Democracy in Trouble
Democracy doesn't just happen. Even with a push in the right direction, a fledgling democracy cannot last if it comes to being through the pure force of will. Democracy needs institutions to defend it -- rule of law, presumption of innocence, and a method of transferring power that transcends those holding it. A nation whose democracy rests on personality rather than institution is a democracy in trouble. Two Asian nations, Mongolia and Malaysia, are discovering the hard way how much their nations' democratic freedoms still rest on personality.
Last week, Sanjaasuregiin Zorig, the leading figure of Mongolia's 1990 democracy movement and the nation's most prominent pro-democracy politician, was hacked to death with an axe. Zorig, 36, was probably going to be the successor to the premiereship, since the last Prime Minister, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, resigned along with his Cabinet in July. The killing, almost certainly politically motivated, is yet another setback in Mongolia's attempt to reform its government. Four other possible nominees for Prime Minister have been rejected in the last four months. It is unclear when the government will resume operation.
In 1990, on the heels of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, Moscow ended its heavy financial and political support of Mongolia. Zorig's Mongolian Democratic Movement began a series of peaceful protests that forced the Communist party, weakened by their lost support base, to accept multi-party elections. In 1996, his party, the Democratic Union, won the nation's first election in 70 years. Mongolia soon initiated free-market reforms much like the "shock therapy" Eastern Europe was implementing under the supervision of Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Mongolia quickly discovered that after 70 years of Stalinist rule, capitalist behavior isn't instinctive, and it doesn't come naturally. As the Russian joke goes, citizens of former communist nations have discovered that all the worst things they heard about communism were true, but all the worst things they heard about capitalism were also. As in Eastern Europe, a few years of shock therapy have left Mongolia in shock. Growth is less than 3%; not bad for a mature economy, but not good for an economy with nowhere to go but up. Per capita GDP is only $2,000, and inflation and unemployment are high.
These problems have gone unaddressed by the government since the July resignations paralyzed the nation. The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), composed mostly of the communists that Zorig overthrew in 1990, have disagreed with the government's choices for Prime Minister, and as in Eastern Europe, the collapsing economy has only augmented the influence of the former Communist leadership. The MPRP, opposed to the free marketeering of the majority coalition, is blocking legislation for further deregulation of various industries. It has also accused the government of corruption, and is covering up its corruption through its deregulation strategies. Relying on the dissatisfaction of the Mongolian people, and hoping to capitalize on it, the MPRP is pushing for early parliamentary elections.
Latest Articles