Sen: Democracy is Not Western
10 April 2006

In a March 27 Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, Amartya Sen argues that it is illusory to assume there is a strong, culturally specific relationship between the West and democracy.  Sen writes, “The temptation of founding economic pessimism on cultural resistance is matched by the evident enchantment, even more common today, of basing political pessimism, particularly about democracy, on alleged cultural impossibilities.”  Sen does not deny that culture has some role to play in economic development and politics. However, he argues that it is folly to assume that, in cases such as Iraq, since a militarily intervention “allegedly aimed at jump-starting democracy” failed to produce democracy, that prospects for democracy in similar nondemocratic countries are dim.

Sen asserts that properly conceived, contemporary democracy is not a “Western” idea.  He does not deny that many of the modern ideas about democracy have Western origins.  But essentially, democracy is, according to Sen, “government by discussion” and can be linked historically to “traditions of public reasoning”, which “can be found in nearly all countries.”  He therefore concludes that “modern democracy can build on the dialogic part of the common human inheritance.” 

In light of his contention that democracy belongs to and derives from all, Sen consequently argues that calling Iranian dissidents, for example, “‘ambassadors of Western values’ would be to add insult to injury, aside from neglecting parts of Iranian history (including the practice of democracy in Susa or Shushan in southwest Iran 2,000 years ago).”   To argue that Western nations can “impose democracy” on others, Sen asserts, falsely implies Western ownership of the ‘democracy’.  He concludes,

The diversity of the human past and the freedoms of the contemporary world give us much more choice than cultural determinists acknowledge. This is particularly important to emphasize since the illusion of cultural destiny can extract a heavy price in the continued impoverishment of human lives and liberties.