be done again; the sufficient prerequisites for the imposition of Democracy were demonstrably, in retrospect, there, but it's not self-evident what all of them where, or whether substitutes will work in other situations. (Example: is it necessary for as many as two cities to have been destroyed by nuclear weapons prior to the imposition of democracy, or will only one do? None, but a threat? Zero, without a threat? What effect did the possibility of nuclear destruction have on the erstwhile "Werewolves" in just-barely-ex Nazi Germany? Was the nearby presence of the aggressively expansionist Soviet Union helpful, or necessary? Would some other form of government been able to buy US support/ongoing occupation in that context? Would some other form of government been thought to be able to buy US support/ongoing occupation in that context?)

One might as well ask if democracy can ever be imposed from within, and look at the French (among others) for an example that would argue that it can't be, other counterexamples to the contrary.

3. Sure, for some reasonable values of "foster." The US did that for decades through, among other things, Radio Free Europe, frex.