For democracy’s future, these are real problems. But there’s an even bigger one: democracy is not improving people’s lives. In Bangladesh, among the most corrupt countries in the world, many were thrilled when the military seized power in January. By most accounts, Russians like how Vladimir Putin has ruled. And though Chávez is one of Latin America’s least democratic leaders [bold mine-DL], he’s also one of the most popular. In many countries that have embraced democracy since the cold war’s end, free elections haven’t reduced corruption, violence or poverty. ~Peter Beinart

Take note that whenever Beinart talks about the decline of political freedom and someone being the “least democratic,” he is constantly conflating being liberal with being democratic.  There is no doubt that Chavez has been robustly, obnoxiously democratic.  That’s exactly the problem.  If he has become a democratic despot, he is not any less democratic for that. 

Incidentally, unless you are an outspoken journalist, a Chechen, a Georgian (or, more recently, an Estonian) or one of Russia’s seven liberals (five of whom live outside the country), why wouldn’t you like the way Putin has governed?  His tenure has coincided with, if not necessarily caused, improved living standards and has provided some stability and order where there was rather more lawlessness and chaos in the recent past.  Of course, people may like the way a government runs things and the government may still be horribly wrong in what it has done, but when you frame it this way it is obvious why Russians overwhelmingly approve of how Putin has ruled.  If you lived in Russia and were not a particularly political person, you probably would appreciate the relative improvement of the Putin era over that of Yeltsin.

Remember also that the Thais were also very enthusiastic when the military deposed Thaksin and seized power.  This is because democratic government will sometimes not only fail to reduce corruption, but will instead breed it.  Even if it does not encourage corruption, democracy is only as vigilant and honest as the electorate and entrenched power interests want it to be.  If elected representatives have no interest in checking executive corruption, there is nothing in a constitutional arrangement that will prevent it.  Even so, corruption charges against Thaksin and both major parties in Thailand made Thais very tired of his demagogic rule–and he has been one of the relative success stories of Asian democracy.

There is no reason why democracy should necessarily reduce corruption.  For every advance in open and accountable government democracy might theoretically bring, it introduces two opportunities for new graft, patronage and deal-making.  Only extensive reform legislation backed up by an ethos that tells people that it is actually wrong to help your cousins and friends game the system will effectively combat most basic corruption. 

There is no reason why democracy should curb violence or alleviate poverty.  Democracy politicises difference and aligns people along lines of mass identity: it requires well-established habits of abiding by the procedural rules of democratic government to keep these contestations from becoming either blatantly corrupt or violent.  Democracy concerns the equality of citizens, the nature of the distribution of power and the theoretical origin of political authority.  At its most basic, it is majority rule, and even in its indirect forms it is simply a mechanism for expressing consensus.  If most of the people in a nation embrace views that perpetuate internecine conflict or poverty or both, being able to vote and have representatives vote on legislation are fairly useless for addressing problems of violence and poverty.  Democracy is only as pacific as the people in a society (and perhaps less), and it has absolutely no direct relationship to the economic success of a society.  Those who think that participatory government will make them richer haven’t been paying much attention. 

What are Beinart’s answers?  Of course, it wouldn’t be to drop the idealisation of democracy.  That would make too much sense.  Instead, we should have “debt relief, open markets and foreign aid that really make a difference in a poor country.”  The first one makes a fair amount of sense (the refusal to bail out Argentina led to the implosion of their economy, the destruction of their middle-class and the backlash against pro-market policies), but the other two seem like invitations for populist backlash on the one hand and ever-greater corruption on the other.  Throwing foreign aid money at the rest of the world will not aid very many foreigners, except for those who happen to be among the government officials responsible for handling the money.