[Conclusion]
By
Noralyn Dudt
The second part of this series on Democracy
focused on the success of northern European countries with Lutheran
backgrounds and homogenous populations (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany) in
achieving the ideals of democracy. As
the previous discussion may have inadvertently
given the impression that having a Lutheran background is the only way to
succeed in achieving democratic goals, let me point out those countries that do
not have a Lutheran majority but also rated high. Canada whose population is
almost as diverse as the United States is a constitutional monarchy and
parliamentary democracy. Canada has been very welcoming to immigrants and
values multiculturalism. There are services designed to help new immigrants
find housing and jobs, improve their language skills that are funded both
nationally and locally. Canada ranks high in the EIU democracy rating. So why
was Canada ranked higher than the United States? Is it because its universal
Healthcare system improves its citizens overall quality of life? Is it also
because it creates policies that result in a more equitable standard of living
among its citizens? Interesting questions to ponder.
Then
there's Japan and its neighbors, South
Korea and Taiwan, all in Asia with homogenous populations.
It is
worth mentioning that both South Korea and Taiwan were both colonies of Japan
prior to the Second World War. Both nations have been ranked high by the EIC.
Note that these countries have vibrant economies as well. They are home to major
manufacturing companies such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Hitachi and Samsung to
mention a few. While it has been shown
that good economic policies can
help achieve the goals of a democratic society, such policies may not be
achieved without first establishing the foundation of democracy. A causality dilemma like "what comes first - the chicken or
the egg" may be banal but let's take a peek into what made these countries
got the A+ grade.
Do
these countries have a strong sense of community as do the Nordic nations that
rated well? And where did this sense of
community stem from ? The Japanese have been known for their bushido culture
which literally means "the way of the samurai." It's an unwritten
code of principles and morals that taught obligation and honor. Although the
samurai were all but gone at the turn of the 20th century, bushido remains a system of pride and valor in Japanese
society. These seven virtues of the
bushido code: righteousness, courage, benevolence, respect,
honesty, honor, and loyalty were instrumental in catapulting Japan into
the 2nd biggest economy in the world in 1968, just 23 years after it was
reduced to rubble at the conclusion of World War ll. These were traits that
enabled the Japanese to willingly
conform that made working together as a group became harmonious instead of contentious. It
was this culture of conformity and harmony that played a major role in the
success of the Japanese zaibatsu ( big
companies/conglomerates). Though Taiwan and South Korea share some aspect of
this Japanese trait, theirs ( Korea and Taiwan) stem from a different
"source". Koreans developed a sense of nation based on shared blood
and ancestry. They regard themselves as
members of this huge "family" called Korea. They have the
belief that they all descended from a
common ancestor. Thus, they could easily work together for the common
good...for the "family." That is not to say that it is perfect. There
are flaws of course but somehow, these flaws do not override the sense of "responsibility to family and
community."
Before
China gained control of Taiwan and ruled it for two decades, it was a colony of
the Netherlands in the early to mid-17th century for 40 years. Japan acquired
it in 1895 and held on to it until 1945. Checking out these colonizers and what
they were may give us a clue to how Taiwan forged its market economy: the Dutch
were traders and navigators, the Chinese were craftsmen and business-savvy, the
Japanese were technologically advanced as industrialization began in earnest
after the Meiji restoration in 1868.
It is
interesting that Taiwan's economic boom of the 1960s and for several decades
after, was preceded by land reform, which generated a marked growth in the
agricultural sector. Rural prosperity
stimulated industrial development, while more-efficient farming released labor
for Taiwan's industrialization that drove the economy in the 1960s and 1970s.
It was in the 1980s that Taiwan moved to capital-intensive and knowledge-based
industries. A high rate of savings,
rising labor productivity, privatization, astute government planning, considerable foreign investment, and trade all propelled Taiwan's rapid
economic expansion.
As I
wrote in the first part of this series, democracy is messy... it is not easy....
It is utopian, seemingly unattainable.
That it has succeeded in the
Lutheran culture of Northern Europe gives us pause. As we ponder, it had taken
centuries for this to take root and to develop.
It had taken many generations of young boys and girls in Confirmation
Classes. It took the cooperation and humility from their kings and queens to
come 'down' from their thrones. The same can be said about the bushido culture
of the Japanese, the sense of one big family that is Korea, the Taiwanese land
reform. They were all fertile grounds for this concept called
"democracy" to develop.
Democracy
is a beautiful and promising concept but it needs work and effort both by the
governed and the ones governing. "People power" is teamwork, esprit
de corps, bayanihan, bushido, zusammenarbeit, jeongsin all rolled into one.
When democracy is "planted" in a society that is not ready and may
not accept what that concept entails, it is bound to fail. The concept alone
does not solve society's problems; it works only when society puts in the
effort to make it work.
Noralyn Onto Dudt, a resident of North Bethesda, Maryland in the
Washington DC area taught
students/professionals who were sent to the U.S. capital from Japan, South
Korea, Germany, France and Spain for three decades before she retired in 2019.
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