LOCATION National Assembly

SPEAKER Andrew Mace

EVENT International Democracy Day

DATE 15/09/2009

Excellencies, distinguished members of the Senate and National Assembly, ladies and gentlemen.

I am honoured that you have invited me to participate in this seminar to celebrate International Day of Democracy.  I have been asked to speak on the importance of democracy today and the challenges it faces.

The importance of democracy

Coming from the United Kingdom, I think that we do not ask ourselves often enough why democracy is important.  It has become such a deep-rooted part of our way of life that we do not often recognise it as a choice.

For Cambodia, of course, the experience of alternative means of government – whether colonial, communist, or single party rule – is recent enough that democracy appears more of a deliberate, important and living choice.

The great British political leader, Winston Churchill, once opined that “democracy is the worst form of government – except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”.  

Cambodia’s recent history might be said to bear that judgement out, when one thinks of both the destructive consequences of some of those other forms of government which you have experienced, and the significant strides forward in development under a democratic system over the last decade and a half.

Democracy is a standard that is accepted around the world as the ideal.  Global polling by the Gallup organisation has shown that more than 8 in 10 people aspire to live in a democratic system.  Even the most undemocratic countries often pay ironic tribute to the power of the idea of democracy by including the word ‘democratic’ in their names.

All societies must make choices in how they make decisions, allocate resources, and settle disputes.  Democratic government, underpinned by the rule of law, and freedom of expression, has proved the most equitable and durable means of achieving this, while respecting the rights of individual citizens.

While alternative systems of government have achieved political stability and development, they have usually done so at the expense of fundamental freedoms.  This is an argument that has been understood since the earliest experiments in democracy. The ancient Greek statesman Demosthenes said that “it is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice”.  Non-democratic societies that suppress the political aspirations of their own people are very vulnerable to internal instability in the longer term.

Democracy is also better, I believe, than alternative systems of government at adapting to changes in the global environment.  Because a truly democratic society is in a constant dialogue, open to self-criticism and to new ideas, it can regularly refashion itself.  When the world is changing ever faster because of technological advancement or increased global interdependence, it is the democratic societies that have the most flexibility and resilience to take advantage of those changes.

Challenges

Although the importance of democracy speaks for itself, as I have described, the challenges in achieving a successful and genuine democracy are also many.  They are not particular to any one country, but are issues that all democracies need to be aware of and address.  I have selected five challenges to illustrate some of these and hopefully stimulate debate today.

The first challenge is to develop and maintain institutions and procedures of government, which genuinely reflect and respond to the society that they represent.  The aim must be to achieve strong institutions and electoral processes that command the respect and trust of the people, and also accurately reflect their choices about how they wish to be governed.

There is no single institutional blueprint for this – democracy has to develop from the circumstances and history of a particular country.  And democratic institutions are continually evolving.  But there are certain standards that all democratic systems should reach, perhaps the most central of which is the fair election: ensuring that government is selected through an impartially administered election in which all can participate on an equal basis.

The second challenge is to ensure that democracy achieves a distribution, rather than a concentration, of power.  Although the process of elections encourages us to describe democracy in terms of winning and losing, it should not be aimed at giving a monopoly of power into the hands of the winners.   Elections are a means of entrusting representatives with the job of governing on behalf of all the people.  Electoral victory is not a licence to exercise power in the interests only of those elected or their supporters.
Responding to this second challenge requires a system of checks and balances.  All effective democratic systems make use of the idea of the separation of powers in some way, in particular the role of the legislature in holding the executive to account.  It is also vital to have an independent judiciary to guarantee the rights of the individual and of minorities against state tyranny or domination by a majority.  

The role of opposition political parties in challenging ideas and helping to hold governments to account is an important freedom that needs to be safeguarded in this context.

A third challenge is to build a continuous two-way relationship between the government and voters.  Democratic governance cannot be achieved simply by holding elections every four or five years.  It requires government to communicate and explain its decisions, through effective access to information.  Laws, policies and decisions should be open to scrutiny, and should be developed in consultation with those affected.  Transparency in government is essential to trust, and this also includes measures to combat abuse of power and corruption, which erode the trust which should exist between government and people.

A fourth challenge is to foster free debate.  No one likes to be criticised as an individual, but governments should welcome constructive criticism.  Democracy cannot flourish if bad ideas are allowed to go unchallenged.  And good ideas can always be strengthened by being debated against those with different opinions.  Political parties are only one part of this free debate.  Democracy is not just for elected politicians.  Businesses, professional organisations, the legal profession, interest groups – civil society in its widest possible definition should be free to play a role.  And a free and varied media is the forum in which this national debate can most effectively be played out.

A fifth challenge, which is related to all the others, is to keep democracy healthy by paying attention to its grass roots:  building strong democratic institutions, involvement and education at local level.  The nineteenth century French political thinker de Toqueville said that “the strength of free peoples lies in the local community.  Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it.”  

He was right.  And his observation still applies in the 21st century, in Cambodia as elsewhere.  Involvement in democracy is for everyone, and starts at the community level.  Democratic governments have an obligation to educate the electorate to allow them to participate as informed citizens in a democratic system, and then to give them a system through which they can make their voice heard.  That is why the Cambodian decentralisation and deconcentration reforms are potentially so important for democratic development in this country.

Meeting all these challenges is a continuous preoccupation in any democracy.  For a democracy as new as Cambodia’s, there are inevitably many hurdles to be overcome.  Debating them in an open way, as this seminar should provide an opportunity to do, is an important step in building a stronger democratic system.  I look forward to hearing your contributions to that debate.

>Read this speech in Khmer [PDF, 75 KB]

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