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Observations on the Cultural Diversity of Non-Western Governments
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14172 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1988 |
4,390 Words |
| Author
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Ernest W. Lefever
Ernest W. Lefever is president of the Ethics and Public Policy
Center and the author of Nairobi to Vancouver: The World
Council of Churches and the World, 1975-87, just published by
the center. |
The term Third World is an artfully ambiguous phrase that embraces both the diversity and common characteristics of the less-developed state of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The realities of the Third World limit the possibilities of both domestic and foreign policy. If the perception of the United States, for example, is clouded by ignorance, illusion, or excessive expectation, unwise policy is the inevitable result.
The age-old question of how men should be governed--especially in complex and plural societies--is vastly complicated in our time by demands for broadly based consent, rising self-consciousness among ethnic and religious groups, and instant, vivid, and universal communications that let virtually everyone look over everyone else's shoulder.
Despite great difference in climate, culture, economic organization, and religious outlook, all men everywhere face the same essential political questions: How shall we be ordered? What should be the relationship between the governors and the governed, between central authority and citizen consent, between the responsibilities of the state and the rights of individuals? Differences in cultural heritage do not alter the fundamental political question, but substantially influence the response and the viability of the various kinds of government.
The modalities of government have changed over the centuries, but the essential functions of the state remain the same. Fifteen hundred years ago, Saint Augustine defined the purpose of government succinctly and with a touch of humor. If it were not for the state, he said, men would devour one another as fishes. A thousand years later Martin Luther said that the function of the state was to restrain evildoers. John Calvin was in full accord with these views.
Good and humane government has three tasks. The first is to govern, to maintain order and security throughout its domain. The second task of government is to govern justly, to uphold the rule of law. The third task of government is to govern democratically, to be responsive to the will of the governed. Few governments of the world perform all three tasks well. In fact, most governments barely govern, much less govern justly or democratically.
Full-fledged Western-style democracy with rare exceptions has failed to take root in the Third World and is not likely to do so in the near future because these societies have not developed the fundamental concepts, values, and traditions
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