The Transition to Democracy Proceedings of a Workshop (1991) / Chapter Skim
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Issues in the Transition to Democracy: Reports of the Working Groups
Issues in the Transition to Democracy: Reports of the Working Groups
Pages 41-56
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From page 41... ...
A logical next step in human rights engagement is now to look seriously at what governmental institutions are necessary to achieve those guarantees in the real world. At present there is a rather extraordinary consensus, with Western and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union all agreeing in essence to supplement the human rights guarantees with a basket of rule of law guarantees that may prove of great importance for transitions to democracy.
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From page 42... ...
In the American experience, an independent judiciary is capable of acting as a check on the other branches with respect to fundamental constitutional concepts, the separation of powers, the rights of individuals, and the integrity of the overall electoral process. The third and final point is the core of the policy debate: To what extent should a government have an active program to share its experience in rule of law or democracy-building with other countries?
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From page 43... ...
He concluded that if one regards this as technology transfer, it is striking that the United States should be willing to transfer agricultural or steelmaking technology, yet at the same time be reluctant to share on a voluntary basis what it regards as the fundamentals that actually make its system function. Institutions and Processes for Debate, Consensus, and Conflict Management Michael Mezey, Chair The working group discussed national political institutions that in most countries symbolize commitment to democracy: legislatures and political parties.
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From page 44... ...
For example, programs might help parties develop basic skills -- organizational development, candidate education, or issue research, or work more broadly to support the mechanisms that permit parties to develop. Some argued that supporting particular political parties raised a range of difficult, sensitive questions, whereas supporting a recognized governmental institution, such as a legislature, is an easier task.
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From page 45... ...
Participants thought it was important to extend the basic pact to include discussion about how to reduce the size of military forces, and felt it was essential to consider how to move existing officers away from positions in which "they could think about inappropriate role expansion." Participants agreed that it was important to encourage the military in its most appropriate role -- preparing for future wars that one hopes will never be fought -- and that it was useful to look for regional international security roles or other collective security arrangements that might duplicate Europe's success with NATO. Some participants suggested that an appropriate role for military officers would be to manage quasi-state organizations, since many officers have very impressive managerial skills.
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From page 46... ...
Goodman suggested that both internal and external influences might be necessary but may not be sufficient in particular circumstances. A very important point to remember for effective external influence is consistency.
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From page 47... ...
The group discussed promoting democracy by supporting intermediary groups, particularly indigenous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) , but was sensitive to the need to distinguish among such organizations as candidates for American assistance.
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From page 48... ...
That is, under the broad umbrella of market-oriented reforms and of measures needed to stabilize economies that have been suffering from inflation and from persistent and very severe budget and balance of payments gaps, the precise design may make a big difference in terms of repercussions for democratic development. One can start with the goal of economic reform 48
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From page 49... ...
A third kind of conflict concerns the process of consolidating democratic openings, particularly decentralizing power. Nelson offered one of the conclusions from research that she and a group of colleagues have been doing on the politics of adjustment: virtually all effective economic reorientation and adjustment programs in the 1980s entailed a high degree of executive centralization and a rather autocratic style of decision-making.
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From page 50... ...
On the one hand, the group discussion reflected a belief that a plural civil society, one based on individual self-interest and cross-cutting ties, is most likely to contribute to a democratic transition. This included associations that display certain key characteristics: open, voluntary membership; a membership base that cuts across existing social cleavages; the election of leaders within associations; deliberation about group action; universalist, rather than selfserving goals, such as human rights as opposed to a particular economic interest; and a sustainable institutional structure, especially at the local level, but also possibly federated up to the national level.
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From page 51... ...
One view was that there is a natural progression from the articulation of particular economic interests by a group through policy advocacy in that particular economic sector, to broader concerns with governance for the political unit as a whole. Another view stressed that horizontal linkages among organizations within civil society were more important than vertical linkages between local associations and national policy.
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From page 52... ...
They provide citizens with a choice in selecting where to affiliate themselves, and choice, the participants felt, was at the essence of democracy. Special Problems of Divided Societies Eric Nordlinger, Chair; Jo Husbands, Rapporteur The group limited its discussion to a particular type of divided society: those countries in which political participation and political contests tend to take place along ethnic, religious, cultural, or racial lines.
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From page 53... ...
That is, was one necessarily talking about elite bargains? Some participants argued that one could see negative roles for individuals-communal strife, violence -- but that without effective organization, it was difficult to envision individuals playing a positive role in moving toward political arrangements or bargains at the social or political level that would allow representation and ease ethnic strife.
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From page 54... ...
NGOs, which are usually called PVOs and indigenous nongovernmental organizations that are involved in development work, as well as other areas such as human rights and "know-your-rights" legal work that are relevant to democratization initiatives. Participants agreed on the importance of not assuming all NGOs are equally worthy of support and on the need to examine internal decision-making structures and what these organizations are doing that may be relevant to democratization.
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From page 55... ...
In northern Nigeria, this treatise became very important in the creation of political parties, in efforts to get the right to vote for women, and even in convincing the government that it should encourage education for young women. In Niger, when the military government decided to start promoting Islam, it had scholars translate this document from Arabic and encouraged discussions in universities and in Islamic associations.
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From page 56... ...
Robinson endorsed Jane Mansbridge's call for comparative field research on deliberative democracy to attempt to document, in a number of societies, how people resolve conflict. What institutions do they have, what are they doing?
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