By Dr Bertrand Ramcharan
Seventh Chancellor of the University of Guyana. Honorary Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists.
The Guyanese people and their leaders need to recognize that the challenges of nation-building they face as a diverse society are formidable, and that they must work consciously and assiduously at nation-building, with a unifying vision. This is a challenge facing diverse democracies world-wide. In Guyana’s case, the difficulties are compounded because of Guyana’s troubled history of colonialism, slavery, indentureship, exploitation, underdevelopment, prejudice and inequality.
The need for diverse democracies world-wide to work at nation-building is the focus of Yascha Mounk’s highly acclaimed 2022 book, The Great Experiment. Why Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure. In Mounk’s assessment, “The history of diverse societies is grim. And…many people are now growing pessimistic about whether diverse democracies will be able to endure.”
Much of the world, Mounk writes, is setting out for uncharted territory. “Only one kind of polity has, in the long annals of human history, been conspicuous by its absence: a democracy that grants true equality to a diverse set of citizens.” And yet, dozens of countries around the world, Guyana included, are now attempting to construct such a society. That is the Great Experiment, even if “The future of diverse democracy looks bleak”.
Mounk thinks that those who are committed to diverse democracies need to embrace a confident vision of a better future and to believe that their countries are capable of building a common bond with people who do not share the same race or religion, and of embracing new national narratives. Supporters of diverse democracies should aim for a society in which as many citizens as possible feel that they are embarking on a meaningfully shared life.
While they should never be naïve about the difficulty of understanding those who come from different ethnic or religious groups, they should trust their ability to build a future in which most citizens come to regard one another as compatriots to whom they owe empathy and consideration. “Most importantly, they must aim to construct diverse societies in which racial markers become less important over time – not because their citizens blind themselves to the extent to which these now shape societies around the world, but rather because they have managed to overcome the injustices they still inspire.” In short, we must all have faith in the existence of a common humanity and the compassion required to recognize it.
Mounk proceeds from the sobering historical insight that never in history has a democracy succeeded in being both diverse and equal, treating members of many different ethnic or religious groups fairly. And yet, achieving that goal is now central to the democratic project in countries of the world. It is, as Mounk deems it, the greatest experiment of our time. “It is up to us and the institutions we build whether different groups will come to see each other as enemies or friends, as strangers or compatriots”.
We can, Mounk insists, never give up on the prospects of building fair and thriving diverse democracies, and that is why we must strive to realize a more ambitious vision for the future of our societies. This, Mounk thinks, is the most important endeavour of our time. And yet, we lack widespread agreement about the kinds of rules and institutions that can help us succeed – even if, historically, clashes between different identity groups have been one of the major drivers of conflict.
Indeed, for many societies, diversity has turned out to be a stumbling block rather than a strength. And we need to recognize that democratic institutions can do as much to exacerbate, as to alleviate, the challenges of diversity. In many cases, rule by the majority has served to enflame violence between ethnic or religious rivals and to deepen the exclusion of minority groups.
Alas, a clash between groups who are descended from different ancestors, or who worship a different god, has historically been one of the main causes for violent conflict, state failure, and even civil war. That is the first difficulty facing diverse societies.
The second difficulty is that key features of democracies such as regular elections do not necessarily help to avoid the pitfalls to which diverse societies have so often fallen prey? If one is a citizen of a democracy, the relative number of people in one’s own group directly impacts one’s ability to shape political outcomes. “So long as you are in the majority, you get to call the shots”. The very logic of self-government, with its constant imperative to cobble together a majority of like-minded voters, makes it tempting for citizens to exclude those they regard as different from full participation in their polity. Democratic institutions often make it harder, not easier, to keep the peace between competing identity groups.
Diversity often leads to conflict. Democratic institutions frequently aggravate ethnic and religious tensions. “So, if diverse democracies are to endure, or even thrive, it would be helpful if they could look back at a long history of trying to forge fair and inclusive societies.” Alas, as we have written previously, Guyana has so far had few experiences of efforts to “forge fair and inclusive societies.” This is a glaring lack in our body politic.
In Mounk’s assessment, constructing diverse democracies that command the enthusiastic consent of the great majority of their citizens is going to be hard. “We have really embarked on an unprecedented experiment. … We need to have the courage to paint the vision of a shared future that most people would actually want to live in – one in which as many people as possible conceive of themselves as proud and optimistic citizens of diverse democracies, choosing to emphasize what we have in common rather than what divides us.”
How can diverse societies succeed? Mounk’s answer is that we must build democracies that attract the “wholehearted support” of all their members: “societies whose residents feel pride in their collective accomplishments, encounter strangers with an open mind, and are capable of sustaining solidarity with each other”.
The only possible foundation for a diverse democracy is protection of rights and guarantees of security for all individuals. This demands a protective state, the rule of law, a prosperous economy, widespread opportunity, patriotic culture, and individual freedoms. As the Financial Times’ Martin Wolf put it in a review of Mounk’s book, “These values are now under attack from all sides. If they are not defended, democracy will founder. Mounk offers a coherent and well-written call to arms. His cause is right.”
In his earlier book, The People vs. Democracy. Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save it, 2018, Mounk had discussed how populism might contribute to “rights without democracy” or “democracy without rights”. He had identified three key drivers of voters’ discontent: stagnating living standards, fears of multi-ethnic democracy, and the rise of social media. And he had recommended that in order to reverse the negative impact of populism, politicians need to enact radical reforms that benefit the many, not the few. He also recommended “Rebuilding Trust in Politics”, and civic education. Both of these are sorely needed in Guyana, where populism is not unknown.
Let the message take root in Guyana that the challenges of a diverse democracy with a history of exploitation, conflict, underdevelopment, inequality, and political strife are formidable, and that Guyanese and their leaders must consciously work for a unifying vision and a cohesive nation. This is a responsibility shared by Government, Opposition, and all Guyanese of goodwill.
