Conditions for a successful democracy
Introduction
Democracy, like every other concept belonging to the social sciences has umpteen definitions given by scholars belonging to several diverse fields. Democracy is that idea which means a lot of things to different thinkers, undesirable to some and unattainable to others. Even though it is adopted in most countries of the world, we yet haven’t arrived at a model for it or even a universal definition that can possibly encompass all its aspects under an umbrella. The forms of democracy, its institutions and its ideals all differ from state to state and even though they may have similar constitutions or even borrowed constitutions, the practice of democracy differs without doubt. For some thinkers democracy is
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They assume that equality among the people exist to the level where the individual will fulfil his responsibility keeping not just his motives in mind but that of society. There is also the assumption that individuals in a democracy will either be provided with or have already acquired the sense of politics and civic action through various levels of education. All these suppositions are what make the theories of democracy seems possible or even viable. Without them, the ideas would be lost on the public and democracy reduced to a rubber stamp that exists but cannot exert its rights. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (‘97-‘06) states No nation is born a democracy.” By this he means, that nations need to build on their idea of what democracy should include and aspire to maintain that standard. It needs sufficient time, effort and maintenance to result in success and that too, this success will always be relative. Moreover the government needs to enter into a ‘social contract’ of kind wherein the people give it the legitimacy it needs to govern
He says that a democracy in its roots is a breeding ground for factions. A democracy is too free, he says, and men left alone to govern themselves will inevitably create factions because of the reasons previously stated. He says “there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual.” However, the government set up by the Constitution is a Republic. A Republic, he argues, must have not too many but also not too few representatives to control factions.
The American Democracy Now textbook explains about the different 9 chapters, such as The Constitution, Federalism, Civil Liberties, Public Opinion, Interest Groups, Political, and etc. Within each of the 9 chapters it describes a brief history of America and how it help mold and shaped the way we live, and the way we think from a different perspective of a person opinion. Throughout the years, technology has influenced different ways people and government communicates and organizes their political campaigns such as television, computers, cell phones, and news services. Technology has challenged people to give them opportunities to respond to make a deep impact in the future of the nation.
In 1831 French sociologist and political theorist Alexis De Tocqueville and a lawyer he befriended named Gustave de Beaumont, spent nine months traveling around America studying its prisons and came back with a full report on the cultural, political and psychological life in America. While Beaumont wrote about the penitentiary system, Tocqueville focused more in the cultural and political life in America. He wrote two essays and published them in a book called Democracy in America. He discussed the possible threats to democracy and the possible dangers of democracy. He believed that religion and equality were the greatest ideas and they were the most advanced in the United States and that's why democracy worked so well in America.
The term democracy is a contested concept with many classifications. A government made up of the people for the people is the easiest definition to focus on. A democracy needs have these key elements of a political system for choosing the
The United States of America is not truly a democracy. America’s government is all over the place and pretty much a mixture of everything, it never has been just democracy. The characteristics of a democracy are where the majority wins but that never really happens. For example the president election majority does not elect the president. The United States of America is not a democracy for many reasons; Rule by law, we are more a republic than a democracy, and the founders of a nation didn 't want a democracy.
“Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.” To answer his question democracy is not the last improvement possible as we have witnessed over the years, also we do need to realize why those who are in a power/ higher authority that us get the final decision and we also need to realize that we give them this power to oppress and undermine us so that they are the all
Democracy is a form of government in which power lies with the people. This means that the people of the said community can either rule directly or indirectly by electing officials to make decisions for the betterment of the people. Democracy is an aspect that can be included in many different governments including, republics, monarchies, and theocracies. In America today, democracy is something we take pride in. This form of government had to start somewhere, however, and ideas of democracy can be shown in many early documents written by some of the first peoples to colonize the Americas.
An Important Distinction Between Democracy and Republic It is important to keep in mind the difference between a Democracy and a Republic, as dissimilar forms of government. Understanding the difference is essential to comprehension of the fundamentals involved. It should be noted, in passing, that use of the word Democracy as meaning merely the popular type of government--that is, featuring genuinely free elections by the people periodically--is not helpful in discussing, as here, the difference between alternative and dissimilar forms of a popular government: a Democracy versus a Republic. This double meaning of Democracy--a popular-type government in general, as well as a specific form of popular government--needs to be made clear in any discussion, or writing, regarding this subject, for the sake of sound understanding.
This can project the people from anything they would disagree to occur. Democracy is based on the rule of equality which means that all the people are equal as far as the law is concerned. Every person has the right to enjoy and experience social, political and economic rights and state is not allowed to discriminate him on the standard of gender, class, property or religion.
Democracy is a form of government offering a workable solution to the fundamental political problem of reaching collective decisions by peaceful means. Democracy can also be about political equality and giving everyone an equal voice in saying how a state should be governed The procedures required to deliver democratic political equality are , free and fair elections, universal suffrage, freedom of expression and information and freedom of association . There are many types of democracies but in my essay I will explain only two types of democracies which are direct democracy and liberal democracy Direct democracy is a form of democracy where citizens are given an extraordinary amount of participation in the legislation process and granting them a maximum political self determination. It can also be called “pure democracy”.
It also states and lines 1-4,”Democracy will not come today, this year, nor ever, through compromise and fear.” The author use
In the United States, people always talk about freedom and equality. Especially they want elections could be more democratic. In American Democracy in Peril, Hudson’s main argument regarding chapter five “Election Without the People’s Voice,” is if elections want to be democratic, they must meet three essential criteria, which are to provide equal representation of all citizens, to be mechanisms for deliberation about public policy issues, and to control what government does. Unfortunately, those points that Hudson mentions are what American elections do not have. American elections do not provide equal representation to everyone in the country.
“Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy,” said Benito Mussolini. By the time one enters the third grade they become aware of concept of democracy. Specifically in America, one is taught that they live in a democratic society. When asking what is democracy, the answer is never truly defiente. The answers given may be; a society where everyone votes, or by dictionary definition “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of the state; typically through elected representation.”
First of all, it is important to know the definition of democracy and its aspects. According to Peter Joyce (2005), the democratic government was initiated in the Greek city state of Athens in the fifth century B.C., so as a consequence, the word ‘democracy’ derived from two Greek words, demos (meaning ‘people’) and kratos (meaning ‘power’) , which means ‘government by the people’. Secondly, Giovanni Sartori (1997), a Political Science Researcher states that ‘democracy’ is an abbreviation that means Liberal Democracy. He distinguishes three aspects: democracy as a principle of legitimacy (power not derives
Many people believe that the election plays the most important role in democracy. Because a free and fair election holds the government responsible and forces it to behave on voter's interest. However, some scholars find evidence that election itself is not enough to hold politicians responsible if the institutions are not shaping incentives in a correct way. In other words, the role of the election on democracy, whether it helps to serve the interest of the public or specific groups, depends on other political institutions. I