   Government in Iraq, which kind can work?
  one thing I've been wondering about lately is how and Iraqi democracy can work. With such strongly defined groups and group identity I doubt that very many people, if anyone, would vote for someone outside of their group. That pretty much means that which ever group has the most people will always win elections.With this in mind is there a way democracy can be made to work?Is there another kind of government system that can work without being as bad as the previous one?   "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." - Thomas GrayA Collection of zede's montages (made without his knowledge or consent)[edited by - griffenjam on February 10, 2004 1:28:16 PM]
quote:Original post by griffenjam  one thing I''ve been wondering about lately is how and Iraqi democracy can work. With such strongly defined groups and group identity I doubt that very many people, if anyone, would vote for someone outside of their group. That pretty much means that which ever group has the most people will always win elections.With this in mind is there a way democracy can be made to work?Is there another kind of government system that can work without being as bad as the previous one?    I don''t believe that an Iraqi democracy could work.  I think that is a pretty forced thing, and as soon as we stop paying attention to them it will either be overthrown, or one group will become so powerful it may as well not be a democracy any longer.  That just seems to be the way things work in the middle east. 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To join, put this in your sig!Founder and High Priest of DAIAGA[edited by - YodaTheCoda on December 10, 2003 1:57:54 PM];  I get really sick and tired of the egotistical opinion that people of other ethnic groups are incapable somehow of being reasonable and having freedom, like they aren''t as socially evolved as the Europeans and North Americans or something.Maybe it will fail, but writing them off because they''re somehow inferior and incapable of handling freedom before even giving them a shot is just disturbing to me.-fel ;quote:Original post by felisandria  I get really sick and tired of the egotistical opinion that people of other ethnic groups are incapable somehow of being reasonable and having freedom, like they aren''t as socially evolved as the Europeans and North Americans or something.Maybe it will fail, but writing them off because they''re somehow inferior and incapable of handling freedom before even giving them a shot is just disturbing to me.-fel   But you have to admit that certain areas of the world, often predominantly of a similar ethnic group, are not ready for democracy.  I don''t anyone thinks Iraqis or anyone else in the Middle East are genetically inferior or something.  Ancient customs, traditions, and just culture in general make for a society that has not shown to be very accepting of democracy.  At some point, this might change, but I do think this is the reality right now.  By a similar token, you could argue that the idea of a dictatorship could work in the US, and that it''s wrong to see the American public as inferior for not accepting this dictatorship.;  personaly, i dont think that democracy will work due to the religion at work in the area. Based on what i know of the major religion in the area it doesnt lend its self to an 'all equal and one vote for all' system like we have here in the westAs much as we, in the west, might not like it something closer to the system is Iran is more likely to happen or maybe what a Saudi prince mentioned last year about some form of 'partisapatory' (sp?) system with people who aint doing the ruling.I think what we in the west have to deal with is that democracy isnt the answer to everything and depending on the people and other facts a different form of goverment might well be better.That said, democracy could work and if it does its upto the people of Iraq to make it work, at the end of the day their future is in their hands, and regardless of which goverment comes to power thats the way it should bebesides, what has democracy gotten us? yes, we are free and we can vote, but all we seem to do is vote people into power to represent us who dont bother and just do what they like anyways, such a great system, at least with some other forms of goverment they dont bother pretending our views matter  [edited by - _the_phantom_ on February 10, 2004 2:19:53 PM];quote:With this in mind is there a way democracy can be made to work?i dont think youre right when you say democracies cant work in countries with a highly contrasting demographic. if you shove them the US system through their troaths it might become an opression of the mayority, due to the massive amount of power that goes to the mayority in the form of a president, but if you implement a system where power is simply divided linealy with the amount of votes, a more compromising for of democracy is created, which might work out.EDIT: as for an answer to the OP: one that has the backing or atleast respect of the population   [edited by - eelco on February 10, 2004 2:29:36 PM];  Democracy is not the ideal form of government for everyone.  They should find out what the ideal form of government for themselves would be, and go for that.  Freedom is also not for everyone.  Even here, look at all the stir that this gay marriage stuff is causing.  The fact that so many people support a constitutional ban on it is indicative that we ourselves are not even ready for freedom.  Look at the apathy that we have for the trampling of our rights, to protest, freedom of speech, etc. Let them figure it out for themselvs instead of us dictating what is best for them.-=Lohrno ;quote:Original post by felisandria  I get really sick and tired of the egotistical opinion that people of other ethnic groups are incapable somehow of being reasonable and having freedom, like they aren''t as socially evolved as the Europeans and North Americans or something.Maybe it will fail, but writing them off because they''re somehow inferior and incapable of handling freedom before even giving them a shot is just disturbing to me.Excuse me, but did I say anything about them being inferior or incapable of handling freedom?  And since when is Democracy synonomous with freedom anyway?And even so, I didn''t say anything about them being incapable, I implied that that was not what they would want.I don''t know where you even got this bag of rubbish from, but try rereading my OP.Anyhow, I just believe that their religion, culture, and lifestlye lends itself more to other forms of government. ;quote:Anyhow, I just believe that their religion, culture, and lifestlye lends itself more to other forms of government. Such as?Democracy does not have to look like the US, you know.-fel ;  The Iraqi culture isn''t geared towards democrary at all. They''ll need a heavily republican based government to handle them.   ---------------------------------------------------laziness is the foundation of efficiencyretrospiral.net | llamas! | megatokyo | gamedev.net | googleTiffany_Smith fanboy