Democracy and Development: A Cultural Perspective journalists, anyway. But I am pretty sure that with right understanding or objectivity, it should not be beyond human intelligence and power of reasoning to get to right thinking and action. Life of course will never be without problems and sufferings, as the Lord Only that quite a lot troubles and have been brought about simply because we, human beings, tend to take things so much for granted. As a result, human assets turn out to be liabilities. They are all man-made These include things like science and technology and so many others which are the products of human creativity and innovation. And incidentally for that matter, freedom of the press is of no exception. The adverse consequences could be even more so, as we are entering the information age which makes the "privi- leged individuals or groups all the more powerful over all the others. A certain historical perspective may well be in order here for understanding how we all have come to be where we are today, and what lies ahead. As Rousseau so succintly observes in his Social Contract "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains". The social and political "chains" have taken various forms in human historical experiences ever since the ancient to modern time. It is the Industrial Revolution some two and a half centuries ago that opens the way for globalization of power relationships. It all started with colonialism, and