06-28-2004, 10:55 PM
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#61 (permalink)
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Cherry-pickin' devil's advocate
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I posted this a while back in another thread that was basically addressing the difference in nation building of democracy and what the U.S.'s version is
Quote:
Take South Vietnam for example. After the Geneva settlement in 1956, the United States still supplied a great amount of money, supplies, and experts to South Vietnam. Under Eisenhower and then Kennedy we attempted what we call "nation-building."
We wanted to build South Vietnam into a democracy following the United States model.
A major underlying factor, however, that many do not catch is the concept of democracy is different in places around the world. Asian societies, including Vietnam, are often built on Confucanism. In Confucianism, there is no such thing as multiple truths - there is just one absolute truth.
Thus, there is no pluralistic background in Vietnamese society. In America, we can take an issue, say education, and look at it from different views, and still we are able to not only agree with a core set of beliefs (in other words, what makes Americans, American) while we look at subjects in multiple ways that we hold true. In Vietnam, divided into sects and groups, there was no middle ground of compromise.
Democracy failed in a society with no pluralistic background. It failed in a society that had long been built on autocracy. Hundreds and even thousands of years under Emperors, under foreign powers such as China and then the French, left the society away from democracy.
This is why many believe Russia may never fully achieve democracy as we know it. They, for thousands of years, have lived under autocratic and often times ruthless leaders. Just decades ago, they lived under a totalitarian regime.
This is why many do not see democracy in China as we know it in any time soon. The Chinese themselves are not all the same - within China alone there are thousands of dialects and different groups and ethnicities inside. Their history is one long of autocratic rule from the inside and outside.
One might bring up Japan and ask why Japan, an Asian country, was different. But Japan did have a democratic tradition extending from the Meiji period to the late 20's / early 30s when the military took over. The end of World War II esentially restored the government back to where it had been, a democracy.
Different nations and different people live with different beliefs and ideas. The United States is a relative newcomer to the world stage when compared to these countries built upon ancient civilizations. Iraq is at the heart of the Fertile Crescent where early civilization began. These are long roots extending far into the past.
With religion thrown into the mix, it takes more than simple bridges and comparisons with nations to show why "nation building" isn't the simple pump cash in and impose a constitution. Its why democracies vary from nation to nation. Its why societies and governments are different all throughout.
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Yes that's a long read but IMO that is why America is so unique in democracy versus all others and why it works here, but not necessarily everywhere.
Last edited by Zeld2.0; 06-28-2004 at 11:02 PM..
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