Democracy

I am doing my first uni assignment in 10 years - scary :) However I thought I would share my thoughts on the issues.

Democracy and economic liberalisation are rather like the chicken and the egg, working out which one comes first is one of the more difficult questions that we are struggling with internationally at the moment - see Iraq if you are wondering why it matters. We can see around the world examples of this issue being played out almost on a daily basis. A number of East Asian countries believe in the concept of guided democracy with the opinion that the economy is the big requirement. In the Central and Eastern European countries that were freed as a result of the collapse of USSR, you see political change before you see economic liberalisation.

As I have done my readings I have realised that the question itself is flawed - what's missing is the third force - societal / cultural liberalisation. There is a need for societies to develop a support infrastructure - a willingness for people to support the myths of democracy and too not fall back to old habits. It's this third force that enables democracy and economic freedoms to be pursued. So in effect it's the dinosaur (if you are a evolutionist) that came first and then the chicken sort of grew out of this. Anyway it's a thought