UNIT-1 Definition of democracy

1.1 The concept of democracy and democratization

 There is no absolute definition of democracy.
 The term is elastic and expands and contracts according to the time,
place and circumstances of its use.
 The term democracy is used to cover a wide range of political
systems; some of which are old and experienced, while others
relatively new and inexperienced.
 The word democracy was derived from two Greek words: "Demo"
and "Kratos", which means people and rule (legitimate power to
rule), respectively.
 In this case, the word democracy implies the idea of rule by the
people or government by the people.
 Democracy is a state of government in which people hold the ruling
power either directly or indirectly through their elected
representatives
 1.2 Definitions and actors of democratization

1.2.1 The meaning of democratization

 Democratization is a complex, long-term, dynamic, and open-ended
process.
 It consists of progress towards a more rule-based, more consensual
and more participatory type of politics.
 Democratization is the transition to a more democratic political
regime, including substantive political changes moving in a
democratic direction.
 It may be the transition from an authoritarian regime to a full
democracy, a transition from an authoritarian political system to a
semi-democracy or a transition from a semi authoritarian political
system to a democratic political system.
 It is ‘the transition to a more democratic system of government.
 1.2.2. Actors in democratization process

Democracy is a process which is not an overnight program.

It needs not only time but also different actors who involve in
building democracy and democratic culture.
Thus, in this section you will look at the role of different actors in the
democratization process.
 Political parties
 Political parties are vectors of democracy.
 They are essential to the functioning and durability of democracy.
 They are not only the instruments through which power is attained
by means of free, fair and transparent elections but also are the
settings for working out practical ideas and proposals which may
constitute alternative programs to the government.
Civil societies/CSOs/
 Like political parties, non-governmental associations and
organizations are valuable vectors of democracy.
 They differ from political parties only in their final goal, but they all
contribute to consciousness raising, defense of the legitimate
interests of groups of individuals and the protection of individual
and collective rights and freedoms.
 The efficiency of the work of civil society depends on the extent to
which such associations are autonomous or institutionalized.
 Interest groups
 Interest groups are organizations or groups of people, which are
autonomous from government or political parties with the objective
of influencing government.
 In democracies we find several interest groups who attempt to
promote and influence the policies of government.
 In fact, interest groups are regarded as essential transmission belts
between people and government.
 They play an important role in helping people interact with
government, which is often remote and difficult for the individual to
influence.
 Interest groups, bridge the gap between the citizen and government.
Through interest groups, citizens communicate their wants on policy
goals to government leaders
 Media
 Freedom of the media is essential in a democracy. Media refers to
an institution and to the methods of communication which can
reach large number of people at the same time.
 It includes newspapers, television, radio, books, posters, magazines,
cinema, etc. Media plays a role in the political training of citizens
and in building democratic culture. But, to perform those functions,
it must be free and independent; it must have sufficient material and
human resources to deal with all the important
problems of the society.
 The importance of the mass media in a country is not dependent on
the number of newspapers or private radio and television stations
but on the quality of the information provided to the public.
 1.3.1. Definitions of democratic institution
 Democratic institutions are important to develop and protect
democracy.
 These institutions must serve the entire population of a country with
equality under the law.
 Autocratic and oligarchic governments might have the rule of law
but do not qualify for democracy because they fail to fully ensure
equality under the law.
 If democratic institutions are strong, they are respected and it
becomes difficult to manipulate them.
 They enable the honest to survive.
 1.3.2. Democratic institutions and their
functions
 Democratic institutions are institutions that facilitate and
promote the operations of democracy.
 They are those institutions that make democracy to work.
Some of the democratic institutions include independent
national electoral commission, political parties, pressure
groups, etc...
A. Independent national electoral commission(INEC)
Independent national electoral commission is a corporate body
charged with the responsibility of organizing, conducting and
supervising elections into electoral offices in the country
 Political parties
 Political parties are organized group of individuals who share same
political ideologies, beliefs and interests and who seek to win
elections and control the state power and machinery of government.
Political Parties perform the following functions:
1. Serve as a forum for national unity and mutual understanding. This
is possible because it brings together people from different ethnic
and religious groups.
2. Educate members and the general public
3. Serve as machinery for recruitment /appointment
4. Serve as a link between the people and the government
5. Ensure political stability in the government
6. Allow for harmonization of sectional and diversified interest
7. Provide social amenities and infrastructure
8. Help to sensitize the electorate on crucial national issues,
governmental policies and programmers
9. Ensure that the party in power is accountable to the electorate
through constructive criticism.
 C. Pressure group

 A pressure group is an organized body of people seeking to

influence government policy, and to promote the interest of
their members.
 A pressure group is also called interest group.
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 Social transformation is the process by which an individual
alters the socially ascribed social status of his/her parents into a
socially achieved status for him/herself (status transformation).
 Another definition refers to a large-scale social change as in
cultural reforms or transformations (societal transformation).
 The first one applies to an individual, while the second applies to the
social system.
 Social transformation is also the restructuring of all aspects of life;
from culture to social relations; from politics to economy; from the
way we think to the way we live. Through time, societies have
transformed from small associations of individuals tied together by
instincts, need, and fear, to small communities tied together by
circumstances, kinship, traditions, and religious beliefs, to nations tied
together by history, politics, ideology, culture, and laws
 But for most of human history, the pace of
change was very slow; no transformations in
life conditions could be felt for several
generations.
 Therefore, democracy can play a significant
role for social transformation but the process
of transformation may be manifested in the
following ways:
 A, Social change
 The term social change encompasses a range of typical social and
civic outcomes, from increased awareness and understanding, to
attitudinal change, increased civic participation, and the building of
public will, to policy change that corrects injustice. Acknowledging
that social change must start with the individual, social justice.
B, social activism
Its refers to action to make change that ensures inclusion, equality,
fairness and justice.
Its intentional action to bring about social, political, economic and
environmental change.
c) Civic engagement; Civic engagement refers to the many ways in
which people participate in civic, community, and political life and,
by doing so, express their engaged citizenship. It ranges from
proactively becoming better informed to participating in public
dialogue on issues, from volunteering to voting and community
organizing to political advocacy.
 The defining characteristic of active civic engagement is
commitment to participate and contribute to the improvement of
one’s community, neighborhood, and nation.
 Civic engagement may be either a measure or a means of social
change, depending on the context and intent of efforts
 D, Civic dialogue
 Civic dialogue is dialogue in which people explore matters of
civic importance and consider the dimensions of a civic or social
issue, policy, or decisions of consequence to their lives,
communities, and society.
 Engaging in civic dialogue is a form of civic engagement.
Sometimes civic or public dialogue is considered an important end
in itself. In this context, dialogue is defined as two or more parties
with differing viewpoints working toward common understanding
in an open-ended, most often, face-to-face format.
 In dialogue, multiple and possibly conflicting perspectives are
included rather than promoting a single point of view.
 Empathy and understanding are promoted. Assumptions are
brought out into the open. Suspension of judgment is encouraged
in order to foster understanding and break down obstacles.
 E, Community building
It’s a process of building relationship that help to form coherent
community members around common purpose, identity, and sense of
belonging which may lead to social or community capital.
F, SOCIAL CAPITAL
 The building of social capital is a common outcome named in arts
and social change work. Social capital is the collective value of all
“social networks” (who people know) and the inclinations to do
things for each other that arise from these
networks.
 Specific benefits that flow from social networks include trust,
reciprocity, information, and cooperation.
 Bonding networks that connect people who are similar sustain
particularized (in-group) reciprocity.
 Bridging networks that connect
individuals who are diverse sustain generalized reciprocity
 G) Community development
 In community development, the economic, social, and physical
dimensions of community are considered. Community development
agencies often focus on ensuring low and mixed-income housing,
job training or workforce development, commercial real estate
development, and small business start-up. In broader definitions,
such as one offered by useful-community-development.
 Organizations, they may also aim to advance youth development,
health, recreation, human service, cultural, and other community
goals.
 Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups
of people by providing these groups with the skills and resources
they need to effect change in their own communities.
H, Cultural vitality is the evidence of creating, disseminating,
validating, and supporting and culture as a dimension of everyday life
in communities.

 Cultural vitality is an important dimension of civic life, but culture

is not often considered for its value.

Negotiation of cultural priorities, especially for disenfranchised

cultural groups wanting to stake claim in the public sphere, its
importance not only for these groups, but also for the community at
large. Issues of cultural preservation, equity and presentation are not
only important but also are of concern to growth and development,
economics, tourism, public funding, and other civic issues.
 I, cultural democracy
 The concept of cultural democracy as a set of related
commitments: protecting Promoting cultural diversity, and the
right to culture for everyone in our society and around the world;
encouraging active participation in community cultural life
enabling people to participate in cultural policy decisions that
affect the quality of our cultural lives, and assuring fair and
equitable access to cultural resources and support
1.5. Democratic values
 Liberty: This value includes personal freedom (to mean that
Individuals should be free from arbitrary arrest and detention and
also their homes/ property should be secured from unreasonable
searches and seizures), political freedom ( to imply that people of a
nation have the right to participate freely in the political process such
as elections without being subject to arbitrary arrest, harassment and
electoral corruption such as buying votes, intimidation and
obstruction of voter) and economic freedom ( to mean that citizens
should have the right to acquire, use, transfer and dispose of private
property without unreasonable governmental interference and more
over to A enjoy right to seek employment wherever one pleases, to
change employment at will and to engage in any lawful labor unions
or business corporations)
 Justice: This value of democracy can be understood in three general
senses of fairness. These are distributive Justice (the sense of
distributing benefits and burdens in society via agreed up on
standards of fairness), corrective Justice (the sense that a
proportional response should be in place to correct wrongs and
injuries) and procedural justice (the idea that procedures used for
gathering information and making decisions should be guided by
such principles as impartiality and openness of proceedings).
 Equality: Three notions of equality are of particular significance
here for our discussion. These are political equality (implying that all
people who attain the status of adult hood have equal political rights
or in short one man-one vote- one value), social equality (implying
that t here should be no social hierarchy at individual and collective
level or no discrimination what so ever) and economic equality
(implying that all peoples of a country deserve equal and fair
assessment to the national resources services).
 1.6 Aspects of democracy
 Democracy has three aspects. These are the social, economic and
political aspects as elaborated here
1. Social aspects of democracy: By social aspect of democracy, it is
meant the removal of any discrimination on the basis of class, caste,
creed, color, sex, ethnicity, race, etc. All men and women, rich or
poor, regardless of any class or caste prejudices are socially equal,
and should be treated as equals.
2. Economic aspect of democracy: By economic aspect of
democracy, it is meant that the equitable and just distribution of
wealth and resources in society and abolition of glaring disparities or
polarization on the basis of wealth. Economic democracy recognizes
the right to work, leisure, fair wages, and unrestricted right to the
enjoyment of life.
 3. Political aspect of democracy
 The political aspect of democracy signifies the provision of political
rights namely the right to vote, the right to contest during elections,
the right to hold public office, the right to movement, thought,
association, the right to freedom of conscience, the right to speak,
etc. In order to enable citizens to exercise these and other political
rights effectively and persistently, citizens have to be asserted
freedom of speech, association and publication.
 Democracy is, therefore, a social balance, and the dominant ideas of
the purpose of democracy at any particular time represent the balance
of interest.
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