ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF A REAL OPPOSITION
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
March 20, 2008
As we know tensed negotiations are in process between the
President-elect and the political powers, regarding the formation of
the coalition and the new government. Later, naturally this process
"will go down" to the level of Ministers and departments, anyway the
state machinery is on the threshold of a significant innovation.
Let’s imagine an impossible situation. On the second half of April,
the President-elect, disapproved of the willfulness, corruption, and
low efficiency of the officials’ work makes up his mind to completely
change the state machinery and starts a universal recruitment among
the citizens.
Moreover the President complicates the conditions of the recruitment:
like – everyone must be recruited by contest (the parameter is:
spotless reputation), all the pretenders must pass a qualification
test, and their moral qualities must be checked by the "lie detector".
Question: Will this change the situation? Will the new state
machinery serve the society and not the authorities? Will the volume
of corruption, sponsorship, and lawlessness reduce?
At the beginning – maybe. But maximum in one year we will face the
same problems. Why?
First: because this is our tradition and psychology. Of course the
condition of the society reflects on the state machinery.
Second: because power leads to temptations. This is closer to reality.
Temptations usually lie the officials and the political figures in
ambush, all over the world. But why anarchy is not on that level
for example in Germany, Great Britain, or Sweden. Of course in those
countries as well the political figures, high-ranking officials and
even the judges appear in scandalous situations. But each of them
is well aware that scandal means resignation at best and prison –
if the worst comes to the worst.
Thus – another question? Why? Their values are different from ours.
There are national peculiarities in every country. Even democracies
in the western countries very often differ. But you will never find a
"value" due to which disgrace must be justified, if it is committed
by the high-ranking official. Such a "value" doesn’t exist.
The problem is, in the democratic countries authority is permanently
under control. How can the society control the President, the
government, and the ruling authority in general?
First of all by the help of the opposition, which means – the powers
that didn’t win the elections at this stage.
How can they control the authorities? Through their statements and
inquiries in the parliament, by drafting the state budget, by the
supervision of the expenditure of the state resources.
By revealing the gaps of the authorities opposition has all the
chances to come to power and will be interested in manifesting a
spotless behavior.
This is how they provide the selection of the state machinery. Seeing
that the "political pendulum" really works, that is to say today’s
ruling authority can turn into an opposition tomorrow the law
enforcement agencies, judges, and the state machinery will change
their working policy.
This is the scheme of the social control on the authorities. Of
course it demands concretization. But the thing is, the same way as
it is senseless to speak about the "western" and "Armenian" scheme of
the lamp, the same way it is ridiculous to make judgments about the
"western" and "Armenian" democracies.
The make the system of the political competitiveness work in our
reality we need a real classical opposition and not a crowd of
slaughterers who organized the mass disorder on March 1-2. It is only
in the existence of a real opposition that we can impose certain
conditions upon the authorities, which will provide an opportunity
to control the latter.
And only in this case can we teach the authorities respect the society
and serve them.