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February 14, 2008
The difficult and dangerous road toward democracy
Polly Toynbee's column in Tuesday's Guardian commented on elections in Bangladesh and the many obstacles countries, particularly poorer ones, face in trying to establish a democracy. Although Britain has a long established democracy, Toynbee argues that the more secure and better run a democracy is, the more citizens are less likely to vote and lend their support relatively uncorrupt and efficient politicians.
As she says:
But telling jaded Europeans to value their vote is no more use than telling well-fed western children to eat crusts that would be the envy of starving Zimbabweans.To avoid this, Toynbee believes democracy needs constant renewal, however she remains disapointed in our two main parties for supporting a flawed electoral system. As she says:
Democracy does need constant renewal. In Britain neither of the main parties - not David Miliband in this speech - are yet willing to reform the profound dysfunctions of a system that lets the next election revolve around the super-votes of just 8,000 swing citizens in key marginals. Though in a previous job Miliband was forward-thinking in reviving the power and pride of Britain's great cities, electoral reform is still out of bounds for Labour.
Toynbee's message is right on target. Given how many democracies are in trouble around the world and how many people are fighting for the right to vote even with their lives in danger, it seems silly that our political parties cannot come together to make changes that would allow the electorate to be heard and their votes to count for something.
Posted by joshloewenstein on February 14, 2008
