ifda dossier 74 - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

yet with a distinctive institutional model
of democracy that included liberal
freedorns, the dramatic changeover in
Pakistan, the powerful upswing of
democratic resistance in Burma and
Korea, much of this a result of domes-
tic struggles but all having a bearing on
the regional and global thresholds of the
states system.
Such a combination of de-escalation in
states of tension and violence in the
intcrn;itional arena and prospects for
clcn~ocratixation of the State interntilly -
and both of these generating public
opinion across the board in favor of
both peace and demoer;icy - may set
the stage when it may even become
possible to deal with some of the more
difficult and obstinate issues that have
led to an accentuation of structural
dualism which characterizes the present
'world order'. The most important
an~ongthcse are the debt crisis on the
one hand and the escalating arms trade
that is preventing the promise of clisarmanlent
to widen beyond the nuclear
club on the other. The latter in particular
is also fuelling militarization of
civil societies, permitting ethnocide
against cultural minorities and nationalities
within nation-states, and propping
up regimes of repression in which
armed might is being employed against
dissident groups tind movements for
civil rights.
It is being argued by some that rclax;i-
lion of tensions iniernationully and
changing attitude to issues like human
rights may permit gradual improvement
on these matters too. Perhaps this may
be too much to expect, most of the
optimists would agree, but as there
seems to have been a close tie-up
between carious issues like superpower
rivalry and the nuclear arms race, the
North-South divide, support to authori-
tarian regimes, regional confrontations
and escalating sales of armaments and
collaborations in arms manufacturing
capacities, it may not be too far fetched
to expect that once reversals in some of
these take place they could well exiend
to the whole gtiniut of issues.
What precisely will be the emerging
sceniirio of world affairs in respect of
most of not all of these issues and - this
is crucial - their interrelationship is by
no means certain. We have yet to come
to grips with what in fact is taking
shape right before our eyes. All one can
do is to delineate new trends (and
identify the rciisons behind them), raise
certain issues that these trends throw
up, suggest doubts and apprehensions
in respect of possible outcomes, and in
light of all ol' this, think of new inter-
ventions that could ;it once build on
positive tendencies and prevent both
negative outcomes thereof and the
persistence of counter-tendencies that
continue to create impediments in the
way of realizing a more humane and
just future. '1'hese are matters not just
of theoretical conjecture or even of a
carefully studied set of analyses but also
of intellectual inputs for policy alterna-
tives that should be considered by world
statesmen, the diplomatic community,
the United Nations system and above
all that slowly emerging group of quiet
influentials, the 'concerned citizens'
representing various social movements
and 'voices of the people' which in a