PROMOTING DEMOCRACY IN A POSTMODERN WORLD

In: Dissent: a journal devoted to radical ideas and the values of socialism and democracy, Band 43, Heft 1, S. 35-40

Abstract

AMONG THOSE AMERICANS INVOLVED IN THE BUSINESS OF PROMOTING DEMOCRACY ABROAD, THE RELATION BETWEEN THE PROFFERED IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL STATE OF DEMOCRACY AT HOME IS RARELY DISCUSSED. AS A RESULT, LITTLE ATTENTION HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE SURPRISING AND IN SOME WAYS PARADOXICAL FACT THAT THE UNITED STATES, AND TO A LESSER EXTENT WESTERN EUROPE, HAVE MOVED INTO A PARTICULARLY ACTIVE PHASE OF PROMOTING DEMOCRACY IN OTHER COUNTRIES AT A TIME WHEN THE HEALTH OF THEIR OWN DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM IS CLOUDED WITH DOUBT. LEAVING ASIDE THE MANY SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE CONTINUING INABILITY OF WESTERN EUROPEAN ECONOMIES TO CREATE JOBS, ONE CAN POINT TO A SET OF INTERRELATED POLITICAL PROBLEMS IN MANY WELL-ESTABLISHED DEMOCRACIES. IN GENERAL, THE POLITICAL SPHERE IS NO LONGER MUCH RESPECTED OR VALUED. ANTIPOLITICAL PERSONALITIES AND IDEAS HAVE GROWN IN APPEAL, WITH THE UNDERSIDE OF ANTIPOLITICS OFTEN NOT FAR FROM ANTIDEMOCRACY.