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.
In Britain only 2.6% of those who own property are not on the electoral
register while 38.2% of those who rent furnished accommodation have never
bothered to register1
.
Women's rights to vote or stand for election are not recognized in Kuwait
or the United Arab Emirates
.
In Britain the winning Labour Party in the 1997 election won 63.4% of
the parliamentary seats with only 43.2% of the votes cast. In Russia the
Communist Party won 25.6% of the seats with 24.3% of the vote2
.
In Canada 101 federal ridings have between 100,000 and 120,000 citizens,
while 35 other ridings have between 20,000 and 75,000
.
A study of 15 West European countries found that the percentage of people
who were members of political parties had declined from 8.2% of the electorate
in the early 1980s to 5.2% by the mid-1990s3
. In the
1988 federal election in Canada a free-trade treaty with the US was the
major issue. Business groups spent $13 million to advocate the deal and
opponents spent roughly $1 million on a losing cause6
. Thirty-one
per cent of Canadian survey respondents believe that advertising affects
their votes
. In the
US in 1996 the average cost to get elected to a seat in the House of Representatives
was $520,000. A Senate seat went for $4.6 million7
. Between
January 1991 and June 1999 the tobacco giant Philip Morris was the number-one
patron of the US Republican Party, at $6.2 million8
. In 1997
the airline industry donated $3.8 million to politicians (59% to Republicans)
at a time when Congress was debating airline competition policy. Pharmaceutical
companies gave $9.7 million (67% to Republicans) when Congress was debating
controls on drug prices9
. Some 96%
of US citizens give no money at all to politicians and 40% do not know
the name of the Vice-President. In the last round of elections 100 million
didn't bother to vote10
 For
generations the political spectrum has had the same categories, from Right
to Left - Conservatives who saw themselves as the only responsible rulers
of society and a Left which saw government edict as a tool for bringing
about social equality. These positions have largely disappeared under
the pressure of globalization and popular discontent. The NI sorts out
the democratic credentials of the new contenders for political power.
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Market
Government
Examples:
Former conservative parties like the Republicans in the US and the
Conservative Party in Britain have now transformed themselves into
radical free-marketeers.
Notion
of Democracy: Collective provision and the welfare state are
cut back. Democracy means as much individual consumer choice as
possible. Instead of 'one person, one vote' it tends towards 'one
dollar, one vote'.
Record
on Rights: Defence of basic civil liberties is often in tension
with a tough law-and-order stance. Stress on economic opportunity
rather than equality.
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Third
Way
Examples:
The New Democrats in the US - but the main grouping here consists
of parties that have evolved out of social democracy, such as the
British Labour Party and the German Social Democrats.
Notion
of Democracy: Efficiency and pragmatism are the highest values.
Traditional Left commitment to economic equality is abandoned for
an incentive society. Technocratic vision of growth engineered by
a state-market partnership to enhance productivity.
Record
on Rights: Reduced emphasis on economic equality. Less internal
party democracy. The politics of image management is used to maintain
electoral support.
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Party
of Fixers
Examples:
Single parties that often dominate politics in their country. The
Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, Congress in India, The Liberal
Party of Canada, the PRI in Mexico, the Liberals and Conservatives
in Colombia.
Notion
of Democracy: These are the ultimate pragmatists. Decisions
rarely come from the membership but from the back-room manoeuvring
of various factions and power-brokers.
Record
on Rights: Whimsical. Sometimes supporters are rewarded or popular
measures enacted. But little internal party democracy and a tendency
to ruthless treatment of dissenters.
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Council
Democracy
Examples:
A movement for face-to-face decision-making in popular councils
flows from the experience of the Paris Commune and the Hungarian
Revolution of 1956. Today a number of opposition parties in the
South, such as the Participation Front in Iran and the Workers Party
in Brazil, advocate this as an alternative to, or at least a check
on, centralized state power.
Notion of Democracy: Decentralist vision. Important decisions
taken at local neighbourhood, school, workplace or municipal level.
Power flows from the bottom up rather than the other way around.
Record
on Rights: Emphasis on collectively arrived-at democratic decisions.
More interested in collective well-being than the economic opportunities
of individuals.
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Charismatic
Nationalism
Examples:
Since Nasser in Egypt and Nkrumah in Ghana this has proved a persistent
form of politics in the post-colonial world. Present examples include
Fujimori in Peru, Chavez in Venezuela, Mahathir in Malaysia and
Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Notion
of Democracy: Usually 'strongmen' (less frequently women) are
elected, but the fairness of elections is questionable and the rights
of any opposition are strictly limited.
Record
on Rights: Often very bad record on civil liberties. The underlying
notion is that a strong personality (often drawn from the ranks
of the military) represents some mystical national expression. Differing
records on economic rights and standing up to global pressures.
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Eco-Democracy
Examples:
Most prominently the Green parties who have a foothold in European
Parliaments, elected by systems of proportional representation which
allow a broader range of opinion. More radical variants include
Deep Ecology, Bio-Regionalism and Social Ecology.
Notion
of Democracy: Eco-democrats tend to support decentralization
and more direct democracy. Critical of centralized state power.
Internal party structures quite democratic.
Record
on Rights: Strong supporters of civil liberties but believe
the economic rights of the individual must be balanced against the
interests of the eco-system.
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Fundamentalist
Revival
Examples:
There are now fundamentalist-based parties all across the Muslim
world. Jewish fundamentalism plays an important role in Israel,
the Hindu fundamentalist BJP is part of the Government of India
and the Christian Coalition is an important influence on US politics.
Notion
of Democracy: The collective rights of the community of believers
hold sway over all individual and minority rights.
Record
on Rights: Poor record on individual civil liberties. Varying
attitudes to economic rights and internal party democracy.
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Sources:
1 Democratic Audit, Charter 88, 1997.
2 Proportionality Chart; Inter-Parliamentary Union Website.
3 1999 Democracy Forum Report, Institute for Democracy and
Electoral Assistance (IDEA), Stockholm.
4 Inter-Parliamentary Union op. cit. and Division for the Advancement
of Women, United Nations.
5 Inter-Parliamentary Union op. cit.
6 Alan Freeman, Montreal Gazette, July 1997.
7 Multinational Monitor, October 1996.
8 Multinational Monitor, March 2000.
9 Multinational Monitor, December 1998.
10 Multinational Monitor, March 2000.
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New
Internationalist 324
