The continuing significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is reflected in the “diversity of struggles in which its approach and its reasoning” are adopted, writes Amartya Sen, and further indicated by “the extent to which authoritarian governments fear it.” The declaration provides “strong ammunition for social movements and agitations that defend the lives and freedoms of the ill-treated, the excluded, the violated, and the wretched.”
As if to confirm his point, Iranian police raided the offices of the Human Rights Defenders Center in Tehran, as it celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Chinese authorities arrested human rights activists who marked the occasion by launching Charter 08.
Philosopher Michael Walzer argues that the critical issue in promoting democracy is the question of agency. He believes democracy assistance is best conducted by non-state actors, working gradually over the long-term and seeking “points of entrance” within authoritarian states to work with the professions, trade unionists, co-religionists, and others who engage in the “nongovernmental, antiauthoritarian social practices that underpin democratic politics.”
His view is echoed by Michael W. Doyle, a member of the UN Democracy Fund board. “Promoting democracy is best done indirectly through trade, investment and foreign aid,” by example, incentives and assistance. Liberal democracy remains a “revolutionary idea” with “profound and extensive” effects, not least in fostering economic growth, reducing economic inequality and maintaining peace.
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