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Democracy as universal value
Amartya Sen
Speech in Congress for Democracy held in New Delhi (February 1999), taken from the Journal of Democracy, July 1999, vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 3-17, The John Hopkins University
In the summer of 1997, during an interview to a leading Japanese newspaper asked me what it was, from my point of view, the event century most relevant X X. I thought it was one of those rare questions that require reflection, given the large number of important events that have taken place in the last hundred years. European empires, particularly the British and French, who had so much weight in the nineteenth century, have disappeared. We have witnessed two world wars. We have witnessed the rise and fall of fascism and Nazism. The century saw the birth of communism and its fall-in the former Soviet bloc or radical transformation in China. We have also seen the shift of economic dominance of the West toward a new economic balance in Japan, East and Southeast Asia play a much more prominent. And although the region currently has some economic and financial problems, this does not invalidate the change in the balance of the global economy has developed over the past decades and, in the case of Japan, during almost the whole century. The last hundred years have not exactly been lacking in important events.
But ultimately I had no problem to choose the most prominent among the variety of events that have taken place during this period: the rise of democracy . It does not mean downplaying other events but I think in the future, when, look back and stop in the twentieth century, it is hard not to be granted priority to the establishment of democracy as the only acceptable form of government.
The idea of \u200b\u200bdemocracy, of course, had its origins in ancient Greece, more than two millennia. There were also attempts piecemeal democratization in other places, including India. But I really was in ancient Greece where it took shape and actually implemented, though on a limited scale, before collapsing and giving way to more authoritarian forms of government and asymmetric. Nothing similar occurred elsewhere. It took
long time to emerge as we know it today. There were various events that allowed its gradual and ultimately successful establishment as an effective system of government, since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 to universal suffrage in Europe and North America in the twentieth century, through the French and American revolutions century XIX. However, only in the twentieth century became established as "normal" form of government is entitled to any nation, whether in Europe, America, Asia or Africa.
The idea of \u200b\u200bdemocracy as a universal commitment is quite new and, in essence, a product of the twentieth century. The rebels who imposed restrictions the King of England by the Magna Carta saw their needs as completely local. In contrast, American independence and the French revolutionaries gave a great impetus to the realization that democracy is necessary as the overall system. The practical aim of his demands, however, did not exceed the local, being confined to the two sides of the North Atlantic and on the basis of economic history, social and political life of the region.
Throughout the nineteenth century it was common for democratic theorists to ask whether this or that country "was ready for democracy." This way of thinking
not change until the twentieth century, with the recognition that the question itself was wrong: a country does not have to be ready for democracy, but rather be prepared through democracy. The change was crucial, for it was extending the potential scope of democracy to billions of people, whatever their history, culture or economic status.
was also in this century when it was finally agreed that the "adult suffrage for all" meant all, including women. When in January 1999 I had the opportunity to meet Ruth Dreyfuss, President of Switzerland and a woman of remarkable intellectual level, I remembered that as recently as a quarter-century women in that country or even have the right to vote. Finally we come to recognize that the application of the concept of universality, such as mercy, should not be selective.
Without doubt, the universal aspiration for democracy has to face challenges take many forms and come from many different directions. In fact, part of this essay is about it, because it analyzed the affirmation of democracy as a universal value and the controversy surrounding this claim. But before that analysis is clearly necessary to understand in what sense of democracy has become the main belief of the contemporary world.
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