My Beauty Best Teacher

Michael Hendrix in CIPE:

A new generation of authoritarians is creating “decorative democracies,” where pre-determined elections allow the state to co-opt the legitimacy of liberty without the substance to support it. At the grassroots, democracy holds little meaning. People are told that they are living in a democracy, but everything around them belies the trappings of fairness and liberty. This result is often achieved by touting economic success, as well as belittling civic institutions and the disaggregated nature of democracy...The greatest response to decorative democracy lies in nurturing local civil societies from the ground up, laying the foundation for institutions responsive to the voice of reform. CIPE helps local private sector organizations across the globe to institutionalize the democratic process – supporting the very characteristics that set true democracies apart from the merely decorative ones...[continue reading]

David Kashangaki adds to the conversation about Decorative Democracies:

In a situation in which 'democratic' institutions are the product of a flawed understanding of democracy (that says all the grass roots have to do is vote for the person who gives them the most money and promises everything that people want to hear- knowing that they will deliver nothing), it is highly unrealistic to expect proper institutions to be formed, and that this civil society will be the backbone of them.

It just will not happen. Similarly, trying to transform these institutions by spending vast amounts of donor aid on 'workshops' for the elite won't transform them either. The transformation will come when there is an educated civil society that understands what democracy means; that can tell the difference between empty promises and what is truly realistic about what can be done to develop; that is able to see participation as more than just voting

David Kashangaki adds to the conversation about Decorative Democracies:

In a situation in which 'democratic' institutions are the product of a flawed understanding of democracy (that says all the grass roots have to do is vote for the person who gives them the most money and promises everything that people want to hear- knowing that they will deliver nothing), it is highly unrealistic to expect proper institutions to be formed, and that this civil society will be the backbone of them.

It just will not happen. Similarly, trying to transform these institutions by spending vast amounts of donor aid on 'workshops' for the elite won't transform them either. The transformation will come when there is an educated civil society that understands what democracy means; that can tell the difference between empty promises and what is truly realistic about what can be done to develop; that is able to see participation as more than just voting