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Democracy And Development

Democracy and Development: Exploring the Expected Association


Khandakar Q. Elahi and
Constantine P. Danopoulos




Abstract

Many social scientists, particularly in North America, believe that democracy hinders development. This paper discredits this obscure opinion by clarifying the conceptions of democracy, capitalism and development: Democracy, the theory of a political system of the non-communist state, is founded on the political wisdom that people are the sovereign authority of the state, and government, which executes this sovereign power, is their deputy. Capitalism, the economic system of the non-communist state, rests on the belief that an economy prospers rapidly if individuals are allowed to own and accumulate private property, because human beings are selfish by nature. Development is the performance of capitalism. Since democracy promotes individual’s liberty, including the right to own and accumulate private property, it is supposed to be most agreeable to capitalism - the most trusted model of affluent society.



I. INTRODUCTION
The question, How to rule? has preoccupied many brilliant socially concerned minds since the dawn of human civilization. One reason is that those in charge of public administration, directly or indirectly, misunderstand, to say the least, the two pivotal political issues of human society - moral rights and justice. All our actions and activities in society are disciplined by the principles of moral rights. Since moral rights imply moral obligations - i.e., rights are reciprocal - the administration of justice involves the appropriate application of laws protecting and promoting those rights.

There are two polar political theories concerning justice in society. Theory of communism says that true social justice can be achieved only by eliminating the institution of private property; while a democracy, one form of the non-communist state, argues that such a state principle...