The RC Question

It is incumbent on those who advise and assist those building new societies to point to the need for institution building beyond concern with political parties, electoral laws, and market mechanisms. Well functioning and enduring democratic systems depend upon a host of institutional arrangements. Creating these institutions will be a formidable task.

The challenge of building democracy sustaining institutions is most acute in the countries of Eastern Europe now working their way out of "real socialism," but it is also a central issue for some non-communist nations in Asia that have spent decades under various forms of authoritarian and dictatorial rule. True, these authoritarian and dictatorial governments have not achieved the degree of penetration of society attained in good part by the communist regimes of Eastern Europe. Neither have they had the propensity to destroy all elements of civil society or to reconstitute only those that served as instruments of the state and its ruling party. Nevertheless, they have been no more hospitable to the growth of many of the institutions and institutional complexes that are associated with democratic political systems and market economies. They too confront a long agenda of institution building before they may be counted as fully formed and functioning democratic societies.

The institutions necessary to sustain and facilitate the functioning of democratic politics and market economies are: free trade unions which reflect the views of their members and work for their interests; free professional associations in all fields of endeavor ranging from philosophy to law, medicine, and engineering; associations based on interest, sentiment, and value ranging from stamp collecting to preserving the environment and independent of the interests of party and state; a free press including radio, television, and other communications media independent of public authority for its support, and whose task is to inform the public; free standing universities and research institutes, in control of their curricula and agendas, in particular being unimpeded in providing critical perspectives on state and society and innovative alternatives to institutions and arrangements that are now in existence; independent religious establishments, voluntary in their membership and support, and free not only to preach and otherwise minister to the spiritual needs of adherents, but also to organize ancillary social and cultural activities.

These are the "conventional" elements of a democratic system, but their being conventional in no way diminishes their importance as basic supports for a democratic political structure. Beyond the conventional, those institutions and institutional complexes without which a democratic society cannot function effectively are a system of law, an institutional framework, and a body of practices dealing with labor disputes, especially for those between large and powerful corporate entities and the representatives of the workers. Without such a system, labor problems will escalate into potentially violent confrontations that threaten public order and may eventually undermine the democratic political structure.