DEMOCRATIC EXPANSION

AROUND THE WORLDA PPT BY:TUSHAAR BANSALCLASS: 9TH CTO: MR. SURBJEET SINGH

EXPANSION OF DEMOCRACY IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD! In order to take roots, democracy, like

any delicate plant, needs a certain type of soil, climate and nutrients. Societies with a long tradition of strong dictatorships, feudal character, extreme poverty or a heightened sense of sect oral loyalties find it difficult to switch over to a democratic system of government.

DEMOCRATIC EXPANSION IN:

CHILE POLAND

GHANA MYANMAR

DEMOCRACY IN OUR COUNTRY Where the leadership is ambitious and

more interested in personal gains rather than welfare of the masses, democracy does not run a smooth course. This contrast is most visible in cases of India and Pakistan. Democracy has yet to take firm roots in Pakistan while it is well entrenched in India although not without certain shortcomings.

DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA A number of African countries attained

freedom after the Second World War. Not all of them have been able to successfully transform their political systems from colonialism to self governing democracy. One such example is that of Nigeria. The country has gone through a long process of coups and military dictatorships after independence. Democracy is yet to take roots in a number of African countries.

DEMOCRACY IN GHANA Ghana was formerly the Gold

Coast Colony. Opposition to foreign rule grew under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah in 1949. He had formed the Convention People’s Party. The people demanded independence from British rule in 1950.

KWAME NKRUMA Kwame Nkruma was a person who was against the foreign rule in Ghana.

In the elections held in 1951 and 1957, the C.P.P. was able to secure majority. That made the people of Gold Coast achieves independence. The name of the country was then changed to Ghana. Nkrumah became President in 1960. Opposition developed against his great personal power in 1966.

He was removed from power by the police and the armed forces under General E.K.Katoka when Nkrumah had gone to China. Katoka was killed in 1967. In 1969, the people of Ghana elected Dr. K.A. Busia to power. In 1972 the government was taken over by Colonel I.K. Achempong. This is the story in many other African countries too. They have failed to stabilize democracy and thus consolidate the gains of achieving freedom from foreign rule.

DEMOCRACY IN CHILE Yet another example of democracy

getting derailed is that of Chile in South America. Situated on the western coast of South America, the country resembles Kerala in our country. Salvador Allende had become the President of the country after the elections held in 1970. He introduced a number of social and economic reforms in the country.

SALVADOR ALLENDESalvador Allende became the president of Chile after winning the elections of 1970.

The educational system was reformed and land was redistributed among the farmers. Salvador Allende was opposed to the exploitation of Chile by foreign companies. For that one reason, his policies were not liked by the rich people of the country. On September 11, 1973, military leaders staged a coup in the country. The President’s house was surrounded and bombed. Allende died in the military attack.

Earlier he had been asked by the military leaders to either go out of the country or resign from the office of the President. He had agreed to neither of these conditions. He had to suffer for his vision of Chile becoming a country where men would be free and the country would march onwards to a better society.

In his last address to the people, he had said, “Workers of my homeland, Chileans will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason became dominant… I have certainty that my sacrifice will not be in vain… I will be a moral lesson to castigate felony, cowardice and treason.”

Salvador Allende was targeted because he was opposed to his country’s resources like copper being taken away by foreign companies. A section of the navy took over the sea port. The Defence Minister went there to find out what the real situation was. He was arrested. Later the President’s House was surrounded and bombed by the military. The governance of the country was taken over by the military (such changes are referred to as military coup).

Military dictatorships are infamous for torturing those who oppose them. General Augusto Pinochet who took over as President after the death of Salvador Allende was no exception. Several miners believed to be sympathetic to the former President were arrested, taken away from their homes and shot.

AUGUSTO PINOCHETAugusto Pinochet was the military general of Chile later become the dictator of Chile.

The rest of the population including the wives of miners who had been shot was threatened that if they dared to oppose, they would suffer a similar fate. The Press was put under strict censorship. Stories about torture and threats never got published.

Dictatorships however have failed to kill the spirit of democracy. Pinochet was rejected by the voters of Chile on October 5, 1988. Aylwin won by a large majority of votes defeating the official candidate put up by the military dictatorship. He took office in March 1990. Pinochet had to give up his lifetime Senatorial status.

AYLWIN PINOCHETAylwin Pinochet won the elections in Chile held in October 5 ,1988.

DEMOCRACY IN POLAND Poland in Europe is yet another example

of the power of the urge for democracy. The country had been under the rule of Polish United Workers Party since after the country had become a remote controlled satellite of the communist regime in USSR (before disintegration). No other political party was allowed to function in the country.

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICSThe Soviet Union officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a socialist state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1991.

Those who opposed the government were put in prison. The government owned all means of production within the country. The workers employed therein were forced to follow the government policies. The political party had the support of the USSR government and its military might. Here too repression could not kill the people’s urge for a system of government in which their opinion mattered.

In 1980, a strike in Lenin Shipyard threw up a leader Lech Walesa who wanted the workers to have the right to form trade unions that were independent of the political party in government. The strike spread to other trades and the government was forced to give in. An independent trade union Solidarity was formed. The trade union became very popular.

LECH WALESALech Wałęsa was a retired Polish politician and labor activist.He headed solidarity and served as president of Poland from 1990 to 1995.

Within a year it had a membership of about ten million Polish workers. Many cases of corruption and mismanagement during the previous regime came to be reported. The government got into a panic. Martial law was declared.

Thousands of Solidarity workers were arrested and put in prisons. There was yet another wave of repressions but finally free elections were held in 1989. Poland had for the first time a democratically elected President in October 1990. The disintegration of USSR came as a blessing to a number of countries of Eastern Europe that were being controlled by the Soviet Union since after the end of the Second World War in 1945.

DEMOCRACY IN PORTUGAL Portugal too had to suffer a long period

of dictatorial rule. Overthrowing the republican government in 1926, General Antonio Carmona got himself elected as President of Portugal, in 1928. He had no solution for the economic ills of the country and invited Dr. Oliveira Salazar who was an economist to reform the economy as Minister of Finance. In 1932, Salazar became Prime Minister and in effect the dictator of Portugal.

GENERAL ANTONIO CARMONACarmona was a republican and a freemason and was a quick aderent to the proclamation of the republic, on 5 October 1910.

Salazar’s rule was reactionary. He favoured the Church in educational matters. He defended the interests of the rich classes and ruled with the help of his secret police and by denying the people freedom of expression. The secret police placed itself at almost all public places including hospitals and educational institutions.

OLIVEIRA SALAZARSalazar became the prime minister of Portugal in 1932.

The protesters were arrested. Under the reign of terror no one could dare to say anything in opposition to government policies. He relinquished office in 1968 due to his sickness. He died in 1970. Salazar’s policies were continued by his successor for some more time. However the constitution of 1976 enshrined democracy in Portugal.

DEMOCRACY IN MYANMAR Nearer home, we have the example

of Myanmar. The country became a republic on 4thJanuary 1948. But democracy did not get firmly established there. In 1990, elections were held in Myanmar and the leader of the National League for Democracy Aung Suu Kyi secured a distinct majority.

AUNG SAN SUU KYIThe youngest daughter of Aung san, She is also the first female prime minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar and the  Office in President Htin Kyaw's cabinet.

The military leaders of Myanmar however refused to accept the results. Aung Suu Kyi was put under arrest. Military rule continues with all dissenters inside the prisons. The campaign for democracy goes on. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace but the people of Myanmar continue to fight for their right to democratic government.

EXPANDED DEMOCRACY The cases illustrated above represent the

teething problems associated with the maturing of a world democratic order. About 140 countries of the world have systems of government that recognize more than one political party.

Significant advances towards a democratic order have been made in a number of countries that have been under dictatorial regime or where democracy has yet to strike strong roots. Equally significant is the number of countries where freedom to elect representatives to govern the people is yet to take place.