The Democratic Rollback

Larry Diamond bemoans the The Democratic Rollback: The Resurgence of the Predatory State (Foreign Affairs March/April 2008, pp.36-48, subscription required) without realising that the state exists to oppress people. I suppose the state becomes predatory when it preys on the wrong people.

Diamond complains that the recent eruption of democracy has been a sham:

Elsewhere in the developing and postcommunist worlds, democracy has been a superficial phenomenon, blighted by multiple forms of bad governance: abusive police and security forces, domineering local oligarchies, incompetent and indifferent state bureaucracies, corrupt and inaccessible judiciaries, and venal ruling elites who are contemptuous of the rule of law and accountable to no one but themselves. Many people in these countries - especially the poor - are thus citizens only in name and have few meaningful channels of political participation. There are elections, but these are contests between corrupt, clientelistic parties. There are parliaments and local governments, but they do not represent broad constituencies. There are constitutions, but not constitutionalism.

p.38

Emphasis Mine

And he could have been talking about the NSW State Government. We have the abusive police and security forces exposed recently during the APEC summit. We have the incompetent and indifferent state bureaucracies exposed recently with the RNS scandal and horse flu outbreak.

The local oligarchy is not that domineering or venal. The judiciary appears to relatively incorrupt and accessible.

Diamond then goes onto elaborate what he means by a true democracy:

For a country to be a democracy, it must have more than regular, multiparty elections under a civilian constitutional order. Even significant opposition in presidential elections and opposition party members in the legislature are not enough to move beyond electoral authoritarianism. Elections are only democratic if they are truly free and fair. This requires the freedom to advocate, associate, contest, and campaign. It also requires a fair and neutral electoral administration, a widely credible system of dispute resolution, balanced access to mass media, and independent vote monitoring. By a strict application of these standards, a number of countries typically counted as democracies today - including Georgia, Mozambique, the Philippines, and Senegal - may have slipped below the threshold. Alarmingly, January 2008 Freedom House survey found that for the first time since 1994, freedom around the world had suffered a net decline in two successive years. The ratio of the number of countries whose scores had improved to the number whose scores had declined - a key indicator - was the worst since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Where democracy survives, it often labors under serious difficulties. In most regions, majoritories support democracy as the best form of government in principle, but substantial monorities are willing to entertain an authoritarian option. ...

p.39

Emphasis Mine

What is left unsaid is that democracy can be managed by controlling access through funding, registration, monitoring, and varous bureaucratic hurdles (such as the twelve month lead time for parties to be registered before they can contest an election, or the 750 active member rule for a party to keep its registration).

I think Diamond falls for the fallacy that existence of parties implies democracy. I would argue that the ability of independents to contest and win elections would be a far greater measure of democracy because it expands the choices available.

Even then, independents can be controlled through mass media access and campaign costs.

Now, Diamond comes to the real reason that is concerned about his version of democracy:

... Without significant improvements in governance , economic growth will not take off or be substainable. Without legal and political institutions to control corruption, punish cheating, and ensure a level economic and political playing field, pro-growth policies will be ineffective and their economic benefits will be overshadowed or erased.

p.42

Emphasis Mine

In other words, the Capitalist cannot compete with significant state intervention. There is no invisible that naturally gives rise to optimal economic conditions. Individuals without guidance and control from their betters are little better than wild animals.

A society should be governed in such a way that it is capitalist enough without it being too capitalist.

Diamond then goes on to explain the natural state of the state:

... For thousands of years, the natural tendency of elites everywhere has been to monopolize power rather than to restrain it - through the development of transparent laws, strong institutions, and market competition. And once they have succeeded in restricting political access, these elites use their consolidated power to limit economic competition so as to generate profits that benefit them rather than society at large. The result is the predatory state.

p.43

Emphasis Mine

No shit, Batman! Who would had thought that a bunch of greedy bastards would band together to steal from other people? I had never realized that it was possible!

The sole purpose of the state to defend the interests of the ruling class (or elite) against everyone else. That has always been its purpose and will be its purpose until all classes are abolished.

A society divided into classes requires the existence of the state so the ruling class can prey on the other classes. A ruling class rules for its own benefit. Any benefit that the other classes get is purely a secondary effect.

Diamond really pummels those predatory states:

The most egregious predatory states produce predatory societies. People do not get rich through productive activity and honest risk taking; they get rich by manipulating power and privilege, by stealing from the state, extracting from the weak, and shirking the law. Political actors in predatory societies use any means necessary and break any rules possible in their quest for power and wealth. ...

p.43

Emphasis Mine

This is a pretty good description of the current economic mess in the USA, and what is going on to try to fix it.

Diamond then goes on to describe some wishy-washy plan for good governance to be imposed through international institutions. Once that is done, democracy can flourish to give the right outcomes for US foreign policy.

True democracy requires the participation of everyone in every decision that affects them. This includes government as well as the workplace. In other words, true democracy can only exist in a Communist society.