The Call for Democratic Participation

Abstract

In this era of “democracy promotion” we need to ask tough questions about the nature of the kind of “democracy” that is being “promoted” throughout the world. What do we mean by “democracy”? What does it mean to live in a “democracy”? Do we live in a “democracy”? It is essential that we look at this vague and malleable concept, give it some content, and critically examine it. This is particularly important during a time when the method of “democracy promotion” has taken the form of military strategies of “regime change”, undertaken in the name of “preserving our way of life” or “our freedoms” by the governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ignoring massive popular opposition among the citizenry and objections from around the world. Appeals to basic human rights and international law have been dismissed or ignored, while appeals to “national-interest” and “national-security” have become the standard tropes used in news sound bites and slogans to justify further governmental authoritarianism, secrecy, and aggression. Cynics among us may be right to point out that the current military adventures in the name of “democracy promotion” have nothing to do with promoting democracy, but are the means to gain access to oil and other natural resources, given that the rhetoric of “democracy promotion” and “regime change” seems to be projected towards those countries that (perhaps, coincidentally) are major suppliers of oil or some other natural resource.