Democracy in China, India and US

One just got an invitation letter for discussion on two books on December 1, 2011 being organised by Asia Society, New York City. The title of the book suggests that they merit some attention.

The invitation reads: "Two books have been recognized by the Asia Society's 2011 Bernard Schwartz Book Award for their outstanding contributions to the understanding of contemporary Asia and U.S.-Asia relations:

The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers by Richard McGregor;

and

Paths to Development in Asia: South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia by Tuong Vu."

In The Party, Richard McGregor delves deeply into China's inner sanctum for the first time and offers a captivating portrait of the history of China's Communist Party, its present influence, and its future.

Tuong Vu's Paths to Development makes a compelling case that state formation politics, rather than colonial legacies, have had decisive and lasting impacts on the structures of emerging states in Asia.

Speakers include:

Richard McGregor, author of The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers and 2011 Bernard Schwartz Book Award Winner; Washington Bureau Chief and former Beijing Bureau Chief of the Financial Times

Tuong Vu, author of Paths to Development in Asia: South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia and 2011 Bernard Schwartz Book Award Honorable Mention; Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University

Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on U.S.-China Relations, Asia Society

Having shared the details of the proposed discussion on these new books it must be said that journalists (excluding embedded ones and excluding those involved in Paid News) are expected to treat no political party or corporation or country as a holy cow.

In Outlook's 16th Anniversary Special Issue (October 31, 2011), Vinod Mehta wrote: "If the one-party dictatorship in the People’s Republic of China is to be replaced by some form of participative democracy, the internet rather than another Tiananmen Square is likely to bring about the change. "

Demolishing trust in Internet as a tool for participative democracy, on October 26, 2011 Indian government formally proposed a government takeover of the Internet at the UN General Assembly in New York through a UN Committee for Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) comprising of 50 Member States to be run by staff from the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) arm and report directly to the UN General Assembly. The move is move away from the current dictatorial ownership of Internet but what is being is suggested too is hardly an ideal aim guaranteeing "participative democracy". How democratic is UN and its Security Council which gets 22 percent of its budget from USA?

Is India a "participative democracy"? Which bilateral or multilateral treaty between India and other countries has ever been ratified by the legislatures?

On September 11, 2011, when asked about the possibility of a third party candidate succeeding in the 2012 US presidential election, Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader consistently referred to US democracy as a "two-party dictatorship" of the Democrats and Republicans that has allowed corporate greed to dictate US policy. Is US a "participative democracy"?

The truth about the dictatorship within the political parties of democracies too is an open secret. Claims of being more democratic are akin to claims of being more truthful. Such claims are always taken with more than a pinch of salt.

To begin with there is need for "participative democracy" among political parties of China, India and the US. At present none of them can claim to be better than the other.