Growing Pains - The price of Democracy

Currently in the world we hear the word "Democracy" being cried out from all fronts. The self-appointed sheriff of the world, the US, has been pushing for democracy in Afghanistan, Iraq and North Korea, to name the well-publicized few. However, some other places such as The Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Tonga, may not be getting as much publicity as the previous three are in North America, are non-the-less making huge strides towards democracy.

How does true democracy come about? We hear it being tossed around like its the best system in the world. Is it? A little known fact is that in the past 100 years, only six countries have remained democratic continuously. These are the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada and Sweden. Countries such as Germany, France, Spain have all endured patches of dictatorship or fascism at one stage or another in the past hundred years, so is it really that correct for these countries to be joining in the forceful democratization of other nations? Granted, they are not as outspoken as the US and UK, but they still do it! If they were allowed to develop democracy slowly and "naturally", why can't other countries be allowed the same luxury?

So what about the US and UK? Their "rants" on the greatness of democracy are well publicized. In fact, I believe that in some cases, they are over-publicized, but that is not the point of this discussion. The point is, the US and UK have all made numerous mistakes in their past on their path towards democratization. The UK dominated the world with the creation of the British Empire, sometimes brutally, as the Indians can attest to. The US had a period of slavery and then social segregation. In fact in the US, it wasnt until a 1973 judgment by federal judge William C . Keady that ended the segregation of black and white Americans completely. Before the US had completely ended their own racial segregation, they imposed economic sanctions on Aprtheid South Africa in 1969 with UN resolution 1761 for being "a threat to international peace and security". Hypocritical? you tell me!

It is my belief that democracy is the way to go. You can never please everyone, so the best solution is to please the majority, isn't it? However, in order for democracy to function properly, it must be allowed to develop. Forcing something onto a country will always cause resentment, even if it is something that the country wants. No matter how desperate a country is, their autonomy is most important. Iraq is a perfect example. Did the Iraqis want Saddam Hussien to leave? Of course they did. The overwhelming support for his death sentence recently attests to that fact. However, 89% of Iraqis also believe the US led coalition should pull out of Iraq(source). The same source also shows that the Iraqis believe the US "liberation army" is an "occupying force." Evolution is an integral part of human nature. One cannot learn to run before one can walk. Having democracy forced onto them is not the way to go.