The resilience of democracy

It is surprising that, while Nazism and fascism had perished by the end of the Second World War, communism had collapsed by the end of the Cold War, and post-colonial militarism and developmental authoritarianism had mostly crumbled by the 1990s, democracy has not only survived but also prevailed over all these other forms of political regime. Thus, the extraordinary resilience of democracy has been demonstrated by the history of the past. It will be further endorsed by the history of the future as contemplated in the context of the development of the last couple of centuries.

The unprecedented transformative dynamics of the modern world since the emergence of industrial capitalism in eighteenth-century Europe seem to consist of the following fundamental contradictions which account for major conflicts and changes in modern times: (i) capitalism vs. socialism; (ii) democracy vs. authoritarianism; and (iii) nationalism vs. internationalism (Sakamoto, 1994). Of these forces of change, socialism and authoritarianism have receded and capitalism, democracy and nationalism have gained universal currency in today's world. What will be the world of a century from now?

Capitalism, in the form of competitive free markets oriented to profit maximisation, will have to undergo a significant modification, or even a radical re-examination, because of the ecological constraints that are bound to grow, and because of the mounting democratic demands for equality and equity which run counter to the disparity and inequity resulting from the dynamics of competitive capitalism.