Yeah maybe man, I never claimed to be a finance whizkid. They f'd up, that's all I know.
democracy wont work in Pakistan for one simple reason, as I see it.
High rate of illiteracy and ignorance. And yes, I think ignorance goes hand in hand with illiteracy and low education standards. Education has the power to breed you so that you think for yourself. Its harder to take advantage of an educated person, than an ignorant one, cuz you can play mind games with the ignorant one and pull them along like a dog on a leash, and they may very well never know they're being used. That may seem too simplified, but at a very complicated level, I think that principle is at work.
Democracy requires education because the voter needs to know whats going on in order to be an active member of society.
Anyhoo, democracy in its pure form (Athenian democracy) doesn't exist anywhere and is impossible to be used in a large-scale society. And everyone has their own version of democracy in Pakistan these days.
DEMOCRACY : It is not a commodity that can be Bought or Sold or Acquired or Lost physically.
It is a State of Mind instilled into the common citizen's mind by the Leaders of the Citizenry.
Unfortunately for Pakistan and its Citizenry, Democracy was killed with the assassination of the Late Liaqat Ali Khan - the then Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The Pakistani Bureaucracy had gained more and more power during the life of Mr. Jinnah who dealt directly with the Pakistani Bureaucracy rather than through the Prime Minister. This direct dealing of the Bureaucracy by Mr. Jinnah can be justified by the fact that he knew he was dying and he had to carry out as much implementation of his Vision as possible in the short time he had at hand.
Upon his untimely death Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan tried to rein in the Bureaucracy and have them carry out his instructions as the Prime Minister is the Chief Executive of the Country.
This resulted in the assassination of Prime Minister Liaqat Ali.
Pakistani Democracy has still to recover from the two untimely deaths that of Mr. Jinnah and Mr. Liaqat Ali. May their souls Rest in Peace.
I am sure that with the passage of time Pakistan will have responsible and committed Political Leaders and an Educated and politically aware Citizenry which will ensure that Democracy takes Strong Roots in Pakistan.
Have a Nice Day
PCG: Two points
1) And educated populace is NOT a prerequisite for democracy. Examples India and the converse Soviet Union.
THe Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen wrote, "A fit populace does not make democracy but instead democracy makes a fit populace"
2) Democracy is not perfect but it a chance towards ever evolving perfection becuase it is a pliable form of governance. Always changing...forever adapting to social norms...and always creating a a greater participatory form of self governance.
I disagree Chalta hai.
Furthermore, India is a naam ki democracy. If it was a democracy, you'd have everyone involved in Public affairs, and you certainly wouldn't have such a disproportionate class distribution.
I dont want to comment on the other one, since I dont know too much about that country and how effective its politial infrastructure is.
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*Originally posted by PyariCgudia: *
I disagree Chalta hai.
Furthermore, India is a naam ki democracy. If it was a democracy, you'd have everyone involved in Public affairs, and you certainly wouldn't have such a disproportionate class distribution.
I dont want to comment on the other one, since I dont know too much about that country and how effective its politial infrastructure is.
[/QUOTE]
You couldn't be more wrong. Everyone is involved in Public affairs. decentralization of power began in 1991 with the deregulation of the economy. It has continued. Remember democracy is an evolving animal not a god laid mandate on method.
Disproportionate class distribution? Are you talking about governance or economic standing?
Most of the decision makers and chors in India and Pakistan studied in places like Harvard and Oxford, the only thing that changed was the sophistication of their chori.
The basic answer s more democracy and more elections. The more often we have provincial and local elections in shorter periods of time (like in America and other democracies) the more the leadership will be on their toes and the people will have an opportunity to
We also have a problem of not being able to stomach opposition and have a system which is still based on controlling the people rather then listening to them.
I believe Political scientists call it the democracy deficit
economic
PCG: Democracy, as I pointed out earlier is only political freedom. Economic freedom comes through decentralization and deregulation of the economy. Market based pricing, free flow of capital and resources combined with a skilled labor force eventually lead to the latter freedom. Gov't needs to stay the hell away from this phenomenon and invest in social programs that pay long term dividends and feed into this phenomenon, like education and infrastructure.
literacy is not pre-requisite for Democracy.
look at the oldest democracy - UK - where was the literacy when the first parliament was convenec.
something more recent you may ask.. then we need not look further than good old USA... 1776 - look up the literacy rate of USA at that time
hopefully you can understand that literacy is not prerequisite for democracy.. but it does help to reign in the rulers.. when the population does understand its rights and duties.
What is pre-requisite for democracy?
here are a few things to start of with...
1) honest leaders who actually do things for the benefit for their consituents.
2) proper checks and balances to ensure that the elected officials do not overstep their powers
3) independent "honest" judiciary.