Word: asian
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...designed to overthrow dictators, not democratically elected leaders. In much of Asia, political frameworks now exist to remove incompetent rulers at the ballot box, making street rallies to throw the bums out largely unnecessary. Of course, no electoral system is perfect: vote-buying in villages, for instance, plagues some Asian countries. But it is only by going through several electoral cycles that democracies can consolidate and grow...
...Building Checks and Balances Traditional Asian deference makes it easier for one party to keep a stranglehold on politics, its power feeding on itself and undermining real opposition. Malaysia and Singapore have each been controlled by one party since independence, while the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) dominates Japan. "The LDP has been in power for more than 50 years," says Arne Fahje, a constitutional expert in Tokyo. "That doesn't work in a democracy, and it's not good for the country...
...stars - albeit one with a penchant for accepting lavish gifts. "The fact that a leader like Mayawati can rise, that a Dalit woman can have a shot at becoming the Prime Minister of India," says historian Ramachandra Guha, "is a matter of pride for Indian democracy." Too few other Asian nations can be so proud...
...alone 250 reporters were detained by security forces, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. "Pakistan's inability to institute a democratic political system stems from the failure to build institutions that can moderate conflict," says Ayesha Jalal, a historian at Tufts University in Massachusetts, who specializes in South Asian politics...
...backlash against electoral politics by the very people who were recently its proponents may be the most troubling sign of Asian democracy under siege. Civil society acts as the moral force of Asia. Activists are crucial both for their capacity to inspire the populace to act more justly and to speak out when leaders slide toward authoritarianism. Unlike the leadership roster in Asia, the list of brave citizens who once spoke out for the disenfranchised is long, from Jaime Cardinal Sin in the Philippines to the writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer in Indonesia. In Asia today, perhaps because the abuses wrought...