The recent polls in Iran, Afghanistan, and Gabon illustrate the limitations of a democracy promotion strategy that tolerates corruption and neglects rule of law, writes Dominique Moisi, a leading French foreign policy analyst.
“Elections that lead to illiberal outcomes or even despotism are not a new phenomenon,” he notes. He cautions against setting rule of law standards too high, but some might suggest his own expectations are too low if he really believes that “a Singapore-style incorruptible one-party state bent on modernizing society is probably a far too ambitious goal for most non-democratic regimes.”
Or does Singapore differ from other Asian states only in so far as corruption is simply a fact of life, not a way of life?
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