Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
SPEECH BY AMBASSADOR WAYNE AT CIVITAS OPENING
May 17, 2007
Good afternoon, Lucrecia Lacroze, President of Conciencia, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a pleasure to be here and to speak with representatives of so many organizations dedicated to the goal of strengthening democracy and promoting civic values and good governance.
When I started my career in the Foreign Service in 1975 there were 40 democracies in the world. Today, there are 122. That is an impressive improvement and much of the credit goes to organizations like yours and the citizens who support you. It is important now that we continue to consolidate the democratic progress under way around the world and to ensure that the benefits of democracy are distributed equitably throughout each society.
As democracy has taken stronger hold, it has created tremendous expectations. Citizens expect results. They expect to have access to their political systems. They expect to see their economic and social opportunities expand, along with their political opportunities and liberties. In short, they are looking for governments that can deliver on the promise of democracy for a prosperous society with opportunities, liberties and protections for all of its citizens.
The challenge of meeting this popular demand often involves the good functioning of institutions and democratic practices and processes. Are the formal institutions of government and political parties responsive and accountable? Do they provide effective checks and balances against the abuse of power? Do all the branches of government effectively play their part in preserving liberty and expanding opportunity? Is civil society sufficiently developed to function as a kind of connecting fiber between constituent bases of political parties and formal institutions? Are the media playing the role they need to play for information and opinions to be freely and widely heard? Are citizens being provided what they need to flourish in their societies and economies? Is the rule of law effectively guaranteeing rights and opportunities?
In other words, are our institutions working, improving and adapting well enough to handle the political, social, and economic challenges that we face in our countries and in our very globalized world?
The process of an effective and adaptive democracy requires political parties and civic organizations that are open and that act not to control political activity, but to channel and direct it. It requires new connections with civil society and creating vibrant new civic traditions that bridge differences in society.
It requires wise economic policies and actors that offer not just broad opportunity but also pursue social justice and responsibility.
The Americas are well -positioned to face this challenge because we have institutions, such as the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other parts of the Inter-American system that can work with states, governments, political parties, and civil society in order to create the capacity to evolve and to become more responsive to the demands that are being placed on them.
The Inter-American Democratic Charter demonstrates the commitment of the OAS to help countries that are in democratic crisis by showing solidarity, providing technical support, and helping them through difficult periods.
The US is actively working to strengthen democracy in this region and beyond. We don’t care whether the government in question is of the left or right, but only whether they are democratic, whether they are committed to governing justly, and to providing their citizens with the tools to construct a better life.
We recognize that we need to work with strategic partners to make progress. And we need to understand that such partners exist not only in this hemisphere, but outside the hemisphere, as well. They exist in Europe, in Asia, and elsewhere. There is no monopoly on those seeking to fortify democratic institutions and practices.
We need to look for ways to break down the tunnel vision that sometimes affects our thinking and we need to find ways to build ties across borders. We should recognize that making wise and creative economic and political decisions has an impact far beyond the borders of individual countries.
We must also recognize that governments cannot do it all. Democracies only work well if they are supported by an active civic culture. We require input from businesses, from NGOs or CSOs -- civil society organizations, as some call them today -- from the media, and from individual citizens. In short, we need to mobilize our resources more broadly, use them more effectively and to understand that we cannot afford to have anyone sitting on the sidelines. Apathy and lack of information are enemies of democracy.
It is important that we get it right in the Americas. There is a growing movement in the Middle East and South and Central Asia to turn to democracy as a way to address deep-seated political divisions within countries and find new forms of political expression.
The degree to which we can be successful in the Americas will act as support and encouragement for those elsewhere in the world. The degree to which we fail in the Americas will benefit those who argue that governments can only address the tough issues of economic and social development through authoritarian means, through limiting the freedom and creativity that democratic societies engender and upon which they thrive.
You are the people in the front lines of this vital effort to build stronger democracies around the world. I congratulate you for your work, and I salute you for accepting the responsibility for making us all better citizens in a more democratic world. Together, we can set the standard for those countries still struggling under dictatorships and give their citizens a helping hand when they, too, find themselves living under the ongoing experiment we call “democracy.” Together, we can help each other learn from others’ best practices in order to further perfect, protect, and strengthen our own democracies.
Thank you for all you are doing toward these ends.