Can Nine Minimum Criteria Be Used for a Democracy in Yemen and Saudi Arabia?

Larry Diamond's presentation explores the question of why there are no Arab democracies in the Middle East and North Africa. He shows us the relatively stagnant levels of democratic freedoms that have been the norm in the region for the past several decades. Diamond gives us a multitude of potential explanations for the absence of a sustainable democracy.

Democracy, as a word, has many interpretations. Communist countries define themselves as economic democracies. Clearly the opposite is true due to the definition that the Founding Fathers of The United States used. Democracy is defined as having five key characteristics. These principles are the following: majority rule, equality, liberty, necessity of compromise, and individual worth. Majority rule, principle number one, can be broken down into two distinct categories, popular majority and representative majority. Popular majority, in its root definition, means that the majority of all the citizens or all voters are taken into account in the election of governmental offices. The second type of majority rule is representative majority. This

I believe that there were elements of a democracy that were missing from Diamond and Morlino’s list. First and foremost, I believe that in a democracy, citizens/ outsiders should not be able to bribe government officials during elections and when in office. The New York Times claimed that 125 families had enough purchasing power over the White House as half of the American households (~120 million). In order for a democracy to be fair, a small portion of the population should not be able to have that much control over the country. Furthermore, I believe that democracies should offer a decent and fair education to all of its citizens. I believe this is important so that citizens can read and write. These basic skills are helpful during elections

According to the Struggle for Democracy you need to exhibit all three guidelines of democracy, (popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty), to become democratic. It states that in popular sovereignty the supreme source of government authority and policies they make are the people, and that political equality is the concept that every person has equal weight in the management of public business. It also specifies that political liberty is the right of the people to practice the range of basic freedom, for instants the freedom of speech, association, and conscience, without the governments meddling.

Democracy, while imperfect, is the system of ruling prevalent in vast tracks of the world. Despite this, democracy is not a uniform system with every country practicing its democracy in slightly unique ways.

What is democracy? Political scientists argue that there are three major tenets of a democratic government: popular sovereignty, equality, and liberty. Popular Sovereignty uses direct democracy; power of the people; self-determination; autonomy. Equality: values the contributions of women just as those of men; Equal

Government officials must be elected by the people and all adult members must be treated as equals who have the ability to form, signify, and have preferences their weighted equally. During elections the government will not be able to restrict participation nor suborn the process during voting. Votes in Country X must be weighed equally and everyone must have the same number of votes. Country X must also consist of civil liberties that include the certainty that the government cannot prohibit one from complaining about the government itself, which will also constitute for the right to Freedom of Speech in the country. In conclusion, Country X must be a political regime in which the rulers are accountable to the ruled and this accountability is formed through institutionalized participation and

Fareed Zakaria’s “The Rise of Illiberal Democracy” details his view on elected governments and the ignorance and abuse of their power. He claims that they do not use their powers in the right way and instead deny basic civil rights and liberties. Democracy can be defined numerous ways in different countries. In Zakaria’s definition, to paraphrase, a democracy is viewed as a process of selecting government and is to always mean the rule of the people. In my opinion this definition is very true when associating democracy with countries such as the one I preside in because we have the right to vote for the people making decisions in individual states and, most importantly, our federal government. To have a democracy intuitively means “A good government”. Following democracy in the article, Zakaria highlights two other forms of government that contrast to democracy and where they are used. Constitutional liberalism “is not a procedure for selecting government, but rather the government’s goal”. This concept of government rule looks out more for the individual

In his book, Fareed Zakaria concretely explores the vicissitudes of democracy’s limitations and thus offers exemplary arguments for the need for economic liberty followed by constraints and proper measures to prevent countries from descending into chaos. There is irrefutable credibility and merit to his assertion that conducting competitively fair and open elections, while failing to ensure the guarantee of liberties that are essential for the nation to flourish and prosper— is insufficient for a nation to be called democratic. In today’s world, what Zakaria considers “the democratic age,” most of American foreign policy visa-vie actors around the world is based on the premise that we are willing to prop, negotiate, and support nations

Transitioning the political institution usually starts from a position of high autonomy and high capacity, a system without any checks. A new government will out to be outlined. This will include the establishment of a constitution that outlines person freedoms. Judicial, executive and legislative systems need to be implemented. Governance around elections and parties must be established. The US based, Freedom House ranking ranks democracy based on different criteria, including electoral competition, freedom of speech/assembly, rule of law, levels of corruptions and protection of human rights. This

Democracy has become the most widespread political form of government during the past decade, after the fall of all its alternatives. During the second part of the 20th century, the 3 main enemies of democracy, namely communism, fascism and Nazism, lost most of their power and influence. However, democracy is still only to be found in less than half of this world's countries. China with a fifth of the total population "had never experienced a democratic government" and Russia still doesn't have a well established democracy. By adopting a democratic perspective, 3 types of governments emerge, non-democratic, new democracies, and old democracies, and all have a different challenge to overcome: either to become democratic, to "consolidate"

In our textbook, Charles Hauss states that democracy has five key components to democracy: basic freedoms, the Rule of Law, competitive, fair, and free elections, a strong civil society and civic culture, and finally, capitalism and affluence. On January 10, 2017, Obama delivered his farewell speech citing various examples of how the five concepts Hauss stated are integrated into American democracy.

Seeing how democracy is not an ‘’anything goes’’ form of government, there are many different elements that are necessary in order for democracy to succeed. Three elements we have discovered to be necessary are the separation and balance of powers also known as checks and balances, the rule of law, and the respect for political rights. Although they are not the only elements that come in to play when it comes to democracy, they are all three extremely important.

Democracy varies in every country depending on the type of government or regime they have. There is the liberal democracy, which is all about giving people their rights and liberties; everything is done through fair voting and electing. The people are aware of everything that happens in their government. Illiberal democracies are basically the same as liberal, but the people in power are more secretive of their activities, and there is less civil liberty. It is essentially a partial democracy. Now Authoritarian regimes designate any political system that concentrates power in the hands of one leader or a small elite. There are no free elections and very little regard for the law. Political institutions, social structures, and the democratic rule of law all affect liberal, illiberal, and authoritarian regimes democratic quality differently.

The author has been able to fulfill the target of the book, which is to test and answer the questions raised by critics through the provision of evidence of the reason no democracy exists at the present. The author presents the arguments in a chronological way that gives a better understanding of the past, today, and prospective future of democracy. The root of the present democracy is stated in the book and lays the basis of the other arguments in the book. Dahl argues that there are conditions that any state should attain in order for it to be considered as a democratic