Comprehension : Comprehension

Q 372 / 466

UPSC CSE Prelims 2013

Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only.

The subject of democracy has become severely muddled because of the way the rhetoric surrounding it has been used in recent years, there, increasingly, an oddly confused dichotomy between those echo want to ‘impose’ democracy on countries in the non- western world(in these countries’ ‘own interest’, of course) and those who are opposed to such ‘own ways’). But the entire language of ‘imposition’, used by both sides, is extraordinarily inappropriate since it makes the implicit assumption that democracy belongs exclusively to the west, taking it be a quintessentially ‘Western’ idea which has originated and flourished only in the West.

But the theses and the pessimism it generates about the possibility of democratic practice in the world would be extremely hard to justify. There were several experiments in local democracy in the world, we have to take an understanding the roots of democracy in the world. We have to take an interest in the history of people participation and public reasoning in different parts of the world. We have to look beyond thinking of democracy only in terms of European and American evolution. We would fail to understand the pervasive demands for participatory living, on which Aristotle spoke with far-reaching insight, if we take democracy to be a kind of a specialized cultural product of the West. It cannot, of course, be doubted that the institutional structure of the contemporary practice of democracy is largely the product of European and American experience over the last few centuries. This is extremely important to recognize since these developments in institutional formats were immensely innovative and ultimately effective. There can be little doubt that there is a major ‘Western’ achievement here.

With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:

  1. Many of the non-Western countries are unable to have democracy because they take democracy to be a specialized cultural product of the West.
  2. Western countries are always trying to impose democracy on non-Western countries.

Which of the above is/are valid assumption/assumptions?

EXPLANATION

Correct Option

(4) Neither 1 nor 2 is a valid assumption based on the passage.

Regarding Assumption 1:

  • The passage critiques the implicit assumption that democracy belongs exclusively to the West and is a specialized cultural product. It encourages looking beyond European and American evolution to understand the global roots of democracy and people's participation.
  • However, the passage does not state that non-Western countries are unable to have democracy because they themselves hold this view. Instead, the passage argues against this misconception, implying that democratic practices are possible and have existed in non-Western contexts.

Regarding Assumption 2:

  • The passage discusses the rhetoric surrounding the 'imposition' of democracy on non-Western countries and criticizes the language of 'imposition' as inappropriate.
  • While it acknowledges the existence of those who advocate for imposing democracy, it does not make an absolute claim that Western countries are "always" trying to impose it. The passage focuses on the problematic nature of the discourse and the underlying assumption of democracy being solely Western, rather than a continuous, universal action by Western nations.