1.1
PHASES IN THE EXPANSION OF DEMOCRACY
The Beginning
These maps do not tell us much about what happened before the twentieth
century. The story of modern democracy beganat least two centuries ago. You may
have read the chapter on the French Revolution of 1789 in the history book of
this course. This popular uprising did not establish a secure and stable
democracy in France. Throughout the nineteenth century, democracy in France was
overthrown and restored several times. Yet the French Revolution inspired many
struggles for democracy all over Europe.
In Britain, the progress towards democracy started much before the French
Revolution. But the progress was very slow. Through the eighteenth and the
nineteenth centuries, series of political events reduced the power of political
events reduced the power of monarchy and feudal lords. The right to vote was
granted to more and more people. Around the same time as the French Revolution,
the British colonies in North America declared themselves independent in 1776.
In the next few years these colonies came together to form the United Stated of
America. They adopted a democratic constitution in 1787. But here too the right
to vote was limited to very few men.
In the nineteenth century struggles for democracy often centred round
political equality. freedom and justice. every adult citizen to vote. Many
European countries that were becoming more democratic did not initially allow
all people to vote. In some countries only people owning property had the right
to vote. Often women did not have the right to vote. Often women did not have
the right to vote.
In the United States of America, the blacks all over the country could
not exercise the right to vote until 1965. Those struggling for democracy
wanted this right granted universally to all adults – men or women, rich or
poor, white or black. This is called ‘universal suffrage’. The box here tells
us when universal suffrage was granted in many countries of the world.
As you can see, by 1900 New Zealand was the only country where every
adult had voting right. But if you go back to the map, you can see many other
countries are marked as ‘democracies’ by the beginning of the twentieth
century. These countries had by then governments elected by a significant
number of people, mostly men, and had granted political freedom in some measure.
Early democracies were established in Europe. North America and Latin America.
End of colonialism
For a very long time most countries in Asia and Africa were colonies
under the control of European nations. People of the solonised countries had to
wage struggles to achieve independence. They not only wanted to get rid of
their colonial masters. But also wished to choose their future leaders. Our
country was one of the few colonies where people carried a nationalist struggle
to liberate the country from the colonial rule. Many of these colonial rule.
Many of these countries became democracies immediately after the end of the
Second World War in 1945. India achieved Independence in 1945. India achieved
Independence in 1947 and embarked on its continues to be a democracy. Most
former colonies did not have such a good experience.
The case of Ghana, a country in western Africa, illustrates the more
common experience of former colonies. Ghana used to be a British colony named
Gold Coast. It became independent in 1957. It was among the first countries in
Africa to gain independence. It inspired other African countries to struggle
for freedom. Kwame Nkrumah (pronounced Enkruma), son of a goldsmith and himself
a teacher, was active in the independence struggle of his country.
After independence, Nkrumah be-came the first prime minister and then the
president of Ghana. he was a friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and an inspiration for
democrats in Africa. But unlike Nehru. he got himself elected president for
life. Soon after, in 1966, he was overthrown by the military. Like Ghana, most
countries that became democracies after gaining independence had a mixed
record. They could not remain democracies for long.
Recent phase
The next big push towards democracy came after 1980,as democracy was
revived in several sountries of Latin America. The disintegration of the Soviet
Union accelerated this process. From the story of Poland we know that the then
Soviet Union controlled many of its neighbouring communist countries in Eastern
Europe. Poland and several other countries became free from the control of the
Soviet Union during 1989-90. They chose to became democracies. Finally the
Soviet Union itself broke down in 1991. The Soviet Union comprised 15
Republics. All the constituent Republics emerged as independent countries. Most
of them became democracies. Thus the end of Soviet control on East Europe and
the break up of the Soviet Union led to a big change in the political map of
the world.
In this period major changes also took place in India’s neighbourhood,
Pakistan and Bangladesh made a transition from army rule to democracy in 1990s.
In Nepal, the king gave up many fo his powers to become a constitutional
monarch to be guided by elected leaders. However, these changes were not
permanent. In 1999 General Musharraf brought back army rule in Pakistan. In
2005 the new king of Nepal dismissed the elected government and took back
political freedoms that people had won in the previous became democratic again
and Nepal emerged as a democratic republic after abolishing the monarchy.
yet the overall trend in this period points to more and more countries
turning to democracy. This phase still continues. By 2016, about 140 countries
were holding multi-party elections. This number was higher than even before.
More than 80 previously non-democratic countries have made significant advances
towards democracy since 1980. But, even today, there are many countries where
people cannot express their opinion freely. They still cannot elect their leaders.
They cannot take big decisions about their present and future life.
One such country is Myanmar, previously known as Burma. It gained freedom
from colonial rule in 1948 and became a democracy. but the democratic rule
ended in 1962 with a military coup. In 1990 elections were held for the first
time after almost 30 years. The National Lwague for Democracy (NLD), led by
Aung San Suu kyi (pronounced Soo-chi), won the election. But the military
leaders of Myanmar refused to step down and did not recognize the election
results. Instead, the military put the elected pro-democracy leaders, including
Suu kyi, under house arrest. Political activists accused of even the most
trival offencws have been jailed. Anyone caught publicly airing views or
issuing statements critical of the regime can be sentenced up to twenty years
in prison. Due to the coercive policies of the military-ruled government in
Myanmar, about 6 to 10 lakh people in that country have been uprooted from
their homes and have taken shelter elsewhere.
Despite being under house arrest, Suu Kyi continued to campaign for
democracy. According to her: “The quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle
of the people to live while, meaningful lives as free and equal members of the
world community. “Her struggle has won international recognition. She has also
been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Finally, under her leadership, the NLD
fought the historic 2015 elections and a democratic republic was established.
