The political exclusion and commodification of women - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 255

Additionally, Rummel links economics and democracy, where he posits that
economic freedom is measured by independence from governmental own-
ership, control and regulations (Rummel 1983). In contrast, a critique of
Rummel's theory of freedom, by Erich Weede, states: 'economic freedom is
usually not part of definitions of democracy' (Weede 1984:655). The lack
of agreement on the relationship between democracy and economy is an
important one, not least when the activities under examination here have
implications economically for both the women themselves as well as for
those controlling prostitution industries, as well as trafficking rackets. Thus
the role of economic freedom in ideas about democracy has been a much-
debated and tenuous element. We must examine these linkages in relation to
the international context and ongoing political processes. 'The rapid spread
of the language of democracy … cannot be studied without reflecting upon
the changed international political context of the late twentieth century'
(Rai 2000:1). Weede's article was published in 1984, and since that time
the political map of the world has drastically changed. Therefore, Schweller
fairly notes: 'current democratization of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
seems to demonstrate that in addition to political freedom, a market and
private property economy may be an indispensable ingredient of democracy'
(Schweller 1992:240).
If we acknowledge that democracy and the economy of a sovereign state are
interrelated, it becomes of paramount importance to take into consideration
the positive and negative outcomes of the free market economy. Dahl points
out that usually market capitalism leads to economic growth:
[T]o begin with, by cutting acute poverty and improving living stand-
ards, economic growth helps to reduce social and political conflicts.
Furthermore, when economic conflicts do arise, growth provides more
resources that are available for a mutually satisfactory settlement in which
each side gains something.
(Dahl 1998:168)
This also has social and political outcomes. People become more active, they
search for education and gain personal freedom, property rights and civil
rights. At the same time, Dahl stresses such negative consequences of market
economy as the emergence of economic inequalities and, as a result, inequities
in the distribution of political resources. But since 'democracy and market-
capitalism are locked in a persistent conflict in which each modifies and limits
the other' (Dahl 1998:173), there is an opportunity for the creation of a certain
set of rule s 4 t hat set boundaries on institutions of market-capitalism (property
rights, monopolies, contracts, ownership, etc.). Following this, it is possible
to argue that nature of democracy is strongly bound to the process of develop-
ment, particularly economic development. Democracy allows for the possibility
of implementing change. Thus, there is another term that is intimately related