International development studies and theory

International Development Studies

One of the most complex issues facing the developed world today is its humanitarian effort at promoting development across the international border. One aspect of such a challenge is the widely divergent forms of government often perpetuating a cycle of poverty, conflict and destruction in underdeveloped countries rather than promoting democracy and peace. For this reason, the United States has been concerned with promoting democracy and peace across the world, whenever it became evident that these processes were not promoted in certain countries. The American effort in the Middle East and Africa might be used as examples of such efforts, even while there has been a tendency for conflict to heighten as a result of such efforts.

Indeed, often when the American government is involved in operations to transform target society, even without any prior cause for war, the local government has more often than not reacted with resentment, while citizens reacted with a sense of increased fear. This fear is often justified, as government reactions towards the American effort is often hostile.

In cases like Iraq, the initial cause for American involvement is indeed war and conflict. After the 2001 attacks on the United States, the government began its "war on terrorism," which took not only quite extreme forms within the country itself, but also led to devastating conflict in Iraq. President Obama's decision to withdraw the American troops from Iraq, will leave the country devastated by the effects of the long war. Perhaps the time has therefore arrived for the United States and other developed countries to take responsibility for providing development aid for promoting democracy in Iraq and its surrounding regions. The question is however how to accomplish this without causing further conflict.

One might use as an example the Central African Republic (CAR) as discussed by Vinck and Pham (2010: 2). This country has suffered a continual cycle of violence and poverty since its independence from France in 1960. Successive military coup attempts and power conflicts have made it a fragmented, underdeveloped and violent country -- hardly conducive to any form of democracy. Vinck and Pham's (2010: 1) approach was to survey the local citizens to determine their views on the situation in their country, and their own individual experiences. On the basis of these, the authors then made recommendations to various groups, including the CAR government and armed forces, civil society and international community, and the International Criminal Court. The important factor here is that the survey opened an initial channel of communication, in which the local inhabitants of the country were provided with a voice. This, rather than the American concept of how democracy can be promoted, was used as the basis for further suggestion.

It is therefore suggested that the current situation in Iraq should perhaps be modified to reflect a basis of respect for the local community and its culture rather than an attempt to completely change it, even in the name of democracy. Instead, the existing culture and opinion can be used as an initial basis to promote the peaceful and gradual implementation of democratic principles in the country with the minimal disruption to citizens.

Review of the Literature

Many authors have written on the American attempt at intervening in Iraq since the beginning of the war on terrorism. Robinson (2004: 442) for example goes as far as saying that the American plan for Iraq is quite far from promoting democracy as it is commonly understood by citizens. The author's claim is that the United States will not attempt to establish a democracy at all, but that leaders are simply referring to the occupation as such to provide it with an air of legitimacy.

Instead, the author suggests that a "polyarchy" will be attempted, which refers to a system that promotes the power of a small group of rulers, and where mass participation is in fact not a way of promoting true democracy, but instead strengthens the power of the few by limiting and controlling the choices of the population. This is part of the promotion of power for a few partners in the elite position, while promoting the image and not the fact of democracy to the rest of the world.

Of course one of the issues involved in the promotion of "democracy" in Iraq and indeed in the rest of the Middle East, is the regions rich oil resources; a much sought-after substance for the machine- and industry-driven United States. Karl (2008: 2) addresses this issue. According to the author, Iraq contains the world's third largest proven oil reserves in the world. This is a very rich resource, especially considering that the entire developed world relies on the substance for its existence. Although, according to Karl, the American government repeatedly denied this as an element in beginning the war with Iraq, it can hardly be denied that the war must have seemed particularly attractive because of it.

Nonetheless, the author holds that promoting democracy on the basis of oil exports is a highly unfeasible goal for a number of reasons. The tendency among countries that rely exclusively on oil for its livelihood is political and social turmoil, along with extremely poor development outcomes. The dictatorships in these countries tend to spark civil war, further driving the poor into ever-greater abysses of poverty. Hence, even should democracy be an honest governmental goal, it is not likely that it can be successfully implemented upon the basis of the oil resource.

Welzel and Klingemann (2007: 2) suggest that there is a link between the demand and supply of democracy; hence the difficulty in establishing democracy in countries that appear to demand authoritarian rule. Furthermore, elements that the authors believe to be to the detriment of the democratic process include widespread government corruption. When relating this to the oil issue above, it is not difficult to see how greed for the oil resource might corrupt the powerful to the detriment of the people in the country.

In order to remedy the problem of corruption as endangering to the democracy of the people, Meyerson (2006: 3) suggests a process of decentralized provincial democracy -- in other words, democracy on a limited, more gradual scale, while the national implementation process takes longer and occurs more gradually. In this way, citizens who have no faith in their corrupt, authoritarian rulership have the time to become used to the idea on a smaller scale.

Authors such as Kirkpatrick (2003: 7), on the other hand are relatively positive towards the American democratic process across the world. The increasingly global environment is indeed demanding attention to those who have been disadvantaged by the corruption and greed that so often follow a government. According to Kirkpatrick, however, the United States has offered its beneficial support to the Afghan army. This literature review will then be used as a basis to contribute ideas and suggestions on simplifying the democratic process for a country that desperately needs it.

Research Questions

In the light of the above, research questions to be addressed will revolve around the possibility of achieving democracy in underdeveloped, war-torn regions such as Iraq. With specific focus on Iraq, the first question will then be whether a better understanding of the democratic process will be possible to promote among both the country's leaders and its citizens. Secondly, the question will be whether there is a more citizen-friendly way to implement democracy in the region. Finally, the question will be what role oil should be allowed to play in the democratic process.