Are INGOs replacing democracies in the 21st century?
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| Competing with China is India the attitude of which is watch and change strategies. Sri Lanka never trusted India and one cannot predict how much support it will give Sri Lanka when it is brought to trial in the international arena for war crimes. |
by Pearl Thevanayagam
(August 01, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) As democracies the world over continue to crumble and are brought into scrutiny by INGOs (International Non-governmental Organisations) such as the United Nations, Commonwealth and dictated to by World Bank, IMF, OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and several more INGOs, governments are increasingly becoming accountable to these bodies over and above their political leadership.
The splintering of the USSR in the last part of the 20th century and the creation of democratic states did not exempt them from being accountable to these INGOS for their economic mismanagement, war crimes, corruption in politics and human rights violations. The Arab Spring as the media would call it but in effect mass revolt by discontented voting populace saw heads roll in the Middle East and African democracies which gained independence from its colonial masters still have these INGOs overseeing their performances and intervening as and when necessary.
China and Cuba are challenging these so-called democracies and their Communist hegemony has not obstructed their economic growth and the resulting mass contentment in any way and are proofs that democratic super-powers such as the US, UK or Europe could no longer hold sway over their style of governance however warped these would be perceived in the eyes of the world’s best touted democracies.
However much Sri Lanka patronises these two countries and tries to emulate them and in the course is reaching success in denying fundamental human rights including media suppression, China and Cuba remain on the top of the list of violators of media freedom and other crimes of human rights violations including denial of political dissent and punishment through abduction, imprisonment, torture and murder.
Repeated denial of human rights violations, media censorship and government propaganda are these governments’ code of conduct and they use this successfully to thwart foreign intervention and once more Sri Lanka is greatly influenced by them to hide its own war crimes.
But unlike Cuba and China, Sri Lanka is still a poor country with insurmountable debt and is totally dependent on foreign aid for its survival and therefore it will always be dictated to by foreign powers.
Having said that, US economy is now in such bad shape that Apple has US$ 2.7 billion more cash reserves than the US which stands at US$73.7 billion and it is spending around $200 billion more than it collects in revenue according to a BBC report.
Massive defense expenditure and corporate fat cat supremacy over politics is dragging the country down and there is real danger US is losing its status as super power and conceding the title to the 21st century economic miracle which is China.
China is spreading its tentacles far and wide in the Indian Ocean and with Sri Lanka paying obeisance without reserve it hopes to strengthen its power over the Indian ocean territorial waters as well as lands hugging it.
Competing with China is India the attitude of which is watch and change strategies. Sri Lanka never trusted India and one cannot predict how much support it will give Sri Lanka when it is brought to trial in the international arena for war crimes. Despite the cultural and neighbour-hood ties that bind India and Sri Lanka, India is quietly observing the government’s leaning more and more towards China for support and this overt calmness is bound to bring repercussions when Sri Lanka seeks India’s support against western intervention in its local affairs including the conduct of war in the final stages of wiping out LTTE terrorism.
Even when the Greek philosopher Cleisthenes established democracy in 507BCE which accorded that everyone is equal before the law and its subsequent interpretations such as human rights, freedom of speech and expression and equal rights devoid of gender, race or caste, democracies never practised them to satisfaction. This deterioration of the principles of democracy is now being brought into focus and increasingly the people are rising against democratic governments.
In this light can governments afford to ignore INGOs which could be termed an alternative albeit covert form of leadership over decadent democracies?
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