Executive Head of United Nations Democracy Fund Discusses the Consolidation of Democracy in Asia
February 27, 2008 | Printer Friendly
By Joseph Catapano

Roland Rich, executive head of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), delivered his presentation, “Consolidating Democracy in Asia: Is a Civilization Consensus Required?” to over 80 attendees at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on Thursday, February 21. The presentation came on the heels of the release of Rich’s latest book, Pacific Asia: in Quest of Democracy. 

Rich presented the quest towards democracy in the region as a fight to change the political culture of the countries discussed. Rich’s theories reject the idea of a clash of civilizations; he believes that violence starts in “the home,” that humanity will find an excuse to fight with each other, making a clash of civilizations unnecessary.

According to Rich, democracy is the only viable form of government left, and he terms the pinnacle democratic ideal as “Irreversible Democracy.” This type of democracy encompasses countries such as the United States and most of Western Europe; it is exemplified by countries that have existed under a number of different forms of government (e.g. monarchy, socialism), but have settled into a sustainable and stable period of democracy. Rich pointed out that post-1989 Europe is a prime example of Irreversible Democracy, noting that after the fall of the USSR both Fascism and Communism were left defeated and in a sense invalidated as legitimate forms of rule, leaving democracy as the only surviving, viable option left to regimes in the region.

Rich believes that in order to properly understand Asia and help it on its path towards democracy, Americans and Europeans must change Eurocentric views of the region, for instance referring to the area as the “Far East.” According to Rich, the use of cardinal directions to describe that part of the continent causes confusion and disconnect with citizens of these countries who see themselves as Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, etc., and not “Far Eastern.”

Regarding Asia, Rich believes that the area has reached “critical mass” having six countries, with approximately 600 million people, actively practicing democracy. The main stumbling block is China because it is the “core state” in Asia; it exists in an area that practices democracy, but it is nonetheless hostile to the democratic process. For Rich, China’s ability to open its markets holds the key to Irreversible Democracy in Asia, “I don’t think market economy can be successful, in the long run, under a one-party system,” he said. He went on to predict that future power brokers in China, what he termed “Spoiled Young Emperors,” who have limited or no experience living under stifling Maoism and/or Marxism, will eventually reject Communism itself and set Asia on the path to consolidated democracy.