What would you tell Afghanistan about democracy?

8/3/2019 What would you tell Afghanistan about democracy?

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What would you tell Afghanistan about democracy?

by Steve Baron

(892 words)

[Steve Baron holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science & Economics. He is a published

author, a regular columnist in various publications throughout NZ, the Founder of Better

Democracy NZ, a former businessman and Waipa Mayoral candidate.]

What do you think of when I say the word 'democracy' and what do you even expect from

your political system? It's an important subject, especially when New Zealand is about to

go to the polls, yet something most people often take for granted, especially given that

over 20% of New Zealanders don't even bother to vote each electionand that number is

growing. Just recently I have been forced to think even harder about our democracy

because amongst the many emails I receive (most of which include offers to enlarge

certain parts of my anatomy and Russian beauties offering me their undying love if I agree

to marry them) was an email from Democracy International. This US based organization

helps provide technical assistance and implements democracy and governance programs

worldwide. It is financially supported by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International

Development (USAID). They are bringing a delegation of civic leaders from Afghanistan to

New Zealand to look at our political system, observe our elections and meet with various

people with a background in elections. This group has been assembled to develop a

comprehensive electoral and governance reform agenda and have asked me to meet with

them to discuss New Zealand's democracy, along with my studies into direct democracy.

For those of you who do not know me, I founded a group called Better Democracy New

Zealand which has campaigned to improve our democracy through more use of direct

democracy like that of Switzerland.

Most people would agree that voting is the cornerstone of a democracy. It is often said


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voting is a privilege that many New Zealander's died for during past wars to protect, so it

must be cherished and valued. The more cynical say why bother voting, all it does is

encourage those good for nothing politicians. Democracy is something we often take for

granted, as mentioned above, over 20% of New Zealanders do not even bother to vote.

The word democracy also means many things to many people. To some it's simply votingonce every three years at a general election. Others, like myself, take a keen interest and

have been actively involved to make New Zealand a better democracy by pressing for

improvements to our political system.

I have to admit that I know very little about Afghanistan, but I do know their democracy is a

far cry from what we have here in New Zealand. What I also know about Afghanistan isthat it is one of the poorest nations in the world, has been invaded over the centuries by

many military conquerors, civil war has been rife and it was recently ruled by an extremist

government. Living in the idyllic nation we call New Zealand, I find it hard to imagine what

it would be like to live under such conditions. So what is it these people will witness here in

New Zealand? There is no doubt they will see one of the most democratic nations in the

world. New Zealand certainly has free and fair elections regularly and individual rights are

well protected under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, although this Act is not

entrenched and neither do we have a codified Constitution like that of the USA. The whole

political process is all relatively transparent with little corruption. Citizens have easy access

to their local MPs, and they can present petitions to parliament as well as make

submissions to government select committees and other authorities. There is strong

competition at elections between numerous political parties, although this is dominated by

the National and Labour partiesall signs of an inclusive society and a strong democracy.

What I do find strange is that voters put so much faith in names like George Bush, Barrack

Obama, Hamid Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, John Key or Phil Goff and their various political

parties. While elected representation is an acceptable and proven system (to some

extent), does one leader or one party have all the answers and do they get public policy

decisions right all the time? Are they always in sync with the wishes of the people who

elected them? I think not and this is the downfall of elected representation and the blind

faith voters give these people and their parties. To me, democracy certainly isn't just one

day of democracy every three years on election daythat is simply an elected

dictatorship. To me democracy means a true exchange of communication between the


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elected and the electorate, with the electorate being able to override the decisions of those

we elect, when the electorate thinks it is important to do so because the next election

years down the track often lets too much water flow under the bridge. Democracy also

means putting forward public policies that are ignored by elected representatives and

putting public policies on the political agenda that are often politically unpalatable toelected representatives. While many of us may have doubts about the intelligence of our

neighbour, for me personally, I have more faith in the collective wisdom of three million

New Zealand voters to make the ultimate decisions on public policy more than I do in the

collective wisdom of 120 MPs who are bound by party ideology and party politics. This is

the kind of democracy I will be encouraging the Afghan delegation to consider and press

for in Afghanistan.

END.

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What would you tell Afghanistan about democracy?