required political commitment as well as competent and accountable public
services this was interpreted as a need for democratization (Hawthorne,
1992, p. 331; Leftwich, 1993, pp. 607–8).
The other factors contributing to the ‘good governance’ orthodoxy were
the rise of Western neo-liberalism in the late 1970s, the spread of pro-
democracy movements in all regions of the Third World as well as Eastern
Europe, and the collapse of communism. This last and most momentous
development strengthened confidence in the presumed link between politi-
cal pluralism and economic success and left space for an extension of influ-
ence by the capitalist West within a ‘New World Order’ (Riley, 1992;
Leftwich, 1993; Webber, 1993).
Despite some advances towards less authoritarian forms of government – in
Zambia, South Korea and Taiwan, for example – the prospects for democratic
development and survival do not appear to be too bright. The Western powers,
despite their good governance rhetoric, seem remarkably reluctant to take pos-
itive action in support of Third World democracy. For example, although the
US has cut off aid to Gambia, where thirty years of multi-party democracy
were ended by a military coupin 1994, Britain and the European Union have
prevaricated. However, dependence on foreign aid for 80 per cent of the budget
may be insufficient for the West to exercise leverage if the military government
can secure assistance from elsewhere, such as Libya and Iran.
One of the greatest threats to democracy in developing countries is mili-
tarization. This may take the form of overt military rule or disproportionate
expenditure on the military compared with social welfare. In 1990 there
were 33 developing countries that had experienced over 20 years of military
rule since 1960. Only 32 had had no history of military government
(Thomas, 1994, p. 65).
In the late 1990s developing countries were spending 15 per cent of cen-
tral government budgets on the military. In several countries military spend-
ing amounts to over 10 per cent of GDP. Many spend considerably more on
the military than on social sectors, despite the desperate need for health care,
education and the relief of poverty. Halving the proportion of GDP spent on
the military would be enough to double government spending on health and
education. For example, in 1985 Costa Rica spent 23 per cent of its govern-
ment budget on health, with dramatically beneficial consequences for infant
mortality, life expectancy and the fertility rate. Significantly, between 1975
and 1985 it devoted only 3.2 per cent of its budget to the military.
Another threat to democracy in the Third World is posed by the rise of
forms of religious fundamentalism which violate principles of toleration
and equal rights. In India, for example, Hindu nationalism is believed by
The Idea of a ‘Third World’ 9