Democracy Post Colonialism
- Deomcracy at global level
- Situation in United Nations
- Situation in International Monetary Fund
- Promotion of democracy
The colonialism was beginning to end after the end of the Second World War. Many colonies became independent within a short period after the Second World War. India was one of them. Democratic governments were formed in most of the countries after their freedom from colonial rule.
While India continues to be a thriving democracy, many former colonies experienced various ups and downs. Military coups became the norm in many former colonies and democratic regimes were overthrown by dictatorial regimes, e.g. Ghana, Pakistan, Myanmar, etc.
The next big push for democracy came with revival of democracy in many Latin American countries; like Chile.
The collapse of the Soviet Union further accelerated this process. Communist regimes in many countries came to an end and paved the way for democratic regimes. At present, more than 140 countries have multi-party democracies.
Democracy at the Global Level
- There are certain issues which do not come under the purview of a country or even under a small group of countries. These issues are discussed and resolved at various international forums.
- United Nations is a world organization which makes convention on international law, security, global cooperation and social equality. The UN Secretary General is its chief administrative officer.
- Important issues on international security are discussed and resolved by the UN Security Council.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank lends money to governments as per the situation.
- These organizations are association of different countries. Initially, they came into origin because of initiative of the developed and powerful countries. The power equation in these organizations depends on the relative amount of fund received by a particular country. Since USA is the largest contributor of funds, hence it enjoys the maximum power. There are times when a decision made by the world bodies may not be democratic at all.
- The UN Security Council has 5 permanent members and 10 temporary members. The 10 temporary members are elected by the General Assembly for two year term. The permanent members enjoy veto power in the Security Council. There are many examples of misuse of veto power by the permanent members.
- The International Monetary Fund presents the same situation. More than 52% of its votes is contributed by 10 member countries, viz. US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, China, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Russia. The World Bank has a similar system of voting. The President of the World Bank has always been a US citizen and is nominated by the Treasury Secretary of the US government.
Promotion of Democracy
Many democratic regimes in the world believe in promoting democracy so that remaining non-democratic regimes should change. While the idea of promotion is very good, some countries have tried to enforce democracy in some other countries. The case of Iraq is a good example. It was ruled by the dictator Saddam Hussein. Although he earned bad repute because of annihilation of his political opponents, we should not forget that he gave liberties to women and pupil during his rule. USA attacked Iraq on the pretext of finding the weapons of mass destruction and for establishing a democratic regime. Saddam Hussein was finally captured and tried for several offences. An interim government of US’ choice was installed in Iraq after that.