- Authors: Muhammad Dudi Hari Saputra
- From: Graduate School Universitas Gadjah Mada
Abstract:
Many leaders and scholars assert that democracy is the most advanced system of governance – capable of creating harmony between a government and its citizens. Democracy empowers citizens with the right to vote on who they judge would become their best future leaders. In this way people maintain influence in determining government policy. However, sometimes democracy can be misleading, especially in developing countries like Indonesia. Indonesia adopted a direct election system after the reformation movement began in 1998. Indonesians held rallies and demonstrations protesting former president Soeharto?s New Order regime. After the fall of Soeharto, Indonesia?s democracy was improperly defined, leading to the misinterpretation that democracy is in the best interests of a select group of people, and is less concerned with seeking the truth. On the other hands, The US has made democracy its tool to achieving its superpower status. ?Promoting democracy is the strategy adopted by leading Western states and institutions, particularly the US, to use instruments of foreign and economic policy to spread liberal values.? (Bayliss, 2008: 579). Democracy is only one part of liberalism. Liberalism itself is an optimistic approach to global politics based on support of human rights, free trade, and democracy. It focuses on individuals rather than states (Mansbach, 2008: 19), but the US has implemented liberalism in a very flexible manner. In some cases the US has used democracy as a perquisite for diplomacy and cooperation with other nation states. Democracy is always a principle part of US interaction with other nation states, including nations like Egypt, Iraq and Myanmar. With this approach, the US justifies policies aimed at forcing other states to liberalize trade (Naomi Klein: 2007).
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