Ch ap ter 1

Democracy in th e Con temp orary World

 Democracy in Ch ile
 Du rin g th e early 1970s, Ch ile h ad a d emocratically elected govern men t
u n d er Presid en t Salvad or Allen d e .
 Th e govern men t was lib eral toward s th e work ers an d th e p oor p eop le of
Ch ile.
 Variou s welfare p olicies were ad op ted b y th e govern men t for
eman cip atin g th e p oor su ch as milk for th e ch ild ren , d istrib u tion of lan d
to lan d less farmers, an d restrictin g th e en try of foreign comp an ies.
 M ilitary Cou p of 1973
 A military cou p led b y Gen eral Au gu sto Pin och et .
 Th e Presid en t’s h ou se was b omb ed b y th e military an d Allen d e d ied
in it.
 Gen eral Au gu sto Pin och et b ecame th e Presid en t of Ch ile an d ru led
it for th e n ext 17 years. Th e military govern men t mercilessly k illed
th ou san d s wh o su p p orted Allen d e.
 Restoration of Democracy in Ch ile
 M ilitary Gen eral Pin och et’s d ictatorsh ip came to an en d in 1988
after a referen d u m.
 Th e army’s role in th e Ch ilean govern men t was erad icated an d a
d emocratically elected govern men t was formed .
 In 2006, Ch ile got its first women Presid en t– M ich elle Bach elet
 Democracy in Polan d
 Polan d was u n d er th e Un ited Work ers Party in th e 1980s.
 No oth er p arty was allowed to tak e p art in th e p olitical p roc ess of th e
cou n try.
 Th e state of emp loymen t was b ad in Polan d . Th e work ers cou ld n ot form
th eir in d ep en d en t trad e u n ion s.
 A strik e was org an ised b y th e work ers of th e Len in sh ip yard on 14th
Au gu st 1980 in Gd an sk . It was led b y Lech Walesa .
  Th e main d eman d s of th e work ers were –
 Righ t to form trad e u n ion s.
 Release of p olitical p rison ers.
 Removal of cen sorsh ip on p ress.
 Th e govern men t h ad to con ced e th e d eman d s of th e work ers an d a 21-
p oin t agreemen t called th e Gd an sk Agreemen t was sign ed .
 Work ers, u n d er th e lead ersh ip of Lech Walesa, formed th e first
in d ep en d en t trad e u n ion of Polan d , ‘Solid arity’.
 Solid arity won th e 1990 election s an d came to p ower in Polan d . Lech
Walesa b ecame th e Presid en t of Polan d .
 Featu res of Democracy
 On ly th e lead ers elected b y th e p eop le can ru le th e cou n try.
 Freed om to organ ize, freed om to p rotest an d freed om of exp ression are
th e righ ts gu aran teed to p eop le.
 M ost I mp ortan t Period in th e Exp an sion of Democracy
 1975-2000 is th e most imp ortan t p eriod in th e exp an sion of d emocracy.
 It exp erien ced variou s even ts lik e th e tran sition to d emocracy,
ch allen ges facin g d emocracy, military cou p s th at d estroyed d emocracies
in variou s cou n tries an d re-estab lish men t of d emocracy th rou gh p op u lar
revolts an d movemen ts.
 M an y cou n tries of Latin America an d erstw h ile Soviet Un ion attain ed
d emocracy d u rin g th is p eriod .
 Democracy at th e Glob al Level
 Democracy at th e glob al level is p ractice d th rou gh th e in tern ation al
in stitu tion s estab lish ed with th e con sen t of variou s cou n tries.
 Th e Un ited Nation s Organ isation (UNO) was estab lish ed after th e en d of
th e Secon d World War in 1945 with th e ob jective of p romotin g
in tern ation al p eace an d solid arity.
 Th e p resen t memb ersh ip of th e UNO stan d s at 194.
 Each cou n try h as got eq u al rep resen tation in th e UNO an d d ecision s are
tak en b y majority votes, th u s p romotin g d emocratic id eals.
 UN Gen eral Assemb ly acts as th e legislative b od y of th e UNO an d
comp rise of all 192 memb er n ation s.
 UN Secu rity Cou n cil is th e execu tive of th e UNO an d is resp on sib le for
main tain in g in tern ation al p eace an d secu rity. It con sists of fifteen
 memb er n ation s. How ever, on ly five are p erman en t memb ers of th e
Secu rity Cou n cil. Th ese five n ation s n amely th e U.S., th e U.K., Fran ce,
Ch in a an d Ru ssia h ave th e veto p ower of an n u llin g an y d ecision tak en
collectively b y all oth er memb ers.
 Th e fin an ces of th e UNO are tak en care of b y th e In tern ation al M on etary
Fu n d (I M F). It h as 188 n ation s as its memb ers.
 UNO rep resen ts a d emocratic system. H ow ever, th ere are certain
loop h oles th at d efy th e d emocratic id eals. Th e rich an d th e p owerfu l
cou n tries h ave an u n fair ad van tage with resp ect to th e fu n ction in g of th e
UNO.
 Democracy Promotion
 Powerfu l cou n tries su ch as th e Un ited States of America an d th e Un ited
Kin gd om h ave tak en -u p th e task of p romotin g d emocracy at th e glob al
level.
 Th ese p owerfu l cou n tries d irectly in terfere in th e matters of n on -
d emocratic cou n tries for settin g u p d emocracy.
 Armed attack s on th ese n on -d emocratic cou n tries h ave also b een u sed b y
cou n tries su ch as th e USA.
 Sad d am H u ssein ’s ru le in Iraq was op p osed b y cou n tries lik e Britain an d
th e Un ited States as it was n ot a d emocratic regime.