Are Western Democracy a Model for the World? Part 2
Western Democracies vantage themselves to be the only liberal democratic, rule-of-law system in the world. However, their democracies are not in such good shape and cannot be propagated in such terms.
The state of American democracy
The American judicial system is difficult to fit within the standards of liberal democracy and respect for human rights. The French Frédéric Pierucci, a former executive of Alstom, had firsthand experience as he was a victim of the extraterritorial system of American laws, which, for him, was “a typical imperialist system.” For the author, the judicial system is based on negotiations and deals, some obscure and lacking material evidence. “This penal system is completely delusional and entirely perverted”, asserted Pierucci in his book “The American Trap.” The extremely high costs of lawyers and procedures mean that the majority do not have a proper defence (public defence usually aligns with the prosecutor’s deal offer), which is why 98.5% are found guilty, similar to the Ceausescu regime, according to Pierrucci.
Furthermore, according to a Yale study, American representatives at the national congress spend about 70% of their time with donors matters, including lobbyists, and only 30% with their voters. The American people want better infrastructure, healthcare, education, housing, accessible justice and more, but the political system seems focused on maintaining its imperialistic stance and its over 800 bases around the world. This approach sacrifices citizens’ basic needs while prioritising the war machine’s and imperialistic interests. The result is that the U.S. is the only Western nation, one could include the whole world, where life expectancy is reducing, extreme poverty is increasing at the fastest pace and inequality is also increasing, according to Emmanuel Todd in his book “La Défaite de l’Occident” (in English, The Defeat of the West).
Moreover, American democracy faces some basic issues, such as accurately counting votes. Often the judiciary is the one that determines who has won the elections. Due to the design of the political system, the indirect election process does not reflect the voters’ choices: often the most voted........
© New Eastern Outlook
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