Hi Rex,
What I was trying to highlight was that a form was followed. I included the ones you say weren't democratically elected to make (admittedly poorly ) the point that all "democracies" are not total democracies. Every democratic society limits the franchise somehow or other, age if nothing else, and this creates a situation where it is very unlikely that you will ever have the expression of a full majority of "the people". Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot all limited the franchise extensively, while Hitler used the mechanisms and forms of democracy in 1932 to do the same.
One of the things that bothers me a lot about the debates surrounding "democracy" is that there is very little discussion of the assumptions behind the franchise. It's a bit of a soapbox of mine left over from my time in politics.
Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but I don't think it can in the vast majority of cases. A form of it, sure, but not if we mean something like universal suffrage of everyone over 18. And, even if that particular form were to come in, how would it be different from, say, US party politics but reflected via tribal "parties"? I think Rhodesia/Zimbabwe is a very god example of just that: tribal organization and power cloaked in a "democratic" form.
Agreed. The more extreme eamples would be, say, the Sudan.
Oh, beautifully put! I really like that Rex! And it captures quite nicely why I feel that many efforts to "democratize" "nations" fail - the political entrepreneurs like the clothing of democracy; it's coll, hip and happening and guarantees they'll get all sorts of Western aid goodies, but the underlying assumptions are, essentially, non-democratic.
Marc
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