Democracy and its difficulties

Introduction Before we address the difficulties of democracy, we must first understand what democracy is. Democracy literally means “Rule by the people”. The term is derived from the Greek dēmokratiā, which was coined from dēmos (“people”) and kratos (“rule”) in the middle of the 5th century BCE to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens (Dahl, 2018). Democracy is a political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections. This system of government entails the active participation of its constituents. In return to this participation, a democratic government is obliged to protect the rights of its citizens. In a democratic administration, all laws and procedures apply equally to all of its residents. In a democracy, the people are the highest form of political authority. The people rule the government, and the leaders may only hold power temporarily. The constituents have the freedom to criticize or impeach their elected leaders or representatives. The residents within this political system actually holds majority of the power. Even though the masses have their own sovereignty, they still have their responsibilities. Their foremost responsibility is the participation in the government. The most common type of participation is through voting and electing officials handling the government. A citizen of a democratic country has the duty to of course, vote for the right people to lead the government, this can be done by listening to the views of the different parties and candidates, and then make his or her own decision on whom to support. Political parties are vital organizations in a democracy, and democracy is stronger when citizens become active members of political parties. However, no one should support a political party because he is pressured or threatened by others. In a democracy, citizens are free to choose which party to support. Constituents are encouraged to inform themselves about public issues and to express their own ideas and opinions about current issues affecting their society. A democracy is a system wherein the supreme power is vested upon the common people and their ideals and needs are exercised directly or indirectly by the elected officials. This is also a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Dictionary, 2005). But like how there is no perfect system of government, Democracy also has its flaws and difficulties which we will address in this research paper about Democracy and its difficulties. Statement of the problem How are the citizens to govern? What political organizations or institutions will they need? When citizens are divided on an issue, as they often will be, whose views should prevail, and in what circumstances? Should a majority always prevail, or should minorities sometimes be empowered to block or overcome majority rule? How do we ensure the participation of the constituents in the government? How do we cover for all of the democratic system’s shortcomings? What is the ideal democracy? Body Democracy may seem to be an ideal government at first. Imagine a system wherein the people’s needs and requests are heard, where the authority to manage the government has been vested upon the common people and where the power cannot be abused. But this ideal only applies when you see the world in a naive point of view. It is common knowledge that it is part of human nature to want more and more, and this leads to democracy’s number one foe, Corruption. According to Democracy and its Difficulties: Learning from Others by Warren Kinston: Democracy represents the way forward but making it work is problematic given universal human tendencies to abuse freedom, and to prefer wealth and power over wisdom and virtue. (Kinston, 2008). This human nature is the main reason on why enforcing an ideal democracy is an extremely herculean task. For democracy to work, it is required for a person to lose their own individuality and go with the majority. So does that mean that in democracy, the minority will always adhere to the wants of majority? The issue with this is that some people refuse to follow the needs majority and instead continue the pursuit of their own personal interests. This would lead to disagreements which in turn, slow down the progress. A common example of the minority dominating the majority is with corrupt government officials, they were vested with the responsibility to protect the rights and serve the common people but what happens is they protect their riches and tell the people to serve them. Democracy has completely lost its essence when this happens. Another challenge being faced by Democracy is that it is not applicable on a large scale, this is according to Warren Kinston’s paper about the Difficulties of Democracy which states that: The notion that an economy, which is more like a rainforest than a tennis-court, could be centrally planned and rationally constructed was fatuous. Inefficiency, demoralization and failure were the inevitable results. (Kinston, 2008) This line likens the government to a rainforest and a tennis court, this is exactly how Democracy applies on a large scale, and the people cannot be centrally planned due to the fact that every single person has their own unique rights and ideologies. This amalgam of needs and wants could lead to inefficiency, confusions and conflict within the government. How can things be done if people focus on pushing their own ideas forward without consideration for the common objective? The contradictory thing about Democracy is that its advantage and disadvantage is one and the same, and that is the People. Decision-making in the government has slowed down, before a decision is made, it has to pass through a long, arduous process. This is good in a way that, proposals or bills in the government are thoroughly checked before being passed. However, this has a fatal flaw, and that is the fact that decision-making has considerably slowed down. According to Anthony J. Langlais and Karol Edward Soltan, democracy is facing three challenges: First of is, that the voters or the common people are usually apathetic and disengaged, One could believe that this is usually to the fact that the constituents are not being educated correctly on how powerful their right to vote is. Secondly, Democracy is being treated as something that should be stagnant whereas it could actually work more productively if the constitution evolves alongside the constituents, however, changes cannot be done overnight, yes, it might be a great and noble idea but are the people ready to rule themselves? This is exactly what makes democracy so difficult, it is a complex web of institutions and a democratic society is made up of individual people who should know how to utilize their democratic institutions to govern themselves. Lastly, Democracy often entails a broader international environment, the main factor in democracy is the willingness of the people to embrace their rights while upholding their responsibilities, and this however can be undermined by outside forces (e.g. interference of another country within a country’s government). Democracy has given us the gift to peacefully change and choose the people who will lead the country. This right is very precious however Pastor Wayne of the Berwick Anglican Church says otherwise as stated: ‘A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government… The real reason for democracy is: Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows (Wayne, 2016). According to this line, Democracy was built on distrust and arrogance. Everyone wanted the power to lead but the truth is that the basis of Democracy is that no single person/ group of people should be above the rest, such as in monarchies, aristocracies, theocracies, and other forms of government. The ideal Democracy according to Aristotle should have the following features: Effective participation, wherein every citizen under the Democracy should make their views known to other people, next is Equality in Voting, where all votes should be deemed equal and everyone should have an opportunity to vote. Another feature of an ideal Democracy is Educated Electorates, the constituents must be informed about policies and possible alternatives, next is Inclusion, every single resident has the right to be included and to participate in the government and finally, Fundamental Rights, a successful democracy is one which meets its constituents’ rights and needs without compromising other sectors of the government. This is merely an ideal or a guideline on how to successfully establish a democratic regime and that fulfilling these ideals will be extremely difficult. The final problem concerning Democracy is the so-called sheep mentality or the snowball effect in psychology. Democracy was created for the sole purpose of opening up the minds of the common people to contribute to their government by imparting their own opinions and ideas which in turn could lead to groundbreaking discoveries and solutions to a certain society’s problems but what happened was the opposite. Instead of thinking up new ways to solve problems, people have somehow become rather narrow-minded and they started adopting the so-called sheep or herd mentality wherein a person always goes with the majority. The problem with this is that the minorities always get the short end of the stick; they get fewer opportunities to voice out their opinions and whenever they get the chance to, they immediately get shot down or undermined. In the current political environment, there are two types of people, those who want to maintain the status quo or the majority, and those who want change or the minority. Now imagine if the roles were switched, what if the majority wanted change? Then with democracy, change can happen. Democracy in our current times is no longer what it means, instead of a government being ruled by people, it has become people ruled by the government. The citizens no longer have their own opinions and the firmness to cling to their beliefs. They let themselves be manipulated and start protesting when it is already too late. The problem isn’t with democracy itself but rather, it is due to the people and the fact that it has stagnated throughout the years with no development whatsoever and it seems like it has been left behind in the times. Conclusion Democracy is a very complex system of governing a country. It is necessary to put into account several factors, such as the people and how they handle their own sovereignty, the ethics of the elected leaders or representatives, and of course, the economic situation of the country. This is what makes Democracy so difficult to maintain, the fact that it is never stable and differing opinions, can cause conflicts within the system. Aristotle’s ideal Democracy can be used as a guideline to cover for Democracy’s shortcomings; an effective Democracy should consist of Effective Participation, Equality in Voting, Educated Electorates, Inclusion, and Fundamental rights. This is just an ideal but if this could be followed, then for sure Democracy would be a very effective method to manage a state. The main problem with Democracy is that it has lost its essence; it has become the polar opposite of what it was made for, instead of the people ruling the government, it has become the government ruling the people. Instead of promoting the fair and equal treatment towards all of the citizens, it has instead promoted the unfair and unequal treatment of the people. This system introduced the idea of a majority and minority. A Democratic type of government has become stagnant whereas it was specified that a Democracy should always get with times and it should always be adaptable to change so that it would always fit the ever-changing society. Democracy, like all other types of government, was created to maintain a system but just like the others, Democracy has its own flaws and shortcomings. There is no such thing as a perfect method to govern but rather it depends on the people who are within it. Recommendation Maintaining a democratic government is a difficult thing to do. In Democracy, nothing is set in stone, everything is open for change. The effectiveness of a Democracy depends on whether the people elected a capable leader, whether they are willing to form a social contract with the government wherein the citizens surrender rights to the ruling power, while the government gets the responsibility to protect these rights. The reason Democracy has a hard time being implemented effectively is the fact that it is based on the consensus of the people and this can sometimes fluctuate. Difference in opinions and ideas can happen, which in turn causes conflict. The most plausible way to counteract the difficulties of Democracy is to attempt to follow Aristotle’s ideal Democracy while applying it to modern standards. The reason Democracy is difficult to implement is due to the fact that the idea of Democracy has become somewhat archaic and no longer applicable in our modern world. One could see this as such because this system has started to favour the majority while disregarding the minority, whereas Democracy was created as to promote the fair and equal treatment of a state’s constituents. One could believe that this system was made to act as an antithesis to the monarchy and aristocracy types of government (Systems that favour a group of people) but what happened is that Democracy has grown to be the same. A proper Democratic government should have capable leaders and representatives. This responsibility of electing these great leaders falls upon the common people. To elect the right representatives, the people must understand the worth of their vote and how it can affect the state as a whole. Democracy can only be effective if there is a great change but it should still adhere to its roots. Works Cited Collins, P. (2016, June 24). What are the Worst Shortcomings of Democracy? 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