Comments on: Azerbaijan passing through referendum https://www.frontlineclub.com/azerbaijan_passing_through_referendum/ Championing Independent Journalism Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:49:59 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ani https://www.frontlineclub.com/azerbaijan_passing_through_referendum/#comment-612 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:48:23 +0000 https://www.frontlineclub.com/dev/?p=2862#comment-612 s mistaken fixation with elections, according to Collier, has mainly to do with lingering cold war habits. The Soviet dread of the ballot, he writes, “confused us into thinking that achieving a competitive election is in itself the key triumph. The reality is that rigging elections is not daunting: only the truly paranoid dictators avoid them.” Still, electoral shortcomings in these countries do not mean we should give up on democracy altogether. It’s the cheap imitation that should give us pause. As Collier explains, “democracy is a force for good” as long as it is more than a ­“facade.” [...] ]]> An important, intriguing and sure to be highly controversial book about elections and democracy has just been published: “Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places” by Paul Collier (Harper/Harper Collins). It’s controversial because of his prescriptions, more than his reporting.
Here’s a link to tomorrow’s New York Times book review, and a few quotes from it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/books/review/Roth-t.html?_r=1
These days no self-respecting government wants to present itself on the world stage without the legitimacy of a democratic mantle. Elections are now de rigueur, even if many a despot rejects the idea of actually abiding by voter preferences.
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They get away with this charade in part because the Western democracies that might be expected to demand the real thing have economic and strategic incentives to settle for farce. Rather than insist on the elements of democracy that make it meaningful — a free press, a vigorous civil society, the rule of law, a fair and transparent process for counting ballots — they close their eyes to electoral travesty.
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The West’s mistaken fixation with elections, according to Collier, has mainly to do with lingering cold war habits. The Soviet dread of the ballot, he writes, “confused us into thinking that achieving a competitive election is in itself the key triumph. The reality is that rigging elections is not daunting: only the truly paranoid dictators avoid them.”
Still, electoral shortcomings in these countries do not mean we should give up on democracy altogether. It’s the cheap imitation that should give us pause. As Collier explains, “democracy is a force for good” as long as it is more than a ­“facade.”
[…]

]]> By: Ali S. Novruzov https://www.frontlineclub.com/azerbaijan_passing_through_referendum/#comment-611 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:49:52 +0000 https://www.frontlineclub.com/dev/?p=2862#comment-611 UPDATE:
Reuters reports: Oil-producing Azerbaijan voted to lift the country’s two-term presidential limit Wednesday, handing President Ilham Aliyev the chance to rule for life provided he keeps winning re-election. […]

The state election commission said 92.2 percent of voters in the referendum backed scrapping the limit based on results from 54 percent of polling stations. Turnout was put at 71 percent, despite an opposition call on voters to stay at home.

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