Finding Answers
Is democracy inherently dysfunctional and double-edged? If it’s true that “democracies can deliver by improving the lives of their own people,” how come the Philippines, called the oldest democracy in Asia, faltered miserably? Can democracy really have many faces?
These questions are among the many sparked anew with last week’s virtual Summit for Democracy initiated by US President Joe Biden with three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights.
Those invited were leaders from over 100 countries that included those deemed far from democratic, prompting criticism that the two-day gathering on democracy could be “where some of its worst offenders could pose as responsible upholders of freedom and dispense homilies on how to save the world from those like themselves.”
But the goal, the US State Department said, is to “provide a platform for leaders to announce both individual and collective commitments, reforms, and initiatives to defend democracy and human rights at home and abroad.” Last August, the White House announced the plan to convene the summit after Biden “has said that the challenge of our time is to demonstrate that democracies can deliver by improving the lives of their own people and by addressing the greatest problems facing the wider world.”
Not to be outdone, China held its own two-day International Forum on Democracy with the virtual participation of scholars and politicians from around 120 countries. Presenting itself as also a democracy with an alternative model that is “superior” to that of the US, China mocked Biden’s summit as an “exercise in hypocrisy.”
"There is no fixed model of democracy; it manifests itself in many forms. Assessing the myriad political systems in the world against a single yardstick and examining diverse political structures in monochrome are in themselves undemocratic," according to a document entitled “China: Democracy That Works” released by China’s State Council at the time of the forum.
The Chinese Communist Party argues that China has a “process-oriented democracy” with its multi-tier legislative system where delegates to the county-level legislatures are elected directly by the people. These delegates, in turn, choose delegates for higher levels, and so on up to at the very top, the National People’s Congress which approve policies and major decisions made by the party.
With the world’s second largest economy claiming to be also a democracy that utilizes elections, it’s not surprising why some tend to be confused. Why does democracy seem to have many faces? Why do communist regimes and leftist organizations use the word “democratic” to their names? Can autocracy be more superior to real democracy in achieving progress? At the US summit, President Duterte said our country has a vibrant albeit imperfect democracy.
“While we are the oldest democracy in Asia, our system of governance is not perfect. Corruption, poverty, and peace and order issues have always been and continue to be our major challenges. They weakened our institutions and deprived many Filipinos of democratic agencies,” he pointed out.
Many find ironic that our brand of democracy, instead of propelling our country to greater heights, has resulted in retrogression. From being the richest and most modern in Asia during the 1950s to ‘60s, next only to Japan, our country has deteriorated.
It is understandable that dark years of dictatorship caused retrogression, but the promise of positive change brought about by the EDSA People Power revolution failed to bring back the glory days. Many lament that the freedoms regained in 1986 failed to achieve what ought to really matter most – freedom from hunger and poverty.
But toppling a dictatorship was what EDSA was all about. Indeed, the promise of EDSA was the restoration of democracy and basic freedoms denied the people during the reign of a one-man rule. Many believe it would be unrealistic to say that EDSA also promised good governance; excellence in governance simply cannot be attained overnight – it has to be a work in progress.
Democracy is indeed a work in progress in our country. It is an ideal concept but circumscribed by limitations, especially poverty, plaguing many Filipinos. And as long as people are not empowered and political patronage is dominant, and social injustice is rampant, the concept of democracy would no longer be appealing to many people who become more open to other ideas like autocracy.
But hope springs eternal, especially in the coming elections. It is essential that enlightened Filipinos rally their countrymen to use elections correctly — to install competent and charismatic leaders who have the right economic strategy to bring about jobs and livelihood for the people and who can renew their faith in a government responsive to the needs of constituents.
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