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    Democracy

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    Zakir Ahmad
    A liberal democracy has several key features: 1. Power lies with the people, who play a decisive role in organizing and operating the government, whether it be a direct democracy or representative system. 2. The government's authority is limited by laws and conventions. It can only deal with public matters. 3. It rejects the idea that the state is divinely ordained and desires a pluralistic society where government rules in the common interest, not of any one group. 4. It aims to maintain social order and prosperity while protecting minorities and dissidents.

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    Democracy

    Uploaded by

    Zakir Ahmad
    100 views3 pages
    A liberal democracy has several key features: 1. Power lies with the people, who play a decisive role in organizing and operating the government, whether it be a direct democracy or representative system. 2. The government's authority is limited by laws and conventions. It can only deal with public matters. 3. It rejects the idea that the state is divinely ordained and desires a pluralistic society where government rules in the common interest, not of any one group. 4. It aims to maintain social order and prosperity while protecting minorities and dissidents.

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    A liberal democracy has several key features: 1. Power lies with the people, who play a decisive role in organizing and operating the government, whether it be a direct democracy or representative system. 2. The government's authority is limited by laws and conventions. It can only deal with public matters. 3. It rejects the idea that the state is divinely ordained and desires a pluralistic society where government rules in the common interest, not of any one group. 4. It aims to maintain social order and prosperity while protecting minorities and dissidents.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    100 views3 pages

    Democracy

    Uploaded by

    Zakir Ahmad
    A liberal democracy has several key features: 1. Power lies with the people, who play a decisive role in organizing and operating the government, whether it be a direct democracy or representative system. 2. The government's authority is limited by laws and conventions. It can only deal with public matters. 3. It rejects the idea that the state is divinely ordained and desires a pluralistic society where government rules in the common interest, not of any one group. 4. It aims to maintain social order and prosperity while protecting minorities and dissidents.

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    Question:3 What do you understand by liberal democracy?

    OR

    What do you understand by the term democracy? OR

    Discuss main features of liberal democracy? OR

    What are the merits of liberal democracy?

    In Democracy whether it is a direct democracy of the Athenian


    Model or a representative govt. of the Anglo –American Model or
    even a mixture of the two as in Switzerland the fact remains that
    power lies with the people and it is the will of the people that plays a
    decisive part in the organization and working of the government.

    Certain Assumptions:

    1. First: In democracy the authority of govt. is not absolute but


    limited by the laws and convention. According to MacIver the govt.
    can deal with only those things which are Caesar’s.

    2. Second: The liberal democratic model rejects the mystic


    notion of the divinity of state as propounded and emphasized by the
    thinker of the idealist tradition like Plato, Rousseau and Hegel.

    3. Third: The model of a liberal democratic state desires a


    pluralistic society which means that the govt. sets out to rule, not
    in the interest of any one group but in the common interest of all.

    4. Fourth: Its raison d’etre is the maintenance of a social order of


    peace and prosperity which by no means entails either to neglect
    the minorities or suppress the dissidents.

    5. Fifth: Finally the case of a liberal democratic model lays


    emphasis on secularism; the state has no official religion or
    ideology of its own to impose it upon the people by means of force
    and fraud.
    CHARATERISTIC FEATURES:

    Apart from these assumptions, the case of liberal democratic states


    has certain essential features:

    1. Govt. of People: In the first place, it implies a govt. of the


    people. As direct democracy of the Athenian Model is impossibility
    in modern times, it requires a representative system in which free
    and fair elections take place periodically to enable the people to
    exercise their franchise through secret ballot:

    2. Independent and Impartial Judiciary: There is an


    Independent and impartial Judiciary to act as a check on the
    arbitrary exercise or power either by the legislators or by the
    administrators.

    3. Limited and Responsible govt: Here the powers of the


    three organs of govt. are not concentrated but separated also inter-
    connected by the institutionalization of the system of checks and
    balances. The system of a liberal democratic state stands as the
    principle that liberty requires ‘power cuts into pieces’

    4. Polyarchical democracy: There is the arrangement of


    socio-economic checks and balances. As various groups are formed
    to protect and promote specific interests, they are allowed to live
    and operative to make up the pattern of polyarchical democracy.

    5. Political modernization and political acculturation:


    Above all, a liberal democratic state desires maximization of
    people’s participation in political affairs and thereby encourages bi
    and multiparty systems to forge close and strong links between the
    masses and their chosen masters.
    6. Rule of Law:

    7. Reforms: Democratic govt. is the best type of govt. for


    introducing reforms in the society. This type of govt. introduces
    various reforms in the economic, social and political fields of the life
    of the citizens of the state.

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