Book Review-IV

Asian Democracy In World History

By Alan T. Wood,
Routledge, NY, 2004, pages: 121.

Democracy, as it is practiced differently in different societies has intrigued political thinkers for quite some time. Alan T. Wood has decided to take a comparative and analytical approach to study democracy in his book “Asian Democracy in World History”, which is one of the books in the series of “Themes of the World History”. The book is divided into seven chapters with the crux lying in the four central chapters where the experiences of democratic governance are compared to the East Asian and Asian states. In the basic conceptual framework, he has taken six prerequisites for democracy given by Robert M. Dahl. These prerequisites constitute the basic theme of this book. They are elected officials, free, fair and frequent elections, freedom of expression, and alternative source of information, associational autonomy and inclusive citizenship. The explanation of these variables is given to ensure that the parameters of the study are clearly drawn. The writer has presented the basic objectives of the study and given a set of questions in the beginning that will make it easier for the reader to comprehend how the different states under study are taken into consideration. This has made the concept and the layout of the study more comprehendible. The research citations have been deliberately made easier by the author and at the end of each chapter suggested readings for each state are given. The basic delineation among the Asian states is that of the post war democracies, which include India, Japan and the Philippines. The second category is of the later democracies in East Asia including South Korea, Taiwan and prospective China. The third category is of the lateral democracies in South Asia that comprise Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The fourth classification is of fragile democracies including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The times have changed from the traditional rules of despots and imperialists, so the present time, despite its diversity and confusion, is still more conducive for democracy. The freedom of expression has been enhanced manifold by the rise in information through media and as such the awareness level has also been established. The events during the twentieth century have shown that democracies have a lesser inclination towards war.

Democracy in its essence is about finding a decent balance between excessive freedom, which can lead to anarchy, and extensive control, which can lead to tyranny. So democracy has to be a combination of participation and freedom, developing a political culture with the state assisting in the legislation to implement the policies promulgated by the representatives of the people. The basic idea is to study democracy, accepting the uniqueness and the differences among the various cultures yet keeping the basic principle of free will in perspective. The generalisation of democracy by taking the experience of one state and applying it to another cannot be the best approach towards studying democracy. There cannot be agreed universal definitions and criteria for all the states. There is also a need to study the social structures of various societies and how the public attitudes and morals differ because of influences like religion and race. These differences lead to different cultures and traditions but this cannot imply that these different morals, beliefs and aspirations are essentially anti-democratic. The various interpretations of democracy by different societies must be studied objectively.

            The author has started by explaining the political philosophies and the origins of concepts like ‘polis’ and ‘cosmopolis’, which show the aspirations of the civilisations at the beginning of their journey towards political socialisation and the dignity of man. To reach these objectives there is need to establish a healthy working relationship among the elected representatives and the military and the police. There should be a democratic culture in the state and no foreign intervention in the affairs of the state. The author observes that the states having cultural and ethnic homogeneity have a better chance of democracy developing in them. Wile explaining the idea of democracy, the author has given a brief and interesting history of the evolution of man and the developmental stages, which show that to socialise and modernise had always been his innate behaviour. While explaining the political socialisation in the next step, the author has given examples of the Greek, Roman and Italian civilisations.

            In the next analysis the author has focused on the European experience and explains how the six prerequisites of democratic development were able to assist in the formation of democratic governments there. Similarly he moves on to the other countries of Asia, which is the basic subject of the study and tries to trace the availability or the non-availability of the prerequisites in these states. Japan had a freer press, which for instance assisted in the freedom of expression. The author thinks that the scholars who believe that capitalism is conducive for democracy consider Taiwan as a textbook case. A functioning democratic polity can develop from multiple paths, even from authoritarian political traditions, if there is a conscious move towards building a democratic culture. On the contrary, as a result of an undemocratic culture in states like China, the already diminishing prerequisites are at risk of depletion. In South Asia there are also some positive signs, for example, the secondary and higher education system can be an example for countries like the United States to follow, which is experiencing degradation in its primary education system. Similarly the author hints that religion can be a hindrance in some cases. Democracy failed in some places because it could not generate the unity of purpose. The author also explains that he did not include the rest of South-East Asian and Central Asian states, because in his perception these states have not experienced a move towards democracy. While explaining the fragility of democracy in the South Asian states like Pakistan the author has tried to compress the eventful politics since independence in a mere four pages which leaves a lot to be desired in the manner of an analytical survey of politics in Pakistan. Although the author has clearly explained in the beginning that only the matters related to politics will be contemplated upon in his discourse, it seems that he has missed out on the attitudes of the people and their idiosyncrasies while explaining some of the states like China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

            This book is quite different from many other discourses on politics, in that it actually lays down the objectives, parameters, dimensions and philosophies that will be a part of the conceptual framework. This enables the reader to anticipate whatever book says and does not cause any confusion about the way the book will address its main topic. Considering the educational and informative value of this book, it not only provides an introduction to the earliest ideas regarding the governance of the nation states, but also shows how these ideas passed through a transformation and how they were actually practiced in different societies. The author ends on an optimistic note when he believes that the coming generations will probably excel in achieving the objectives of democracy.
 

Ahmed Ijaz Malik
Assistant Research Officer, IPRI