Things
appear to be taking a turn for the worse in the world of democracy. The protests of the Arab Spring in Egypt
deposed dictator, Hosni Mubarak,
with
the protesters expecting the move to a Western style democracy. What did they get? A choice between a senior member of the
previous, murderous regime and an Islamist candidate. And it looks as though Mohammed
Morsi, the
Islamist, will be Prime Minister and
that the military generals will retain powers that allow them to manipulate the
running of the country from the shadows.
Hardly an outstanding success!
Meanwhile in Greece, The Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy) party has the largest single vote, allowing it to form a coalition with
Pasok, another party in favour of keeping the grinding austerity policies of
the Eurozone. However, the majority of
Greeks actually voted in favour of parties who wanted to adopt a non-austerity
approach, but, as in Egypt, their opposition was hopelessly divided. The
result: the citizens end up with the government that the majority did not want.
To paraphrase Star Trek, it’s democracy Jim, but not as we know it!
No comments:
Post a Comment