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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (93848)	4/16/2003 10:24:44 AM
From: arun gera	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Would the two World Wars that weakened the European powers have something to do with that? >Woolsey said, in an article I posted upstream, that before 1919 there were seven democracies, and now there are 121.>

To: Ilaine who wrote (93848)	4/17/2003 3:44:17 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Woolsey said, in an article I posted upstream, that before 1919 there were seven democracies, and now there are 121. What was his definition of democracy? Like India? The Indians are getting there, though the process has involved enormous bloodshed and disorder. They aren't there yet, and they still face some real risks, but so far it's an encouraging story. Keep a close eye on the resurgent Hindu nationalist movement and its relationship with India's Muslim minority, and the influence of the perpetual confrontation with Pakistan on that relationship. If Pakistan were to go Islamist, India would face a nuclear crisis and the gravest threat to its unity and democracy in a long time. They live in interesting times over there, in many ways more interesting than ours. Huge accomplishments, both economically and politically, but huge weak spots still. When I said that the democracy can only succeed when some level of common assumption exists, I didn't mean to suggest that there is an absolute or permanent distinction between places where these things exist and places where they do not. This groundwork can be created. In fact, I think I said in the post to which you responded that America's first major task in Iraq will not be to establish democracy, but to build the basic grounding of consensus that democracy needs to survive. These things can be built. It's not an easy or quick job, though, especially when a lot of people are doing their best to break what you're building.