GNED 1303 Chapter Notes - Chapter Amartya Sen: Amartya Sen, Lee Kuan Yew, Cherry Picking
28 Oct 2016
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In this readable essay, sen takes on some of the leading arguments used these days against democracy. For one, he challenges the notion that authoritarian governments perform better economically. Idea of democracy originated in ancient greece more than two millennia ago. Democratization attempted in india too but the idea of democracy took shape and was put into practice in ancient greece. Ultimately collapsed and was replaced by a more authoritarian and asymmetric form of government. Democracy took a long time to emerge. Idea of democracy as a universal commitment = new: product of the 20th century. Rebels who forced restraint on the king of england through the magna carta saw the need as a local one. American fights for independence and revolutionaries in france contributed to the understanding of the need for democracy as a general system. Through democracy: this changed in the 20th century; the question was wrong.
