Democracy Promotion

[cmoneyr]

Chinese democracy

Omg, Guns N' Roses!

 

[Incyte]

Promoting Western ideas in China is probably rather pointless and likely to be counterproductive.

The Western idea of a free market economy is doing pretty well in China.

 

[iceclone]

The Western idea of a free market economy is doing pretty well in China.

I didn't say Western ideas wouldn't work - just that it wouldn't work well to actively promote them (that is, try to push ideason them). With respect to China, pushing will just results in pushing back, in my opinion.

 

[herbiedoobie]

You know better than lumping all of the "Islamic world" together here. You comments about democracy threatening people’s fundamental beliefs are probably true for Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc. They are not true for the government of Turkey, and my sense is that they are not true for the vast majority of the population of Iran, Afganistan, etc. Iraq seems to be a mixed bag. I think diplomatic efforts to promote democracy can be very effective in this region. But it will of course take a long time.

Regarding China, they appear to figure that they invented everything and know everything best, so they just don't like meddling by the West, whether it is in regards to forms of government or anything else. I think that they'll continue to move towards democracy, but it will be a very Chinese democracy, based on millennia of Chinese government tradition. Promoting Western ideas in China is probably rather pointless and likely to be counterproductive.

Democracy is directly contradictory to the literal teachings of Islam. Though, ironically, the Shi'ia are the most likely to accept some parts of democracy, due to their "every man can judge for themselves" and "non-blood imam" belief. Neither of which are expressly permitted by the Quran.

Either way, you are right to point out that man is entirely able to happily co-exist with internal contradictions. The problem comes when you get literate people who are then able to read and interpret the source document and say, WTH???

I do not think it is a coincidence that a large number of Islamic suicide bombers and terrorists are educated members of the middle class.