O demokratiji i ekonomiji
On democracy and economy

Author(s): Saša Popović
Subject(s): Politics, Economic policy, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Centar za građansko obrazovanje (CGO)
Keywords: democracy; economy; social life;
Summary/Abstract: The primary goal of this work is the review of cause and effect relations between political and economical dimensions of social life, that is to say a walk on the boarder line between economy and politics, without the pretension to deeply analyze one or the other. This subject is seen as especially important for a transitional society, a society that is being reborn. New orientations imply new values, norms and institutions. The essence of something new is a need to think differently. And work differently. However, to think differently essentially means noncompliance. And really, where noncompliance of an individual begins, whether it is in the family or society in general, with the respect of opinion, there is the seed of equality in diversity, whose product is democracy. In it often taught that economy and democracy go hand in hand, as a natural couple. Unfortunately, this is incorrect. History offers a variety of old and new arguments that economy can be relatively highly developed, whereas democracy is nonexistent. Ancient Egypt had both at the same time. Even to these times the word pharaoh represents a synonym for autocratic personality, and exactly Egypt had highly developed segment of economy during the supremacy of pharaohs- trade of money and goods. In ancient Egypt, owing to well organized administrative service, individuals could have natural accounts, and from those accounts the goods were transferred in a similar way to the way money is transferred from money accounts. State storage yards were collective centers for grain and other goods stored there. Farmer didn’t need to sell grain to pay taxes, and at the same time he earned since he didn’t need to build a granary. Moreover, grain that was paid in Upper Egypt for rent, could have been acquired in Lower Egypt without long transport, and the only condition was that state storage yard in Lower Egypt had enough grain. Would this not be the case, the grain was brought from the closest state storage yard and not from the storages from Upper Egypt. Thus, unnecessary moving of goods was not conducted. All similarities with Serbia and Montenegro are coincidental, but elucidative. Key words which should be reconsidered in the context of Montenegrin society are: politics, democracy, crowd, individual, freedom, property, resource, market, social development and similar. Definitions of these words are familiar to the Montenegrin citizen, yet their full meaning is still waiting to be discovered. The analysis of complex economic and political situation in Montenegro needs more space. While liberalism is just knocking on Montenegrin economic door, neo-liberalism is already here. It couldn’t have been the consequence of our liberal tradition, but in spite of that it is already being promoted as fundamental ideological orientation by a number of local economists. What is even worse, for a small society, in which it is difficult to keep a distance from the nationalism of different colors, nepotism, state budget and corruption, it is difficult to build reliable anonymous authorities, such as public opinion and market. Therefore, political and economic incest easily occurs, where the creators often abuse their creation. Various privatization models did not succeed to depoliticize national economy, even though they were created at the same table. The intention of the author was not only to position Montenegro in the economy-democracy coordinate system, but also to call for active participation of those who connect their destiny to themselves, because as Edmund Burke said: „All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.“

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