Is Democracy Important???

Center for Global Development recently sponsored a book on young democracies and how they are finding it difficult to keep democratic institutions alive. But how important is democracy to development, many of the so called “Asian Tigers” like Singapore and Taiwan were able to thrive with an authoritarian regime. Officials were able to push through tough economic programs that voters may not be willing to support. I guess the question is “are these autocratic governments acting in the interest of the people or their own” or I guess a more direct question would be “is there an actual development strategy involved or are decisions being made to line the pocket of those in power??” Q&A on the CGD website indirectly answers some of these questions, if you’re interested follow the link below.

http://www.cgdev.org/content/opinion/detail/1421059/