Thread: Democracy is dying.

Democracy is dying.

If you go to The New York Times archive online and search “Ukrainian elections,” you get a pretty good idea of the modern challenges to young democracies.

Ten articles will appear, and all of them discuss crises, political battles and the possibility of controlling the ballot boxes. The picture that is painted is bleak — only three years ago in the last Ukrainian prime minister election, the winning candidate was poisoned before Election Day.

Let’s look at Thailand next. Last fall, the King of Thailand allowed a military junta to take over their civilian and elected government. The King placed a retired military general in charge of an interim government that had the power to fire all civilian officials as necessary.

The King took such drastic steps after the former Prime Minister, Mr. Thaskin Shinawatra, had blatantly attempted to promote his own personal allies.

The New York Times wrote of the former civilian regime: “Some analysts saw this as a final step in Mr. Thaksin’s attempt to secure personal control over the workings of government, having already co-opted the Senate, much of the judiciary and the independent agencies that were intended under a new constitution as a check on executive power.”

So the military coup was an attempt to save democracy. Well, that makes sense then.

If we turn our attention to Zimbabwe, the black sheep of all young “democracies,” we see an even more troubled election history. Brig. Gen. Armstrong P. Gunda was crushed by a train when whispers of dissatisfaction with President Mugabe’s regime surfaced.

The Mugabe rule has lasted so long, so corruptly, so economically detrimental and so rigged that the Western powers have banned Mugabe from traveling to Western countries.

The elections are not remotely fair anymore — it has become common knowledge that election boxes are stolen and votes are changed.

However, many people point out that Zimbabwe, Thailand and Ukraine are countries that are haunted by the legacies of colonial or satellite rule. They are countries where democracy has never flourished.

Some even argue that countries like Zimbabwe are truly dictatorships masked in democracy. So it is somewhat understandable that democracy is struggling in the developing and emerging world.

But the truth is that the pillars of democracy seem to be weakening in the developed world, too.

Right wing support is gaining support in Western Europe.

Switzerland is holding 2008 elections, and the most recent protests have been sparked by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP). The SVP is the most powerful part in Switzerland’s federal parliament, and they recently taped posters at a political rally depicting three white sheep kicking away a single black sheep.

Political parties demanding a stronger line on immigration in Western Europe have recently become increasingly blatant. The rejection is not only for immigrants, but also for political refugees from places like Rwanda and Kosovo.

Many of the Swiss are tired of being a haven for foreigners. And on the eve of an election, the SVP is on the verge of seizing greater control of the Parliament. The SVP has drawn comparisons to the Nazis of Germany.

These problems are not simply isolated to Western Europe.

In the United States, the Congress passed Senate Bill 1927. The bill permits wiretapping of all U.S. communications as long as the destination of the communication is outside of the United States. Voter turnout by the American public has steadily decreased nearly every single election year in the past four decades.

According to Reuter’s latest poll, Congress approval ratings are roughly at 11 percent, well below the president’s already sunk approval rating.

Democracy is struggling. The pillars of a good republic, civic participation, fair and equal voting, minority rights and separation of powers are all deteriorating in different parts of the world, in both mature democracies and infant democracies.

We are living in a time where people are disenchanted with the world around them — there is rampant dissatisfaction at the performance of politicians, corruption of a democracy is even worse than a military junta and people are searching for answers.

Why have we lost so much faith in democracy? Is it outdated? Do we feel like our votes don’t matter anymore?

It’s unlikely that democracy in the United States will ever fail. Democracy has survived despite challenges greater than the ones we see today. It was liberal democracy that proved to be just during the World War II.

It was liberal democracy that triumphed in the Cold War. The continued commitment to the foundations of democracy has helped see it through the Great Depression, two world wars and a bi-powered world. But democracy needs our help again.

It’s time to revive the civic engagement we owe this century. The time to be apathetic for politics and all matters of government is past. The 2008 elections are right around the corner. Rally, feel conviction, protest and above all, vote.

[Reach columnist Sandley Chou at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]