In today's International Herald Tribune, there was an interesting article on a little country called Bhutan. It's almost humorous to read, but is a good example of why democracy doesn't work if forced upon a country by others.
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For the last hundred years, Bhutan has been one of the few remaining countries under a feudal monarchy. Two years ago their king, the "Precious Ruler of the Dragon People," announced that he was handing over the power to his people and transitioning the Bhutanese government towards democracy.
The reaction of the Bhutanese people is almost cute to Western sensibilities: they're completely reluctant. They'd rather keep their king. The only reason they're embracing democracy is because their monarch has ordered it.
Their ruler is making a wise choice, but imagine what the result would be if this was forced upon the people from the outside. Bhutan is one of the rare instances of a nation that is transitioning to democracy based on the King's wishes, not a revolution or overthrown government. It's a great case for why democracy is so difficult to impose elsewhere.
Americans love to think that we're freeing the world from evil dictators. This is arguably true, but how do you explain that to people who never asked for us to overthrow their rulers. Nations have to come to democracy in their own way. Most often this is by a popular upheaval of a monarch or dictator. In the case of Bhutan, it will take more time because it's not the people themselves calling for democracy, but at least they are doing it in their own way as a nation.
The next time we have a grandiose plan to free a nation's people into the beauty that is Democracy, we should look to Bhutan as an example of why that's an awful idea.