Wasn't Beijing voted via democratic process that it was to hold the Olympics?
Doesn't the same organisation that made the vote represent the athletes?
All seems like a good old case of cutting off the nose to spite the face.
Hedge, I'd like to know the name of the country where true democracy exists. As far as I can see self labelled democratic countries only use a subset of democracy. It could be said parts of the Chinese economy machine are democratic.
You've been reading your Robert Dahl I see..
His criterias for a democracy, which he claims no nation meets:
1. Effective Participation
2. Voting Equality at the Decisive Stage
3. Enlightened Understanding
4. Control of the Agenda
5. Inclusiveness
He speaks of polyarchies instead:
* Control over governmental decisions about policy is constitutionally vested in elected officials.
* Elected officials are chosen and peacefully removed in relatively frequent, fair and free elections in which coercion is quite limited.
* Practically all adults have the right to vote in these elections (as opposed to, for example, the case of the United States where close to four million U.S. citizens are excluded from participating to elect the President and cannot vote in elections that select voting-members of Congress: U.S. Government disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico).
* Most adults also have the right to run for the public offices for which candidates run in these elections.
* Citizens have an effectively enforced right to freedom of expression, particularly political expression, including criticism of the officials, the conduct of the government, the prevailing political, economic, and social system, and the dominant ideology.
* They also have access to alternative sources of information that are not monopolized by the government or any other single group.
* Finally, they have an effectively enforced right to form and join autonomous associations, including political associations, such as political parties and interest groups, that attempt to influence the government by competing in elections and by other peaceful means.
From what I recall, there are only 20 or so countries that fully meet the criterias of being a full polyarchy. USA not being one of them, mainly based on the fact that so many are excluded from voting (eg a felony sentencing leads to lifetime exclusion from voting in some states).
Semantics you may say. Or bollocks.
I trailed off somewhat, due to your interesting question there.
As far as China: It's easy to close the eyes on China and excuse their lack of democracy due to their culture. That's what Rupert Murdoch does.
But I am no liberal apologist, and no culti hugger either. So giving China a pass because they have a different culture, I won't do that.
Will you?
(I rather liked how I managed to turn this around into you being a culti hugging liberal, quite astonishing, if I may say so
)
