Undemocratic Democracies

So here is a word that has caused so much confusion in the developing world – ‘Democracy’ which was first tried in Greece in a very limited format in 300Bc or about and then again in the West starting in a similar format (limited voting rights) in the 18^th century or so. This evolved into a very strong system by the 20^th century when for the first time ever, voting rights were granted to all the population of a country. This experiment was followed by two World Wars but post WW II, democracy really blossomed in the West. One reason for that was its strong foundation, laid over a few centuries where rule of law, respect for human rights and equality became deeply entrenched values. 

Now in the post colonial times, democracy was implemented in the developing countries in this final format. Typically a nation would become independent, write a constitution, make multiple parties and start having elections every 4 – 5 years. However, not having undergone any kind of societal awakening, the societies remained hierarchical and seeped in their old ways. New found liberty often led to subversion in the form of high crime rate and sectarian violence. So what is missing? Perhaps the definition is misunderstood.

What is democracy? To most people it is having regular elections. That is kind of rudimentary. The word democracy means “demos” – people and “cratia” – power, in essence people power. That power goes beyond right to vote and take part in elections every 5 years. In a true democracy, common people should feel empowered in their day to day lives. They should be free from oppression and have access to opportunities to further their lives. Does that happen in the developing world? No. Power comes from connections and status in the society. An average person does not have ready access to law enforcement, basic public utilities (like water and toilets) or any job opportunities. Living in poverty and at the mercy of the local thugs, he and even worse she does not feel any sense of empowerment.

If we look at India, there is economic resurgence, which is a very good thing. But still 70% of India remains rural and that figure has not really come down much over the decades. Away from the limelight, this segment is static and a mere statistic to most people. Farming is a tough business dependent on unpredictable monsoons and exposed to several other vulnerabilities like crops destroyed by pests or infertile land or sudden gluts in the market due to over production of one crop in a year. Life of an average farmer is impoverished. He is mostly indebted and harvest season comes only few times in a year. If something happens to his crop at that time, he is devastated. There are about 20000 farmer suicides every year. But lack of economic assistance is only one of the woes. There is little access to law enforcement and people from lowest caste groups suffer a lot of violence and that is worse for the women and girls. You could hardly call this an empowered life. Yes, sure every five years they can vote in elections where they are promised a bag of rice, free power, caste based reservation and such like. But it seems to make little difference to people’s ‘quality of life’ rest of the time and how empowered they feel as individuals both in terms of access to some opportunities or to some law enforcement, necessary for peaceful existence. Do they live in a nation that cares?

Even in urban India there is an underclass who faces a lot of distress day to day. For that matter, even in the better off sections, empowerment is low. Should anyone suffer a crime, they undergo a harrowing process accessing a burdensome, corrupt and inept law enforcement system. So, this is not empowerment.

To lay the foundation of an empowered society, there needs to be an understanding of what democracy is supposed to be. It is not ‘right to vote’ – that is a mere process. The end result has to be people power not just for the connected and who’s who of the society but its common people. That applies not just to the urban populace but also the vast majority of people living in poverty and illiteracy in rural India. Once we are clear what a democracy is, we can start to build it. One of the first steps is laying the right foundations – as I wrote in an earlier post also “Rule of law” and “separation of powers” are two fundamental tenets of that. To bring about a nascent democracy alive, the better off classes ought to play an active role in becoming the vanguards of change. They need to enhance their understanding of this system, which thus far is implemented in letter but not in spirit. There needs to be a collective sense of understanding of people’s rights and a need to care about the rest of the nation, especially the poor and the downtrodden. I could add that caste based oppression ought to be eradicated alongside improving women’s rights and we need to pay some attention to the forgotten rural majority who seem to have little voice or champions.

So, a seeming democracy legitimized by regular elections can be highly undemocratic if the common people face a lot of oppression and feel no sense of empowerment in their day to day lives. A true democracy can be judged by if people really feel they have any kind of power or not for that is the essence of ‘people power’ or ‘demos’ – ‘cratia’. Democracy is not about elections alone (those are a means) but true empowerment of common people and a society that cares for the poor and the downtrodden.