Democracy as a Catchword: What is Democracy?

8/11/2019 Democracy as a Catchword: What is Democracy?

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Democracy as a Catchword: What is Democracy?

Democracy comes from the Greek word demos and kratos which mean people and rule,

respectively. Combining these words together, democracy is defined as the rule of the people .

U.S President braham !incoln defined democracy as the government of the people, by the

people, for the people " . #here is no single and unitary definition of democracy. #he vital

component of democracy is that sovereignty resides in the hands of the citi$ens and they can

directly utili$e it. Democracy has its origins way back from the era of Greeks and Greece is

considered as the mother of democracies. %akaria argued, &'e live in a democratic age and the

world has been configured by the rise of democracy( )%akaria, *++ -. 'hen he wrote his piece,

there were already "" democratic countries or /*0 of the world is democracies. s of now,

according to the 1reedom 2ouse there are "*3 democracies, contrary to the "*+ democracies

contested by the 'orld 1orum on Democracy. Despite this discrepancy on the current status of

democracies in the world today, it can be argued that many countries had transitioned to

democracy. Democrati$ation is still in the long process.

Democracy has taken up various types as well. Democracy can be classified as

representative, presidential, parliamentary, direct, electoral, liberal and the addition of illiberal

and pseudo democracies. Democracy lies in a continuum. Given this variation within democracy,

Schmitter and 4arl presented key principles of what democracy is5 they argued that the system of

governance is an ensemble of patterns that determines the methods of access to the principal

public offices and rules that are followed5 citi$ens do participate in public life5 there is still

1 n e6cerpt from braham !incoln7s Gettysburg ddress )8ovember " , "9/3-, &:t is rather for us to be herededicated to the great task remaining before us ;; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to thatcause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion ;; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall nothave died in vain ;; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ;; and that government of the

people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.(

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competition even though it is not an essential component of democracy and decision;making is

based on direct participation leading to consensus5 elections must be fairly conducted and

honestly counted and citi$ens can influence public policy through intermediaries during election

intervals5 establishment of ma<ority rule to produce a ma<ority winner even it results in a

disproportion between votes cast and seats won5 actors must voluntarily make collective

decisions binding on the polity as whole such that cooperation is necessary for competition and

this could only be possible through associations, movements and parties5 lastly, elected and=or

appointed people do the most of the real work as it symboli$es representatives )4arl >

Schimitter, " "-. Undoubtedly, democracy functions because of its people. Democracy isfeasible as long as there is the consent of the people and government officials act with rationality.

:n addition, Shah )*+"*-, contested that aside from free and open elections, the rule of

law and separation of powers, legislature, e6ecutive and <udiciary are the pillars which allows

democracy to function.

Aristotle and Democracy

#he great political thinker, ristotle, does not acknowledge democracy as the best form

of government. :n ristotle7s Politics )Curtis, " 9"-, he argued that the most e6cellent form of

system of governance resides on the citi$ens and that it is the best regime as long as it provides a

pleasant life to its citi$ens. 2e remarked democracy as under deviant regimes followed by tyrant

and oligarchy such that these bad regimes are only beneficial to the rulers and it possesses

mastery rather than political rule. :t means that in the society, there has been the e6istence of

masters and slaves instead of solely having a rule over <ust and e?ual persons.

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Diamond )" - contested & ristotle saw that in a state of pure democracy, where the

multitude have the supreme power and supersede the law by their decrees@demagogues spring

up and democracy degenerates into a form of despotism(. ristotle7s view on democracy is the

rule by multitude. Aoreover, ristotle articulated that the best type of regime is polity, a

combination of democracy and oligarchy. ristotle also argued that freedom is the defining

principle of democracy. :n #he Politics )Curtis, " 9"-, ristotle wrote, &Democracies define

freedom badly. Bveryone lives as he wants and toward whatever end he happens to crave as

Buripides says. ut this is a poor thing. #o live with a view to the regime should not be slavery,

but preservation.( ristotle pointed out that this definition is incorrect and will later on boil downto slavery. ristotle believes that freedom must entail happiness to the people and anything that

will result to the opposite of happiness undermines the genuine definition of freedom.

Democracy for ristotle can be only be good once the rulers take turn in heading the state

and the e6istence of division of labor5 on the contrary, democracy is bad when people

specifically its rulers acts for their own advantages and the government does nothing to resolve

the issue of stagnation.

Joseph Schumpeter and Democracy

oseph Schumpeter is often associated with democracy such that he pioneered the

procedural definition of democracy. 2e critici$ed the classic doctrine of democracy that centers

on the proposition that the people hold a definite and rational opinion about every individual

?uestion and that they give effect to this opinion in a democracy by choosing representatives who

will see to it that the opinion is carried out )Curtis, " 9"-. #his implies that power is vested upon

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the people such that the people have the capacity to choose the lawmakers who will in turn

represent the general will of the people. :n addition, the people7s selection of the representatives

is solely secondary to the purpose of vesting power. 2e suggested that the people must produce a

government or intermediate body leading to the production of a national e6ecutive.

Schumpeter redefined democracy )Curtis, " 9"- &mean not the formulation by the people

of opinions on political issues, but the production of a government responsible for making

decisions.( t the same time he also identified problems associated with democracy particularly

political participation. Primarily, the non;e6istence of a definite common good that can be

possibly agreed on by all the people and if the possibility of the common good be identified,

political decisions related to this common good will not always represent the people7s will. :n

addition, there is this principle of political cultures such as parochial cultures wherein there is

low level of awareness, knowledge and involvement5 sub<ect cultures wherein there is some level

of awareness of government but low level of citi$en participation5 and participant cultures

wherein there is a high level of awareness, knowledge and participation with government

) lmond > Eerba, " /3-. :n this regard, most of the time, there is the perpetuation of parochial

culture or if not sub<ect culture since citi$ens have this tendency to disconnect themselves from

the political sphere and become uninterested once these political issues do not directly affect

them. lso, another problem that Schumpeter saw is the great influence of political

advertisements to the citi$ens that affect the citi$ens7 way of thinking. Aost of the time,

politicians make it sure that they have good advertisements such as song with medley that is easy

to remember, using of artists for campaigns so that the fans will vote for them.

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Schumpeter identified ways for democracy to prosper which are as followsF sufficiently

high ?uality of human material of politics, e6tension of the effective range of political decisions

must not be too far, decisions must be made by competent e6perts outside the legislature5

democratic government must control a dedicated bureaucracy which has its own power,

electorates and legislatures must be morally resistant to corruption and possess self;discipline

and a large measure of tolerance for leadership competition )Curtis, " 9"-.

John Loc e and Democracy

ohn !ocke is usually regarded as the father of modern democracy and liberalism.

asically, ohn !ocke started by describing the state of nature contrary to 2obbes7 state of

nature, !ocke7s state of nature does not easily generate into a state of war. !ocke mentioned that

men lived together according to their reason without a common superior on earth with an

authority to <udge between them ) kash, *++ -. 2e believed in e?uality and a government by

people7s consent, also in the rule of the ma<ority, power division and the capacity for rebellion.

!ocke advocated a social contract. !ocke stated, &Aen give up their rights of self;preservation of

property to the community and individuals give up their &natural( political power to a group or a

single individual who will make and enforce the laws to protect individual property )Curtis,

" 9"-. ut, !ocke argued that the leader will have only his power as long as he consistently does

his purpose but if not, the civil society formed by men can dissolve the sovereign.

:n general, !ocke perceived democracy as a regime wherein sovereignty and power

reside in the people, people7s consent is necessary. lso, there is the e?uality of men and the

universal participation of the people. #hus, !ocke7s theory on the social contract advanced

democratic practice and theory as well.

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"ro#lems o$ Democracy

#here have been many claims that democracy is the best form of regime while others

regard it as the worst form of government as what 'inston Churchill once contested *. :t can be

implied that among the variants of regimes or system of governance, democracy is the best

known to man. Democracy is no perfection, it also entails problems.

1irst is the problem of ideology specifically of the political parties and the possible

candidates for elections. Bvans )*+""- argued &nowadays, seem unwilling to take any action that

will <eopardi$e their reelection(. #his implies that ma<ority of politicians disdain their own

standards and mores in order to compensate for the general will because in turn this will be the

reason of their reelections. n a positive side, this runs with the principle of representativeness

of democracy since the politicians address the desires of the public, but also in runs counter to

the principle of utilitarianism of ohn Stuart Aill. :n the long run, the benefits reside in the hands

of the politicians and not actually the pleasure of the general public, because there are moments

when the bills or laws passed by the politicians may at first have good effects but on the latter

part, it ends up producing negative effects.

People are talking all about democracy but the oligarchy is the real form of government

)Castoriadis, *++*-. Second is that most important decisions are made by a select few and in

order to become one of those select few you need to have money )'ees, *+""-. asically, a

good e6ample for this is the large amount of money being spent by the candidates. During

campaign periods, candidates spent a large amount of money5 there is a lavish production of

* 1rom 'oodrow 'ilson7s Speech in the 2ouse of Commons )8ovember "", " H-, & Aany forms of

Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. 8o one pretends that democracy is perfect or all;wise. :ndeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government e6cept for allthose other forms that have been tried from time to time.(

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money. :n the lobbying aspect, ordinary citi$ens cannot easily form lobby groups unless they

have a certain amount of fund which they will use to push for the policies they wanted to pass. :n

this light, democracy does not appear for, by and of the people since only the few and rich

members of the society influence the decision making process and if you are the person who lies

along the margins of the society, unfortunately, you cannot greatly influence with regards to the

decision making unless you know of a person who can sponsor you and willing to spend a lot of

money <ust for your voice to be heard.

#hird is when one large segment of society does not respect the other. #his is true when

media flourishes and only focuses on one party, reporting all the positive notes about them while

negative on the other. #he public became uneducated of whom to vote when in fact they should

be educated with all the information presented to them. #he public has the right to know valid

information. 1ourth is when electing representatives became a popularity contest. #his is what

dams )*+""- says as the reason of why democracy isn7t working for merica. Eoting became a

short;term reward because people will vote those candidates who have the most promises to

them. #his is a contest between the realist and fantasy;land candidate. #he later is more likely to

win between the two. #he poor are forced to sell their votes for them to meet the basic

necessities. 1urthermore, what makes democracy wrong is that it doesn7t provide what is the best

for the citi$ens but what the ma<ority of the citi$ens want. nother problem is corruption which

in almost all countries does e6ist. 'hen people became aware that their elected officials or the

succeeding one is corrupt, they became uninterested in participating and they lose their trust in

the government. :f people don7t believe anymore in government, democracy became unstable

and threatened.

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Democracy and Challen'es

Democracies are all over the globe. :t is the chief form of regime. Democracy faces

challenges. :n the last century, it was attacked by 8ational Socialism and Communism while

today it is under attack from within )2elleman, *+""-. #he claim of the U.S as the best form of

democracy is now being ?uestioned by other citi$ens of democratic countries. #he authoritarian

regimes in 8orthern frica and the Aiddle Bast are in doubt whether they will use the merican

model as they move towards democrati$ation. n the other hand, merican Promise enumerated

nine challenges of democracy namelyF to preserve freedom and agree on limits so that everyone

can be free5 to encourage and acknowledge responsible citi$ens5 to foster active participation5 to

make the necessary hard choices5 to provide opportunity for all5 to let each citi$en be heard, to

find leverage for change5 to listen and deliberate with others5 and to seek common ground 3.

#usha Gupta )*+"*- identified four challenges to democracy namelyF the growing social

and economic ine?uality among the people5 the increasing role of anti;social elements such that

voters are coerced to vote for a particular candidate or party5 the perpetuation of corrupt,

dishonest and inefficient political leaders and government officials that allows the people to be

uninterested in elections and have no trust in the government5 and a large number of voters give

weight to the caste and religion of the candidate and results that the representatives elected on the

basis of caste or religion work for the welfare of the people belonging only to their caste or

religion . :n addition, democracies are also challenged to continually apply the principle of

3 Ietrieved from http://www.farmers.com/AmericanPromise/ap_tchguide/intro_support/14intro.pdf last ugust "H,*+"*.4 Gupta, #. )*+"*-. 'hat are the Aain Challenges to DemocracyJ. :n PRESER E AR!"#$ES: Preser%ing Articles

for Eternit& . Ietrieved ugust "H, *+"*, from httpF==www.preservearticles.com=*+"*+K"/3** /=what;are;the;main;challenges;to;democracy.html

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democratic government and also challenged to develop more democracy which means that the

theories, institutions, rules and processes of democracy.

Shah )*+"*- identified one of the challenges of democracy which is the low voter turnout.

Aany elected officials got low voter turnout even though they won the position. ne of these

cases is the U.S in which the President was elected with roughly *K0. lmost K+0 did not

actually vote. 'ith these, it has been a ?uestion whether the candidate who won even with low

voter turnout represents the people. #his low turnout may be caused by voter apathy,

disenfranchisement, parties not representing people and voter intimidation )Shah, *+"*-. nother

challenge to democracy is the electorate. People are supposedly educated and engaged since

democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people according to braham

!incoln. #here is a need of participation and involvement of the citi$ens and became

knowledgeable to have an effective democratic government or otherwise, unstable democratic

government.

Aalhotra )*++ - named three challengesF foundational challenge of shifting to

democracy and then instituting democratic government, challenge of e6pansion and deepening of

democracy. ne good e6ample for the first one is 8epal as it moved towards a democratic

government in the recent times. 'hen a country is shifting to democracy, there are a lot of

ad<ustments need to be made and changed. :t will take years to make the government stable and

there are those who will challenge the system. #he second which is the challenge of e6pansion

includes different organi$ations, all regions and all the levels in the system. #he principle of

democracy needs to be applied. :ndia and US are facing this kind of challenge as in :ndia5 there

is one group that is socially and economically left behind to have political power. nd the third

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which is the deepening of democracy refers to what it democracy means by the institutions and

its practices.

:n a given society, there is always the e6pectation from democracy of what it should be.

1or e6ample, citi$ens would e6pect that there will be a fair election while others e6pect that their

voices will be heard when doing state policies. #he key to deepen democracy is to strengthen

what the institution practices for the people. Casteism and communalism )Gupta, *+"*- are also a

big challenge. #his is being observed in :ndia and voters put more focus on the religion and caste

of the candidate running for election. #hey vote according to the level of caste they belong with.

Conclusion: *he Creation o$ Democracy

#here is no a total successful democracy. :t is faced with problems and challenges. 'ith

all these challenges, there is a possibility that it may be overcome by different reforms. :t

depends on the people what reforms to adapt in order for democracy to work in their respective

countries.

yoti Aalhotra )*++ - gave few guidelines for political reforms and that includes law

should give incentives for those political actors who do good things and avoid wrong doings5

strengthen democratic practices for the increase and improvement in ?uality of political

participation by the citi$en.

oseph Schumpeter had laid conditions for democracy to be successful and it was

discussed earlier. #he primary focus to establish a somehow successful democracy is the means

on how to strengthen and deepen democracy in that certain country.

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Peter !andry )" - contested that a free and democratic nation can work as long as the

politicians and officials see democracy as the true system of government that their country need

and that not to allow oligarchy to forever mas?uerade democracy.

:n addition, 1rLdLric astiat )"9K3- suggested that alongside underlying the natural law,

factors such as liberty, freedom, respect for human dignity and lives as well as private property

are needed to build a better democracy. Gupta )*+"*- suggested methods to maintain democracy

stableF reduce social and economic ine?ualities among the citi$ens5 people should be educated5

democratic values should be cultivated in families and society at large5 and the use of caste

should be banned.

Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Democratic

practices and institutions must coincide and end up empowering the people. Democracy should

be built upon what the people truly needs and what is morally and <ustly right.

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Democracy as a Catchword: What is Democracy?

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