The Conundrum of ‘Democratic’ Coups

[newthinking]

The U.S. government says it wants to spread “democracy,”
a questionable claim considering the history.

by Lawrence Davidson

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/08-3

In the past couple of years a disturbing political phenomenon has arisen. To put it simply, groups espousing “democracy” have caused their countries to politically self-destruct by violently turning against the results of free and fair elections. Apparently, they act this way because the elections did not go their way and/or the elected officials adopted policies they oppose. They do so even when there is a possibility that changes in policy, and even changes in constitutions, can be had peacefully through legal means.

Admittedly this is happening in states both new to democratic politics and deeply divided along ideological lines. A tradition of compromise and a sensitivity to minority rights are not yet manifest in some of these fledgling “democracies.”ukraine-map

As I have explained in a previous analysis, this is what happened in Egypt in 2012-2013. In this episode, the country’s democracy movement, led on by such groups such as Tamaroud, turned against the democratically elected government of Mohammad Morsi because of its Islamist orientation. They boycotted the government’s constitutional convention, claiming that their demands were not being met, allied themselves with authoritarian forces, and went back into the streets to bring the government down.

[rafeh1]

1. its called mob rule

Mob rule was used to dump elected leaders in Iran (dr. Mosaddegh), in Chile (dr. Allende) and in Egypt (dr. Morsy)..