What's So Great about Democracy

Though America currently encounters a dismal economic state, no social unrest has occurred. This is not the case in other major countries. There are constant complaints about the partisanship in Washington, but politicians arguing relentlessly beat protests in the street.

Ian Bremmer's "J Curve" aptly pairs openness of a government with the country's stability. His book focuses more on a country's process along the curve, but I will use his idea to explain the present situations in nations with regards to the financial crisis.

Bremmer believes that the more transparent a government is, the more stability the country has. The only exception, which he notes, occurs in authoritarian governments. They fall on the left end of the curve where there is a jutting up. This symbolizes their little openness, but their apparent stability, though it is significantly less than, say, a democracy, which rests on the upper right side of the curve. Bremmer’s model provides a nice foundation for explaining current events.

I hate the partisanship a two-party system engenders. Compared to a one-party system though, I choose it quicker than choosing broccoli over salmonella-flavored peanut butter crackers. We simply overreact to the inefficiency and bad publicity created by congressional bickering. Globally, our system proves how stable our country really is.

Both our politicians and fellow citizens worry about the rising unemployment rate. Their angst mostly derives from a humanitarian and economic standpoint. China and Russia, both closed governments, see unemployment as a catalyst for social conflict. Last week, the Kremlin replaced four governors in potential unruly areas. An aide of President Medvedev even twisted the social contract theory to explain how Russia needed to react. “The social contract consisted of limiting civil rights in exchange for economic well-being. At the current moment, economic well-being is shrinking. Correspondingly, civil rights should expand.” China may have to move in a similar direction. A recent New York Times article pointed to the Internet crackdown as a potential starting point.

The economic downturn has also prolonged incidents that may have been quickly forgotten in better financial times. Skepticism over the tainted milk crisis and the collapse of Chinese schools during an earthquake last year still linger. Russia faces the backlash from the killings of two human rights advocates, a lawyer and a journalist. The acquittal of the alleged journalist murderers will prolong the affair even more.

We in America take our political stability for granted. In response to the financial state, we simply elected the opposing party into office, and the ousted leader even helped the incoming one. Political divisiveness exists in our country’s history even before we rebelled against England. Sensational media coverage may affect views of its importance, but compared to other countries, we are weathering this storm quite nicely.