Democracy and Society » democracy

Democracy in Africa

Barak — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:31:52 +0000

The Economist’s analysis sounds right to me. Vote rigging is pretty common in African elections, but that is not surprising in nascent/quasi-democracies. What seems more important is that Africans, by and large, see democracy as the only legitimate form of government. Even though the practice of democracy often falls short on the continent, it is more common for people to criticise the leaders of their country than their form of government. This was pretty much what I heard at the local government conference I attended in Zambia this week as well in Chatsworth last week. At the end of the day, I agree with The Economist’s optimism.

Not good enough

Barak — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:40:53 +0000

MA program co-Director Dan Brumberg argues that the Obama administration can’t rely on supporting civil society alone to foment democratic reform in the Middle East.

How to talk about elections in Swahili

Barak — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:30:42 +0000

Three cheers for the Mikocheni Report for starting an election lexicon for Tanzania. Her explanation of “fisadi” made me laugh out loud. Best definition of corruption ever. Can’t wait for the next installment.

Development first crowd proven wrong again

Barak — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:30:38 +0000

Yet another example of why the development first theory is wrong:

Take Inderaw Mohammed Siraj, a 60-year-old Ethiopian opposition candidate who lost a finger after being beaten by ruling-party cadres in 2008. Last year, he says, he was kicked out of a food-aid program funded by the U.S., the World Bank, and the European Union when a local official from his village in a remote corner of northeast Ethiopia told him: “We will not feed opposition members.”

With virtually no opposition representation in Parliament, the independent press and local human-rights groups now closed or under attack, and the prospect of his children begging for food, he has realized life would be easier if he gave up politics.

I have no doubt that the development firsters will go away anytime soon, but it’s good to have examples of why they are wrong – especially from Ethiopia because this country is often one of their main examples.

Guinea votes

Barak — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 04:07:58 +0000

First time. Two round system: if no one gets at least 50%, there will be a runoff in July.

Non-existent country holds elections

Barak — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:17:31 +0000

Somaliland votes.

Moments in History

Mariel — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:36:58 +0000

Today is the 2nd day of the Parliamentary Staff Institute, focusing on the development and strengthening of parliamentary research services. The Institute’s meeting is part of the Commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Frost-Solomon Task Force, which provided assistance from the U.S. Congress to new parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union from 1990 to 1996. The events started on June 7. NDI has more info.

Sympathy for the decider

Barak — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:14:42 +0000

J. Scott Carpenter and Dina Guirguis take the Obama administration to task for not fulfilling most of the promises Obama made in his Cairo speech one year ago, specifically on democracy, economic development, women’s rights, religious freedom, and countering terrorism. While they are correct in the narrow sense that the administration has not made much progress on these issues, I think its perhaps an unfair criticism. The administration is dealing from a host of difficult problems, from Afghanistan to the economic crisis to the largest oil spill in the history of the US. The administration has largely been in reactive mode since it took office, not by choice, but because of a non-stop series of crises. The administration appears to have more fires than fire trucks. Its not as if Obama is sitting around the White House playing solitaire on his computer. I can understand why the administration has made little progress in advancing a lot of its goals and find it difficult to fault them in many of these areas.

Michael Allen at Democracy Digest is less sympathetic.

Why I do what I do

Barak — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:44:15 +0000

Because sometimes I can make a difference. Today I spent five hours with the Westcliff Flats Residents Association helping them figure out how to address a really difficult problem in their community, how to get rid of drugs and drug dealers. Westcliff is a poor suburb of Durban, South Africa. While we didn’t solve the problem, I helped them think of things that had not occurred to them before that might help get a handle on it. I am increasingly convinced that one of the best ways outsiders can help improve development and governance is by helping people achieve their own goals. I was able to do that a little bit today.

Terrorism prevention?

Barak — Sat, 08 May 2010 23:05:41 +0000

Austan comments on my recent post, How Exactly did the System Fail, on Faisal Shahzad:

the system of prevention failed while the system of apprehension worked…and those are two different systems.

I am going to say something few of our elected officials have the courage to say: a free society must make trade-offs between security and civil liberties. While there is no clear line – that is for democracies to solve themselves – you can’t have a police state and a democracy. I don’t know if we can do terrorism prevention (I have my doubts), but I am certain that a robust terrorism prevention policy can’t exist in a democracy.