The wave of democracy-building that swept the world in the previous two decades has stalled, with some countries slipping into authoritarian rule and political conflict, according to a UN report released yesterday.
In the UN Development Program's Human Development Report 2002: Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World, said the world is more democratic -- in terms of the 140 countries that hold multiparty elections -- than any time in history, but only 82 of countries out of a total of nearly 200 examined are considered full democracies.
It called the level of global inequality "grotesque," with the income of the world's richest 5 percent 114 times higher than of the poorest 5 percent.
"The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US cast new light on these divisions, returning strategic military alliances to the center of national policy-making and inspiring heated debates on the danger of compromising human rights for national security," the report said.
"Around the world, there is a growing sense that democracy has not delivered development such as more jobs, schools, health care for ordinary people," added Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, the report's chief author.
Fukuda-Parr said politicians have used the pain of transition to justify authoritarianism at the expense of human rights.
Of the 81 countries that embraced democracy in the last two decades of the 20th century, only 47 are considered full democracies today, the report said.
"Many others do not seem to be in transition or have lapsed back into authoritarianism or conflict, as in Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone," it said. "Myanmar and Pakistan have returned to military form of government. Failed states, like Afghanistan and Somalia, have become breeding grounds for extremism and violent conflict."
The trend appeared strongest in the sub-Saharan region, with national armies intervening in political affairs in varying degrees in one in four countries since 1989.
Deepening democracy is vital in the battle against social injustice, the report said. It added recent research showed established democracies are less prone to civil war than non-democratic regimes.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
RSS