Chile, Egypt, Democracy and the Monopoly of Force

Today, a national newspaper, reports the dramatic situation in Egypt. It informs that in Cairo the confrontations between the army and the supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi account for nearly 600 deaths since the coup of 3th July, according to data from the health office. In the city of Ismailiya, a city next to the Suez Channel, 4 protesters were killed by security forces that were authorized to use real bullets during the manifestations. In Cairo, relates the newspaper, all the access to the city have been shielded with tanks and one police was killed in an ambush. The military authorities have declared state of emergency and established a curfew from 19:00 pm to 06:00 am. On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood has called Egypt’s citizens to "peacefully" protest against the current situation.

In Chile, 40 years ago, we experienced a military coup organized by the armed forces in order to overthrow the government of Salvador Allende. Thus, as a country, we know for personal experience how painful are these kind of situations where democracy is broken. Thereby, we can´t avoid a strong feeling of sadness for the current situation in Egypt and we can only express the most deeply desires that liberty for the Egypt people is granted as soon as possible.   

I have read very little about political history in Egypt. Apparently, all began when King Farouk I of Egypt was overthrown by the Free Officers Movement during the Egypt Revolution of 1952. Farouk I was the tenth descendant of the Muhammad Aly Dinasty that ruled Egypt and Sudan for nearly 150 years. One year after the military coup expulsed Farouk I, and although his son Farouk II was trying to rule, the revolutionary government abolish monarchy and Egypt was declared a republic. From this time to 1981 Egypt was ruled by 3 presidents closed to the Free Officers Movement. The last of them, Anwar Sadat, ruled for almost 11 years, won the Novel Peace Prize for the treaty of peace with Israel and was killed in 1981 in Cairo during a celebration for the Egypt’s crossing of the Suez Channel. During his assassination many others were killed and there were almost 30 wounded, including who was going to be the next president, Hosni Mubarak. He was, at that moment, Vice President of Egypt.

As we know, Mubarak ruled the country for nearly 30 years and stepped down after the revolution of 2011. This revolution was a diverse set of demonstrations, riots, strikes, and violent clashes between security forces and protesters. It was also charged with Islamic, nationalist and anti-capitalist feelings. The power was taken then by a military junta that organized elections which were won by the Islamist Mohammed Morsi in June 2012.  His government was overthrown during this year by a military coup in response to large protests accusing Morsi for giving the control of the country to the Muslim Brotherhood, violating all kind of freedoms and human rights. Some experts have said that these demonstrations are among the largest political manifestations of human history. Today there is no rule of law in Egypt and the democracy has been broken.

In Chile the situation was very different but, as in Egypt, ended with a total destruction of democracy in 1973. During the 19th century and the begging of the 20th century, on the political level, Chile had a very strong presidential regime and, regarding to the economic organization, there was a free-market economy completely opened to foreign trade. Prompted by the earthquake of 1939, that leaved thousands of deaths, and also by the economic crisis of 1929, the political and economic system was replaced by a model of progressive substitution of imports. This decision was made by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda in 1940.  During his government he created a special state agency, the CORFO, in order to give subsidies, make investments decisions and create a welfare state.  Upon these dates the Chilean economy began to grow at smaller rates than the rest of the world.

Thirty years later, Salvador Allende won the presidential elections. Three candidates were running for these elections, none obtained a majority and Allende was formally elected by the Congress with nearly 37% of the votes. Although Allende always said that his government was a pacific transition to socialism, the reality was very different. Only three years after Allende assumed the power, in August 1973, the Chilean Chamber of Deputies issued an agreement describing all kind of constitutional violations incurred by the ruling parties and implicitly suggesting the armed forced to take part in the national situation. In September 1973 the presidential palace was bombed by the air force and the government was overthrown by a military junta led by general Pinochet who ruled the country for almost 17 years.

The real miracle of this military regime was that it encouraged a set of economic and political transformations provided to avoid the concentration of power. From the 70’s we have had a so called “social market economy” which has been very successful regarding the reduction of poverty and the creation of opportunity’s for the ordinary citizen.  In my opinion this is a very weird behavior of a military regime, even for a democratic government, because is very uncommon that people in power are willing to design mechanisms that will finally restrain that power.  

The design of a good social organization system is a very complicated topic. The role of the people that have the monopoly of force is crucial because the fate of a whole country will rely on them and their decisions when the society rules are broken. It seems that force is always going to be concentrated in a few persons and, therefore, the existence of controlled armed forces sounds like a good idea. However, which mechanism assures us that they won’t make a bad use of the power the people has given to them? Which is the best mechanism that discourages concentration of power and prevents us from walking a road that will end with democracy?  These are very complicated questions with very different answers that we won’t discuss in this brief essay. I only wish that forces that today are ruling Egypt will have the wisdom to give the power to the people and provide them with a much deserved freedom.