The international community has focused attention on the challenges of promoting and facilitating democratization in fragile states. Democracy has been seen as the main driver for creating stable states, and to develop institutions and processes that are responsive to the needs of its citizens, including vulnerable and poor people. Moreover, democratic governance is believed to promote international peace and cooperation, reducing the causes of conflict and violence between and within states. However, the process of democratization remains deeply problematic in many countries. Major problems of transition confront attempts at building stable nation-states. Democratic elections in Afghanistan and in the Palestinian case have undermined proven to undermine government and further instability. It has hence been argued that democratic reforms in certain cases can be counterproductive – even leading to state failure.
The concept of democratization is increasingly being viewed as a Western agenda imposing Western values to the benefit of the West. Chinas global influence is challenging the Western concept of democracy being a prerequisite for development. As a consequence, will the West have to revisit the policy of democratization as the main strategy for interventions in fragile states or revisit the way it goes about that agenda?
