Still a long way to go
A great day for democray? Iraq votes in a Shia coalition, and commentators hail the increase in participation from the Sunni minority.
The concept of a country voting along ethnic lines makes me uneasy. Is it not analagous to a UK general election with the English Party winning a majority over the Welsh Party and the Scottish Party? (With pundits revelling in the fact that the Scots have at least participated this time, the miserable gits).
It is seen as a positive step that the Kurdish and Sunni minorities both won a significant number of seats, which should stabilise the country. We hear precious little of ideology. How did the raving communists fare against the slimy fascists? That’s what I would like to know.
Is a country that could spill into civil war at any moment a democracy? Its not so much voting, as lining up two gangs to see which is bigger. Is a country that votes strictly along ethnic lines a democracy? It seems more like nationwide nepotism.
January 21st, 2006 at 1:27 am
[...] Robert Sharp asks, is voting along ethnic lines really a democracy? [...]
May 5th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
[...] And this is precisely the point. We have evolved to a stage where we do not need to behave like animals anymore. Tribalism is not politics. It is not about ideas, just random geography. We have evolved to the stage where we should be able to overcome these tribal differences. With the birth of every mixed-race child, with every child born to parents of different nationalities, the tribes mix. The fact is, we shall soon reach the point where there is only homo sapien, and nothing more. [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 12:44 am
[...] The political crisis in Kenya, and the US Presidential Primary season, remind me of some old thoughts on the nature of democracy. First, is voting along ethnic lines really democratic? Apparently the Kenyan crisis has an ethnic element, with supporters of Kibaki and Odinga dividing along tribal, rather than ideological lines. As I said before, such voting seems to be nothing more than a count to see who has the bigger gang, and undermines the rationalism on which democracy is supposed to rest. [...]