The Transition to Democracy Proceedings of a Workshop (1991) / Chapter Skim
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Comment and Synthesis: Plenary Session III
Comment and Synthesis: Plenary Session III
Pages 57-62
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From page 57... ...
Trade policy, the writing of constitutions, military assistance, diplomatic initiatives, especially those involving others than the current representatives of the state, as well as assistance programs of various kinds, all have a significant, often indirect effect on the prospects for democracy in the future. At a minimum, by undertaking an initiative for democratization, you have taken it on yourselves to think through and perhaps even act on the effects on democracy of a wide range of American actions.
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From page 58... ...
Indeed, one of the problems that we have faced repeatedly is the sometimes overeager readiness of our Eastern European counterparts to import a model of organization that they think represents the immediate substitution of an American, or at least a Western parliamentary alternative, not to mention a Western market system, for the organization that occurred under state socialism. In some sense, our most prudent role in these cases is first to warn and then to advise; that in itself could be a major service.
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From page 59... ...
A second implication is that the moments of settlement stood out for their great importance in the creation, maintenance, and implantation of democratic institutions. A further lesson of the European experience, into which Terry Karl and Philippe Schmitter gave us more insight from recent experience in Southern Europe, is that far from converging on a single path to democratic development, the European states, and I would say this more generally for Western states, arrived at broadly democratic situations by many different paths.
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From page 60... ...
This is a terrible choice for any operating agency because of the many horror stories of betting on wrong horses, letting money go to waste or to corruption, and the sheer possibility that we have analyzed incorrectly who will do what. Yet the cost of a strictly external program, 60
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From page 61... ...
But, from the analyses presented here, the chances are that, over the long run, other interventions below the governing elite will have a substantial impact on democratization. An obvious fifth choice that follows from the previous ones lies between a regional approach and a general approach.
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From page 62... ...
Certainly it provides opportunities for the obvious recommendation that a significant effort go into monitoring what is happening in different countries with respect to the infrastructure of democracy: sheer watching, comparing, indexing, reporting back. And the obvious recommendation from an inveterate academic: an opportunity for collaborative research on such questions as Jane Mansbridge raised about deliberative democracy and for following Pearl Robinson's recommendation to look at the resources that any particular people, any particular state, any particular area already has in existence for deliberation and conflict resolution and protection of minorities.
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