Default Political Change
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has won a second term in office without even having had to bat an eye lid, fight stiff competition, and really having had to explain her ideology, politics and/or platform. On top of it, she has had a handsome endorsement from the international community in the form a Nobel Peace Prize.
A few months leading up to the elections, I encountered a great deal of skepticism about her possible victory. Many people pointed out that 15 political parties vying for power equals stiff competition. Many whispered that Ellen was not popular amongst the population, that the main opposition party (CDC, Congress for Democratic Change) had built up a huge following and she was certainly on her way out. The common analysis was that it was probable that no one party would succeed in getting a 51% majority vote in the first round of voting and a run off was imminent. And indeed, that is what happened. However, none of the other speculations played out.
There was no stiff competition. There was no ideological debate. We did not have a neck to neck run off. Instead, the opposition committed one strategic blunder after one and lost a massive historical opportunity to build up some political credibility and repertoire. It has been one long list of political suicides which in sum, gave Ellen an effortless victory.
A few questions arise. Did the opposition in fact have a massive following and could have defeated Ellen in the run offs? Or, did Ellen always have enough support to begin with? Or, did the opposition make all this noise of declaring the whole process a fraud because they knew they had lost the game?
I feel we have had a default political victory
I feel we have had a default political victory
Search for Alternatives - The Notion of Great Leadership and Liberal Democracy's Limitations
As accolades continue to pour over Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize this week up in Oslo somewhere there, you would think some saint has has descended from the heavens to lead Liberia to its promised land. Sirleaf has been joined into the ranks of Nobel Prize laureates and now considered a great African leader. She is one of the personalities to be immortalised within her own lifetime.
Is Sirleaf a great leader, though? She certainly does not have the saintliness that is attributed to Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu, the two giants of Africa.
Sirleaf is a politician and her status as a leader comes from her credentials as a politician and for steering post-conflict Liberia towards stability and economic revitalisation.
Her political goals are very clear - to bring Liberia back into the international community's fold. To re-open Liberia to the global market. To conform to certain notions of peace, democracy and development. It is for this for which she is being recognised.
What other alternatives did Liberians have? Well, I have already noted the short comings of the main opposition's leadership and lost opportunities. I have noted that the same actors of the civil war have found influential and respected positions in post-conflict Liberia. So, what alternatives did we have? Not many so it seems.
It is ironic that for all of CDC's machinations to try to match Sirleaf's credentials, they have failed miserably. George Weah went back to university to get a degree. He even joined forces with former UN diplomat and Harvard-educated Winston Tubman. But alas!
The machine that is democracy is not designed to produce great leaders or alternatives. Even the most mature democracies in the West have produced the likes of George Bush, Tony Blair, Berlusconi and Bill Clinton. Moreover, the electoral process as well as the every-day workings of democracy are complex and limited in the actual political and societal change they can produce. And, with the financial crisis the Western democracies are currently suffering, it has been made painfully clear that the democracy has so far served capitalism's needs rather than the peoples.
So, Liberia's infant democracy has done well for itself by bringing to power the kind of leader that is Sirleaf.
As accolades continue to pour over Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize this week up in Oslo somewhere there, you would think some saint has has descended from the heavens to lead Liberia to its promised land. Sirleaf has been joined into the ranks of Nobel Prize laureates and now considered a great African leader. She is one of the personalities to be immortalised within her own lifetime.
Is Sirleaf a great leader, though? She certainly does not have the saintliness that is attributed to Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu, the two giants of Africa.
Sirleaf is a politician and her status as a leader comes from her credentials as a politician and for steering post-conflict Liberia towards stability and economic revitalisation.
Her political goals are very clear - to bring Liberia back into the international community's fold. To re-open Liberia to the global market. To conform to certain notions of peace, democracy and development. It is for this for which she is being recognised.
What other alternatives did Liberians have? Well, I have already noted the short comings of the main opposition's leadership and lost opportunities. I have noted that the same actors of the civil war have found influential and respected positions in post-conflict Liberia. So, what alternatives did we have? Not many so it seems.
It is ironic that for all of CDC's machinations to try to match Sirleaf's credentials, they have failed miserably. George Weah went back to university to get a degree. He even joined forces with former UN diplomat and Harvard-educated Winston Tubman. But alas!
The machine that is democracy is not designed to produce great leaders or alternatives. Even the most mature democracies in the West have produced the likes of George Bush, Tony Blair, Berlusconi and Bill Clinton. Moreover, the electoral process as well as the every-day workings of democracy are complex and limited in the actual political and societal change they can produce. And, with the financial crisis the Western democracies are currently suffering, it has been made painfully clear that the democracy has so far served capitalism's needs rather than the peoples.
So, Liberia's infant democracy has done well for itself by bringing to power the kind of leader that is Sirleaf.
An International Local Success
Having said it all, it feels like Sirleaf's victory is what I call an international local success. Admired, worshipped and supported by the international community, she is the global choice for Liberia. And what are we celebrating here? The fact she has brought peace to Liberia or is revitalising an extraction economy?
Having said it all, it feels like Sirleaf's victory is what I call an international local success. Admired, worshipped and supported by the international community, she is the global choice for Liberia. And what are we celebrating here? The fact she has brought peace to Liberia or is revitalising an extraction economy?
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