You Cannot Impose Democracy on Other Nations
We believe democracy cannot be imposed from outside in any society. Democracy is the expression of a sovereign people. To impose it from outside is inherently undemocratic. Each sovereign nation has to make its own decisions and have its own criteria as to how they govern themselves.
~~ Meles Zenawi ~~
It’s very true. Every reasonable person knows that while democracy is not even close to being perfect, it’s still the best of all the known methods of governance. A very basic requirement of democracy is that the governed people must participate and use their best judgment to elect those who will govern. Any democracy in any country will become totally meaningless if a huge majority of people refuse to participate in it.
Similarly if you try to impose a democracy on a nation, it’ll most likely fail because it’ll lack the essential ingredient of a successful democracy - the willing participation of general masses of that nation. It is human nature to resent and resist anything that is imposed on them so imposing a democracy on a people is doomed to fail.
The best way to promote democracy in any country is to convince the masses of the benefits of democracy. That, however, is easier said than done! Moreover, I don’t believe that those who make a lot of noise saying that they want to promote democracy in the world are really serious or sincere about it; it’s just politics - the politics of self interest. International politics is extremely dirty business.
