Democracy as historical necessity

By Arief Budiman

SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): According to the great philosopher Hegel, democracy is an historical necessity. Sooner or later, all countries adopt a democratic system.

To argue his theory, Hegel pointed out that throughout history, the state political system had been transformed from monarchy (the rule of one person) to oligarchy (the rule of a group) and democracy (the rule of all people). History is the story of man and woman liberated in the course of time. History will, and has to, move toward democracy.

Hegel's thesis seems to be strengthened by the report of the New York-based Freedom House annual's survey. The report pointed out that in 1996, 79 more of the world's 191 countries have been qualified as totally free. This means that 135 million more people are now living in democratic societies. (see, Jonathan Power: "Never has there been so much democracy," Jakarta Post, Dec. 23).

If one adds countries that have become partly free, meaning countries which are democratic but still have some constraints on basic rights such as Russia, Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia and India, then 62 percent of the world's people are now living in relatively free societies. In 1987, only 41 percent of the world's people lived in democracies. So, Jonathan Power declared in his article that "1996 has been for the democracy vineyard a superlative year".

The trend toward more democratization in world history has been mentioned also by American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington. In his famous book, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (The University of Oklahoma Press, 1991) he predicted that many more countries would become more democratic by the end of this century. He called this as the Third Wave of Democratization (starting in 1974), following the other two waves before (1828 to 1926 and 1943 to 1962). However, he also warned about the possible backlashes, meaning that some of them would revert to an authoritarian political system as happened in the previous waves.

Why is democracy so important for a country? First, for the moral reason that a human being's freedom has to be respected. Here we come to the concept of human rights. There are some basic rights that the state has to respect, such as the right to a livelihood, the right to pursue happiness, the right to be free from fear. As a matter of fact, when a state was first created by a society, the purpose was to guarantee these basic rights. Although they can be provided by a benevolent dictator, democracy is the best chance to guarantee the existence of all these rights.

Second, democracy also creates economic justice. Mainstream economists always think the problem of poverty can be solved by the free market mechanism, through the trickle-down effect theory, in that a free market would help some people with capital and entrepreneurial talents to become rich. These rich people in turn would spend their money and their wealth would trickle down to the poor. However, it has been proven again and again that this theory fails to work in the real world. In many developing countries a super-rich class has emerged, while the poor have felt no improved conditions. In fact, according to the United Nations Development Program's annual human development reports, the poor have become even poorer globally.

Poverty is not a technical economic matter that can be solved by economic mechanism. Poverty is a political problem and to eradicate it political means must be used. As the political economist Amartya Sen once said: "...although famines can kill millions of people, they do not kill rulers. Kings and presidents, bureaucrats and bosses, generals and police chiefs -- these people never starve". (Human Development Report 1996, p.58) Thus, they are not really concerned with poverty. They are the ones who keep saying growth is more important than equity, because they have never experienced how it feels to be hungry.

Sen points out that serious famines occur rarely in independent, democratic countries with a free press. In these countries potential victims have the political power to pressure an existing government to take measures to solve the problem.

Thus, democracy does not only make people free; it brings economic justice. The war against poverty is a political war that can be solved only by empowering the people politically.

Theoretically, democracy is defined as the balance of power between government and the people. Thus, the creation of democracy is an empowerment of the people. It is a matter between the state and its people within the boundary of a nation state.

Now, according to the internationally acceptable concept of a sovereign state, a democratic struggle is an internal matter of a nation state. Other countries are not allowed to get involved, or they would be accused of "meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign state", something considered wrong in the international community of states.

However, recent internationalization of the human rights concept has become more pronounced with the end of the Cold War and boundaries among states have become more permeable. The internationalization of human rights started during the Nuremburg Trial after World War II. The Germans were punished for torturing and killing Jews, even those who were German citizens. Since then the international community has become more sensitive to the violation of human rights, even when committed by a sovereign state upon its citizens.

Human rights have now been related with democracy. There is a strong correlation between authoritarian regimes and human rights violations. Democracy is no longer an affair of the government and its people within a nation, but has become an international affair. The democratic struggle of Aung San Syu Kii has been so internationalized that a suppression of the struggle by the SLORC military government in Myanmar would now be difficult. The success of South Africa's Nelson Mandela was greatly assisted by the massive international support behind him.

Coming back again to Hegel's notion of democracy as a historical necessity, empirical experiences seem to support this theory. Democratic struggle is now fought not only by the citizens of the respective authoritarian state, but also by the people and other states of the world. Solidarity among human rights activists all over the world has strengthened democratic struggles in many countries. Democratic struggle has become a global force. It is almost certain that in 1997 and the years to come, more countries will become democratic. Including Indonesia.

In facing this trend, it would be wise for leaders of existing authoritarian states to anticipate this and adjust their state policies accordingly. Otherwise, as Bung Karno repeated in his many speeches, those who fail to understand history, will be run over by history.

Entering 1997, let us renew our faith that democracy will come sooner or later, regardless how bitter our experiences of years past.

The writer is a sociologist and researcher based in Salatiga.