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1331. Assessing Russian Democracy (Event Summary)

Author:
Grigory Yavlinsky
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Mr Yavlinsky began by thanking the Belfer Center for the invitation and said that the main topic of his talk will be to explore the progress of Russian Democratization. According to Mr. Yavlinsky, the process of democratization involves not only creating some set of democratic procedures, like free elections or free press. It is necessary to look behind the formal democratic institutions to ask what people applying and using them have in mind. Only after analyzing such motivations is it possible to understand how essentially democratic and legitimate institutions produce results contrary to their nature. The value of freedom of speech is nonexistent, if people have nothing to say, the freedom of action is needless if people are only willing to march in military ranks. Hence democracy can only work if the society enacting it has some basic democratic values, education, beliefs or moral principles. The democratic institutions and procedures per se are merely tools, able to transform these ideas and beliefs into reality. That is why the benefits of mere democratic procedures are so limited. It is for this reason that the economic base of any democracy is one of its crucial elements, providing for independent individuals as its basic members. In Mr. Yavlinsky's opinion, these facts represent the main challenge for Russian democracy. Russia's small and middle business enterprises are important for its democracy. Mr. Yavlinsky called them a "conditio sine qua non" for any democratic society. Only if the economy of the country can ensure the independent economic behavior of its citizens and only if these citizens have a certain level of democratic education and democratic values, only in this case the democratic procedures can work for the common benefit. From Yavlinsky's point of view the main challenge for the Russian reforms is that the country has to perform an acrobatic act, similar to riding a bicycle, where it must accomplish two operations simultaneously: the Russians have to engage in actions preparing democracy and at the same time practice this democracy with no reference to any previous historic democratic record. After presenting these general thoughts Mr. Yavlinsky moved on to a deeper analysis of the present Russian situation. He assumed that the present political elite consists of people coming from the Soviet administrative system and still thinking in Soviet categories. To achieve their goals they use a democratic cover "quasi democracy," a somewhat modernized version of the famous "Potemkin villages." Just like Stalin's constitution, which was considered to be one the most progressive democratic constitutions, the present formally democratic institutions in Russia do not constitute real democracy. Yavlinsky described the present state of political life in Russia as a controlled or managed democracy. This is a state where the democratic tools are used to achieve any result desirable for the leader of the country. The most recent example of this type of manipulation was a recent proposal drawn up by the parties close to the Russian president. According to this proposal, elections should only be considered valid if voter participation was at least 50 percent and only if one of the candidates was able to achieve more then 50 percent of the votes. In the opinion of Mr. Yavlinsky such a regulation would easily lead to an election deadlock, which would benefit the president. Mr. Yavlinsky underscored the difference between this type of controlled democracy and a totalitarian rule. While the latter destroys all the democratic institutions directly and openly, the main strategy of controlled democracy is not to destroy, but to adjust the institutions to serve the goals of the ruling elite. If any adjustment of institutions is impossible, the government prefers to replace the people controlling these institutions (like replacing the owners of the free TV stations) or substitute these institutions with new, more easily manageable organizations (as happened in the case of the Media Union, which was created to weaken the influence of the Union of Journalists). Speculating on the future of the Russian democracy, Yavlinsky stressed the special and very important role of bureaucracy in implementing this new "vertical of power." However as any bureaucracy, it will lead to more corruption. In order to keep the corruption under control, the government will have to use intense enforcement mechanisms, which might go as far as creating a police state. Of the three core democratic elements — free press, free elections, and an independent judiciary — Mr. Yavlinsky specifically spoke about the press. Yavlinsky said that the situation with the press in today's Russia is certainly not comparable to the situation in the Soviet Union. Everyone can read anything in the press, even the most incredible and slanderous information about most prominent political figures. Restricted is any systematic explanation or critical analysis of the political events. For example, state television stations have a list of people who are not to be shown on the air. The same is true for the list of forbidden topics. Certainly there still are a some newspapers who still cover critical topics (e.g. Obschaya Gazeta and Novaya Gazeta). However, they unfold their activities in a kind of a glass box, their presence is not really essential, and is only useful for the government in order to demonstrate to foreign observers that free press exists. As a result of such media control, the Russian population is subject to the management and manipulation of human choice. According to Mr. Yavlinsky this ability to manipulate and control is actually one of the main results of the last 10 years: it is not hard to manipulate the choice of the Russian public. Just like one could convince it to vote for Yeltsin or vote for a totally unknown newcomer Putin, you can always manipulate the public opinion. In the question and answer section Yavlinsky addressed various issues. In speaking about the best way western countries could assist Russia on its way towards democracy, Yavlinsky rejected any form of financial credits or subsidies. He is convinced that the help must be conducted in a smart way and this means in the first place the west should give up any policy of double standards towards Russia and address Russia as an honest and valuable ally. Regarding Putin's intentions, Yavlinsky mentioned two of them: the intention to make Russia a strong state and to protect his own power. The question is not whether these goals are good or bad, but rather which instruments Putin is prepared to use to implement those goals.
Topic:
Security and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

1332. Third Annual Report

Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (the Commission or USCIRF) is the first government commission in the world with the sole mission of reviewing and making policy recommendations on the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad. The Commission's impact and its success in accomplishing its mission are dependent on bringing advice and accountability to U.S. foreign policy in its promotion of international religious freedom. By providing reliable information and analysis, and careful and creative policy recommendations, the Commission provides the U.S. government and the American public the tools necessary to promote this fundamental freedom throughout the world.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Human Rights, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States

1333. Report on Indonesia

Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Indonesia is a country in major transition. After 40 years of authoritarian rule, a fledgling democratic system has yet fully to take root. The country's first post - authoritarian president, Abdurrahman Wahid, was impeached after two years by the parliament on the grounds of incompetence and replaced by Megawati Sukarnoputri in July 2001. The economy, imbued with corruption during the decades of state control, collapsed in 1997 and has yet to recover. Accustomed to playing a central political and economic role, the Indonesian military remains reluctant to accept civilian control and accountability for its actions. The discontent of the people of several regions with incorporation into the Indonesian state was met for decades with harsh military repression, leaving the essential issues unsolved and, in some cases, aggravated.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Human Rights, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia

1334. Report on Uzbekistan

Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The conditions for religious freedom are very poor in Uzbekistan. In addition to a highly restrictive law on religion that severely limits the ability of minority religions to function, the Uzbek government in recent years has been harshly cracking down on Muslim individuals, groups, and mosques that do not conform to government-prescribed ideas on how the Islamic faith should be practiced and expressed. This crackdown has resulted in the arrests of thousands of persons and there are credible reports that many have been and continue to be tortured in detention, torture that in some cases has led to the death of those detained. While the government of Uzbekistan does face threats to its security from certain religious groups that have used violence against it, the government's mass arrests of religious believers and reports of torture nevertheless suggest that gravely troubling religious freedom violations are occurring in that country. The Commission recognizes that Uzbekistan only recently gained independence and has not yet developed the institutions and level of civil society necessary for the full protection of human rights, including religious freedom. Nevertheless, this neither excuses nor fully explains the scale and harshness of the government's current campaign against religious freedom.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Human Rights, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Asia, and Uzbekistan

1335. Report on Sudan

Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
In its first annual report issued May 2000, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (the Commission) found that the government of Sudan was the world's most violent abuser of the right to freedom of religion and belief. The Commission also found that religion was a major factor in the ongoing civil war, and that religion and religious–freedom violations were intertwined with other human rights and humanitarian abuses in Sudan. In the Commission's view, the Sudanese government was committing genocidal atrocities against civilian populations in the southern part of the country and in the Nuba Mountains. In light of these conditions, the Commission recommended, among other things, that the Clinton administration launch a comprehensive program of diplomatic and economic pressures to stop human rights abuses in Sudan. Moreover, the Commission was disturbed by the reported connection between oil development and the Sudanese government's abuses, as well as by an initial public offering in the U.S. by a subsidiary of one of the government's joint–venture partners in the development of Sudan's oil fields. Therefore, the Commission recommended that foreign companies engaged in the development of Sudan's oil and gas fields be prohibited from raising money in U.S. capital markets.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Human Rights, and Religion
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Sudan, and North Africa

1336. Report on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea or DPRK) are perhaps the least free on earth, barely surviving under a totalitarian regime that denies basic human dignity and lets them starve while pursuing military might and weapons of mass destruction. By all accounts, there are no personal freedoms of any kind in North Korea, and no protection for human rights. Religious freedom does not exist, and what little religious activity that is permitted by the government is apparently staged for foreign visitors.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Human Rights, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Asia, North Korea, and Korea

1337. Human Rights

Author:
Sebastiano Maffettone
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
In this paper I propose a version of human rights theory based on an interpretation of the ethics of international relations. This interpretation is built around the idea of responsible development and around the recognition of different ways of constructing local identities. Such a formulation –in my opinion- can be considered intellectually tenable and practically useful in order to obtain a more stable peace in an age characterized by numerous ethnic and religious conflicts. Everything considered, the consistency of the cultural and the legal interpretations with an ethical reading of human rights would seem to be, if not fully evident, quite acceptable today. On the other hand, the relation between this legal and cultural approach to human rights and the treatment of human rights as economic-social rights is more likely to give rise to problems. Indeed, I maintain that an ethical interpretation of sustainable development could provide this missing element of the general construction. I may say that, somehow, in the proposed theory, I am trying to combine into a single conceptual framework the three historical or classical - whichever you prefer – versions of human rights, meant as personal liberty, economic-social rights and protection of cultural minorities, respectively.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and International Cooperation

1338. Ten Points on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

Author:
Álvaro de Vasconcelos
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The Barcelona Process is by far the most relevant of the various existing Euro-Mediterranean initiatives, not only because it has a multilateral character but also because it is intended to be a multilayered process, comprising political and security as well as economic and social or human dimensions.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Barcelona

1339. Sustainable Peace as Democratization: The Experiences of Haiti and Guatemala

Author:
Sara Lodge, Chetan Kumar, and Karen Resnick
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This comparison of international efforts to encourage and sustain peace in Guatemala and Haiti derives from the heavy involvement of the international community in peacebuilding in both countries during the 1990s. Civil conflict in both countries has resulted from a combination of exclusionary politics and domination by predatory economic elites. The conclusions advanced below should assist in the assessment of international strategies for addressing political and economic turmoil in similarly distressed countries in the future.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, International Law, International Organization, Migration, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Haiti and Guatemala

1340. Discussions at the Release of The Responsibility to Protect

Author:
Simon Chesterman
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Canadian Foreign Minister William Graham and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan were keynote speakers at a seminar in New York on 15 February to discuss the final report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS). Entitled The Responsibility to Protect, the report was released at UN Headquarters last December. The seminar was organized by the International Peace Academy with the support of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to allow a frank discussion of the Commission's findings and recommendations. Although journalists were invited to the event, all statements except the keynote speeches were off the record.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, International Law, International Organization, Migration, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Canada