Spread Of Democracy Research Paper

Is democracy excellent for the economic growth? Democracy is a multifaceted concept, a political structure based ahead the right of citizens to take part in political decision making during representation; whereby simply laws essential to continuing democratic procedures are compulsory standard to terming a state democratic.

Democracy is known as a system of government when all eligible people of a state can voice their own opinions as well as elect representatives. Democracy is not once mentioned in The Declaration of Independence. Pros of a democracy are, its by the people and for the people. Democracy is meant for everybody to be eligible to vote and they are able to vote. The people are also able to participate in what they think, feel , and voice about the political, social, and economic issues that are presented to them. It's in the people's best interest not just the governments. The goal is to find solutions with decision-makers best interest. The main goal is to is find solutions that are best for the people and regulate conflicts between states and government.  A democracy imposes equality, the people's votes carry the same weight, which makes all individuals to be heard and make them feel as if their opinion is important. Other than in elections of the state a citizens

Democracy is a Greek invention, first practiced in the ancient Greek city of Athens. In the late 20th century, Democracy triumphed over all other major ideological systems, so overpowering was its victory that former critics now began to advocate their own democratic credentials. The vigorous rise of democracy has continued ever since and today there are over 112 self-proclaimed democratic countries around the world(Kekic 2007), whether all these countries are truly democratic or not is debatable and which will be discussed further in the essay. Important questions arise here: will democracies face a formidable opponent in the future? Have democracies remained true to their essence? or have they been breached by competing ideologies? A large majority of these 112 countries are not true democracies, as they do not adhere to the basic democratic credentials of :of the people, by the people and for the people. Serious revisions are needed in the workings of the modern state if democracy, in its true form, is to remain the dominant system. Whether democracy even in its purest form is flawed or not is a different question, one that I will not address in this essay.

Democracy is a form of government. Demokratia is democracy in greek,Demo meaning the people and Kratia meaning power or rule. In ancient greece there were different empires or states with democracy and some did not have democracy at all. For example here in the United States there is democracy not much of democracy but for the most part there is democracy. Using the 4th and 5th century athens was generally a democracy. Even though athens was said to be a democracy they really were not a democracy.

In his argument on the universal value of democracy Amartya Sen discusses the relationship between democracy and economic development. He notes that it is often claimed that nondemocratic systems are better at bringing about economic development than democratic ones. Sen disagrees with this claim. He asserts that this hypothesis is based on "very selective and limited information" (3). He admits that it is true that some disciplinarian states, like South Korea, Singapore, and postreform China, have had faster rates of economic growth than many less authoritarian ones, like India, Jamaica, and Costa Rica (3). However, he points out that this very selective evidence cannot be used to establish the general hypothesis that nondemocratic systems are better at bringing about economic development (3). "There is no convincing evidence that authoritarian governance and the suppression of political and civil rights are

The data provided is helpful in determining the nations perception of democracy so that it may help improve and put in place interventions that promote

We must question to what extent democracy relies on external factors of stability in order to be accepted as legitimate. I would very much argue that the wealth and stable economy of each democratic country plays a large part in its citizens accepting democracy as a legitimate governmental system. Let us first look at the UK, Britain has always had a strong democratic nature to the country and relies on the electorate to vote for the MP’S in the House of Commons. However in late 2010 the London riots shocked the world and showed how the legitimacy of democracy relies on prosperity of the economic situation of a country and when this does not exist it creates a social backlash devaluing the legitimacy of the democracy. Similarly grease one of the oldest democracies in the world has also felt this effect and now the government there has all but collapsed all due the financial support of the democracy failing sending the country into mass chaos.

Before one can begin to discuss the merits of democracy, one must first answer the question what is democracy? In his essay on democracy, Robert Dahl explains how democracy cannot exist without protecting the rights of its citizens. Democracy is more than a system of government, it is also a “system of rights” because rights are “the essential building blocks” of a democratic government (Dahl 100). Democracy builds off of the idea of human rights to create a system of government shaped around a collection of powers which belong to every citizen. Because rights provide the foundation for the democratic system, it cannot be practiced without providing a guarantee of personal rights. Cornel West illustrates how democracy is more than just a type of government, it is a way of life which benefits its citizens. Democracy is a “cultural way of being” which causes people to become “empowered and enlightened” (West 115-16). Democracy changes the way that its citizens think, in democratic societies the culture is based largely around how democracy is beneficial. The cultural influence of democracy causes a change in its citizens- they develop into more sophisticated

This issue is one that has been, and still is, contested across the world. It is easy to argue that there are examples of both successful democracies and dictatorships (especially in regards to the Middle East and the North Africa region), as well as examples of those that are failing, particularly in an economic sense. Whilst it is indeed argued that the introduction of democracy to many of the Middle Eastern countries may indeed encourage economic development, there are also many arguments as to the benefits that non-democratic countries can achieve in the same field. The example of the strength of Western democracies, whilst appropriate in the Western setting, may not transfer smoothly (or at all) into Middle Eastern society, given the differences in cultures and long term history of non-democracy found there. It is also perhaps the case that the real potential influencer upon any economic development, both short term and long term, may in fact be the capitalism that is so often associated with democracy. It soon also becomes clear that, upon further study, that it is particularly difficult to compare democracies and dictatorships economically, as there are also many other factors that contribute to economic growth, which can thus make any statistics relatively redundant.

Democracy itself came from the Greek word dēmokratía that literally translates into ‘the rule of the people’. It’s the type of government that allows the nation choose its leaders with a fair and free voting system. In a democratic system the entire nation is equal and all have the right to free speech, practice the faith/religion of their choice, basically all people have all basic human rights (Unicef, New Zealand, 2014).

Democracy is considered as a peaceful entity and the world without war. American president Woodrow Wilson, for example, believes that democracy is inherently peace desiring and consequently contributes to the world peace, replacing war-like political regime (Gat, 2006). Democracy is a system of government, consisted of four key elements. Firstly, it is a means of choosing the leaders of the citizens and replacing the government, if they do not achieve their commitments, through free and fair election. Secondly, people actively participate in the public and civic life in democracy. Democracy depends on the participation of the citizens, and it must be peaceful, respectful of the law, and tolerant of the different views of other groups and individuals. Thirdly, every individual has the certain rights, which the state cannot take away from him or herself in democracy. In other words, the human rights of all citizens is protected by the democracy. Finally, democracy is a system of rule by laws, not by individuals, and the rule of law protects the rights of citizens, maintains order, and limits the power of government. Every person is equal under the law (Barkawi and Laffey, 2001). Further, Democracy is largely supported by liberal thinkers such as John Locke and Immanuel Kant, and liberalism is the main theory, which supports democracy and identifies the crucial aspects of democracy.

Freedom is essential for the development of human beings. In order for individuals to be free, societies must guarantee a healthy environment which enables citizens to be governed by leaders that represent their interests. The system of government which allows for this is democracy. But democracy, which is a term that comes from the greek demos and kratos “rule of the people”, will only thrive under appropriate conditions. Modernization theory claims that economic and technological development are the factors conducive to democratic changes (Inglehart, 2014). Economic development is described as “a process that influences growth and restructuring of an economy to enhance the economic well being of a community, creating jobs and wealth, and improving the quality of life” (Anderson, n.d.). For a long time, Modernization Theory was widely accepted, but after analysing evidence of democratic changes in many nations gathered during the past decades a revised version of it was proposed by Ronald Inglehart, known as the Evolutionary Modernization Theory. According to Inglehart (2014) economic development will tend to lead to democracy, but other outcomes are possible because there are many factors which influence what will happen. Economic development is the main factor that leads to democratization, but cultural change is the other factor that can determine the political outcome in a specific country.

The relationship between economic growth and democracy has long been discussed and dissected ever since the beginning of the French Revolution and the democratization of Europe through the 18th and 20th centuries with various revolutions occurring, mostly in revolt to the overt dominance of the upper classes. Yet, no concrete answer has been defined on whether democracy directly increases economic growth, or that any non-democratic systems are strictly better at growing an economy. In this paper, there will be an examination of how despite no concrete definite answers about the correlation between democratic regimes and economic prosperity/growth exist, democracy still heavily encourages and enables for a maximized economic growth compared to totalitarian or monarchical regimes, through some main principles that define a democratic regime: Rule of law, legitimate authority, quality of governance, and participation of citizens, by means of humane work conditions, equal participation among classes, governance motivating the workforce, and less effort and money expunged towards legitimacy. Economic growth shouldn’t necessarily come before democracy as democracy facilitates and potentially maximizes economic growth.

Democracy that means the rule of people has been used as a political system since Ancient Greece. Even though its concept has changed as time goes by, it is still regarded as one of the best political systems and used in many countries. Unfortunately, most Asian countries did not use this political system until the middle of the 20th century, so they have a very short history compared with western countries. Because of that, Asia has had some troubles. For example, Park and Shin (2006) said that many countries have had military dictatorship which is a common government for a developing country. A developing country, above all, might want to develop their economy, so they endure dictatorship because the dictator can make a decision easily and quickly (Park, C. D. & Shin, D., 2006). It also happened in South Korea 50 years ago. In spite of military dictatorship in the past, South Korea has the most successfully established democracy in Asia (Whitehead, L., 2002).

Churchill’s claim that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” is deliberately provocative and intended to challenge the reader’s simplistic ideal that democracy is without faults. There are an estimated 114 democracies in the world today (Wong, Oct 3rd lecture). A figure that has increased rapidly in the last century not necessarily because democracy is the best form of government, but primarily for reason that in practice, under stable social, economic and political conditions, it has the least limitations in comparison to other forms of government. Be it the transparency of a democratic government or the prevalence of majority rule, all subdivisions of democracy benefit and hinder its