Reihan Salam is a fan of Cameron’s plan for shifting power to citizens. The trouble is — as the row over Obama’s healthcare reform shows — technocrats can often be right
As neoconservatives pressed for the democratic transformation of the Middle East, curmudgeons on the right and left often wondered if the peoples of the region were in fact ready for democracy. Robust democracy is rooted in a flourishing civil society and a large and literate middle class that is capable of holding elected officials to account. Democracies also require mature and responsible leadership that is committed to the long-term survival of constitutional government. It was and is by no means obvious that Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran score particularly well on any of these metrics. And as we survey the wreckage of at least two decades of reckless fiscal and monetary policies in America and Britain, it’s worth wondering whether our own countries — long considered the world’s most successful democracies — should call it a day and invite Singapore’s ageing patriarch Lee Kuan Yew to take charge.
Granted, it’s hard to imagine Lee taking up the challenge. Budget deficits in the two Anglo-Saxon giants are such that Lee would have to conjure up otherworldly pots of gold even to begin closing them, and that’s an indignity no elderly statesman should bear. But more seriously, we’re facing a crisis that really is testing the viability of our poll-driven model of governance.
Note that this runs directly counter to David Cameron’s uplifting talk of shifting power from the state to citizens and from Whitehall to town halls. Britain’s excessive centralisation is indeed a problem, one that has drained the hinterlands of talent and industry. Yet it’s worth reflecting that more democracy might not be the answer.
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