WARSAW: Ever since democracy appeared in ancient Athens, it has generated suspicion among those who believe that humanity’s highest purpose is virtue, not freedom. In the Eighth Book of The Republic, Plato rather unceremoniously defines political leaders in a democracy as “those who deprive the rich of their estates to distribute them among the people, at the same time taking care to reserve the larger part for themselves. Of course, Plato’s disdain for democracy is never far from the surface of his prose, yet he has a legitimate point: how, after all, can high ethical standards be ensured when democratic elections tend to reward self-interest and the lowest common denominator?
The citizens of today’s free societies are (almost always) democrats out of conviction, custom, and habit. Only a small minority exhibit populist tendencies that, if they gained power, could lead a society from democracy to dictatorship. Nevertheless, today’s democratic citizens mostly lack confidence in the public sphere, and are suspicious of their own economic and political elites. Among the youngest voters, indeed, this impulse is very strong, with their participation in elections falling sharply.
In Europe, this apathy is often seen as a reaction to the slowdown of what once looked like an unending postwar economic boom. But this is really only part of the story. Of course, if we could guarantee rapid and universal economic growth, democracy’s other weaknesses would probably be forgotten. But we can’t, instead what is offered is a hollow vision of the common good that consists merely in successive rounds of cuts in state expenditures. It is little wonder, then, that democratic citizens nowadays focus increasingly on the low ethical standards of their national elites.
Subconsciously, citizens expect their leaders to display the ancient leadership virtues of disinterestedness, courage, and devotion to service. But what they see is small-mindedness and the pursuit of narrow self-interest. Moreover, the dramatic democratization of mores in the last 20 years has resulted in a tremendous increase in ordinary human curiosity about people in the limelight: who our leaders are, how they live, and what they really believe.
Former French President François Mitterrand was probably the last European statesman who was treated by his nation like a monarch of old. His numerous personal failings and indiscretions were never publicly judged. Today, tabloid media show us everything, and subject everything to public judgment. So the heads of our democracies are treated like a famous person living next door. The door is open, and we don’t like what we see.
During a recent hearing before a Polish parliamentary investigative committee, a state functionary responded to the simplest questions of fact by repeating the phrase, “I don’t remember. When pressed about his failing memory, he impatiently responded, “Why am I expected to remember things in a country in which the president does not remember whether he graduated from university? The former Polish president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, had, it seemed, provided a perverse lesson in virtue when, having been caught lying about his educational credentials, protested that he did not remember whether he had actually defended his master’s thesis as required to receive his degree.
In such an environment, can public ethics be revived?
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as one of his first initiatives, proposed a ban on “golden parachutes for departing managers of firms traded on the stock exchange, in order to halt the practice of taking huge severance payments without the consent of shareholders. Sarkozy correctly assumed that managers of publicly-traded firms, much like politicians, are public figures who should be held to a minimum ethical standard of behavior.
In Switzerland, Thomas Minder, the head of the cosmetics company Trybol, is fighting the same battle, and demanding a national referendum. In Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court has ordered parliamentarians to reveal their outside income – often from lobbying activities on behalf of big business – on the Internet. In Poland, where for many years such practices have been considered criminal, a proposed law would require full financial transparency for politicians and high state functionaries. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, for his part, has proposed lifting the immunity that past prime ministers enjoyed in connection with the sale of peerages.
Even if these initiatives are motivated by party rivalry, they nevertheless pose an essential question: do we know how to ennoble our democracy? Can we impose on ourselves a corset of higher ethical standards, thereby refuting Plato’s objections to democracy, which are no less our own?
Europe can take the lead in writing ethics back into politics. The reform treaty that is to be adopted in 2009 is aimed at overcoming the EU’s supposed “democratic deficit. But rendering Europe’s political institutions accountable to citizens is only half the battle. Preserving the democratic life of the EU and its member states implies a duty – which should be enshrined in the treaty – to uphold standards of official behavior that today’s citizens demand.
Jan Rokita,an activist of the Solidarity movement, MP in the Polish Parliament since 1989, was a candidate of Civic Platform for the office of Prime Minister in 2005. This article is published by Daily News Egypt in collaboration with Project Syndicate/Institute for Human Sciences (www.project-syndicate.org).
