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E-mail China.org.cn, November 11, 2012
Realizing the current predicaments facing Western democracies, China should stick to the path for institutional reform which is most suitable for the nation and its people.
It has been found that non-Western countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan have been disappointed, or even desperate, after trying to adopt Western-style political systems which feature multiple political parties and a “one person, one vote” structure. As various kinds of crises continue to ferment, even some Western countries are getting fed up with their political system.
The general public in Europe and the Americas have recently shown more disappointment with the social, political, and economic status of their states.
According to a poll by the US think tank Pew Research Center, only 29 percent of Americans are satisfied with the current status of their country in 2012, compared to 30 percent in 2009. The satisfaction rates for the United Kingdom, France and Italy in 2012 were 30 percent, 29 percent, and 11 percent respectively.
These figures beg the question: What’s the matter with the Western political system? I would contend that the Western democratic model faces three major problems: the game tendency of democracy, capitalization of democracy and democratic shortsightedness.
First, Western democracy has been turning itself into a political entertainment, with democracy simplified into the process of elections which, in turn, have degraded to “political marketing”, in which the politicians are busy staging various live shows backed by enormous resources, employing meticulous strategies to ensure they can stand out in the end. Indeed, this game tendency of democracy has led to a severe shortage of top-class state leadership from the Western world.
Second, the democratic system in many Western countries, especially in the US, is increasingly dominated by wealthy candidates and their even wealthier donors. Despite its system of “checks and balances”, the US still finds its democracy in the palm of capitalists. The US Supreme Court has even allowed companies to spend freely on federal and state elections. Democracy will continue to be dominated by the rich if this problem cannot be solved. Meanwhile, the contradictions between the 99 percent and the 1 percent in the Occupy Wall Street campaign will continue to last for a long time, leading to an even more corrupt system in the end.
Finally, a majority of Western countries now suffer from the "live now, pay later” syndrome, with consumers as well as the state taking on huge amounts of debt. To win support from voters, politicians are used to pushing through tax cuts. However, when national treasuries are exhausted, the public is left to pay the bill. This is precisely why Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain are now mired in a debt crisis. This also explains, in part, why the US has become a debt-ridden country.
In addition the basic principles on which the Western democratic system is based have three intrinsic defects when viewed in a deeper context.
First, Western countries believe that man is a rational being, and therefore he will vote for the best candidate for the job, based on his rational thinking. However, modern social science and common knowledge prove that man can be either rational or irrational, or even severely irrational, especially in today’s society which is seriously polluted by the media, money, various interest groups and commercial speculation.
Second, Western countries cherish the belief that everyone is entitled to equal rights, equal protection and entitlement to social welfare. Yet, this supposition often harms the overall social interest and many individuals’ interests in the West.
Third, in the West, it is assumed that correct procedures are a panacea to all problems. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if a state’s leadership is mediocre or not, as long as the government follows correct procedure. This philosophy does not take into account that a political system without any concept of talent is bound to decline, as is that a company without any concept of talent will go bankrupt, and an army without any concept of talent can hardly win any battle. A high-quality democracy should integrate procedural democracy with substantive democracy. This is a lesson to be learned from by countries which have paid the price for adopting a Western mode of democracy which favors procedure over substance.
These six predicaments facing Western democracies are probably among the major reasons leading the Western world into decline. The US, despite its financial woes, may continue to trick the world into believing in its so-called all-benefiting democracy. Yet China, which has always been determined to walk its own path, won’t be fooled.
China must be far-sighted enough to look beyond the Western democratic system. China, which has embraced the widest and deepest reforms in human history, is exploring brand new political, economic and social systems suited to the country’s steady development. Although it is still being improved, China’s current “selection + election in a certain form” can rival the Western system of formalized elections. China will draw on the lessons and experiences of other countries as it develops its institutions, sticking to the path most suitable for the nation and its people.
The author is a senior research fellow at the Chunqiu Institute, and author of the book “China Wave”
The article was originally published in Chinese, and translated by Zhang Junmian.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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