Uniform Diversity

Free competition doesn’t lead to diversity, that’s a quite common observation. Ironically, it’s the other way around. The suppliers of goods, from fashion to entertainment, direct their attention at what is already in demand instead of risking to open new markets. The new products, even if they are improvements, will be similar to what is already offered, which again adds to the concentration and reduces diversity. The great number of television channels which all show more or less the same type of programs, is a good illustration of this phenomenon.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter much that we all tend toward the same style of clothing, but it may be more disturbing that the same is happening in the cultural and political realm. Globalization is the result of free global competition, brought about by vastly improved communication, and means that one particular culture has the competitive advantage and keeps winning and expanding. This culture is by no means qualitatively better any more than one piece of clothing is objectively preferable, but whatever is already spreading keeps spreading unless it hits a barrier.

Political competition likewise seems to be a good way to secure that a people gets the government that is suitable for its unique circumstances. But what we see is again the opposite. The spread of political competition, that is democracy, leads to uniform standards and paradoxically less choice. If a different political system is desirable, it will not do to put it up for a general vote. In an election only alternatives that are perceived as realistic have the chance to win, and realism for most people means whatever is close to what is already existing and what is dominating the view. The dominant Western system will therefore have the upper hand when a country becomes a democracy and that again reduces the diversity that is essential for democratic choice.

More choice leads to less choice. Democratic competition works against political diversity.