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The Democratic Boom
The most stirring democratic event since the transformations after the fall of the Berlin Wall is occurring now in Kiev's Maidan Square. "Maidan" is Ukrainian for "independence." This is the Orange Revolution, which the whole world has witnessed and, more importantly, adopted. Western European governments support the claims of the opposition, editorialists applaud their aspirations to join the ranks of free, self-determined people. Will they now do the same come January 30 for the people of Iraq?Ukraine's experience has become a democratic benchmark. By briefly overlaying Iraq on Ukraine, we may better understand Iraq's prospects. Vladimir Putin last week mocked the likelihood of a real democratic event happening in Iraq next month. An expert opinion. I discussed this recently with Adrian Karatnycky of Freedom House, whose annual survey, "Freedom in the World," is the Michelin Guide to democracy's development. Also, Mr. Karatnycky is of Ukrainian descent, and the day we talked in a café in New York's East Village, he had just listened on the Web to the Ukrainian Supreme Court's decision to annul the election and call for a re-vote. Courts function in Iraq, but unlike Ukraine judges in Iraq must worry about being shot. "It is very difficult to build democratic institutions when there is still a substantial zone of instability," Mr. Karatnycky said, especially in the nation's capital city. As important is a thriving middle class--"independent economic forces that can financially support alternative political parties and the like." But he pointed out the danger of minimizing a nation's prospects by underestimating the momentum of the democratic process: "If you establish routinized institutions of even quasi-competitive elections, over time they create opportunities for real contests. . . . When a society matures, like Ukraine, these institutions deepen. In Ukraine it took 13 years, in Georgia [the Rose Revolution last year] it took 12, in Serbia about 10 years." Posted by: tipper 2004-12-10 |
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