The benefits and Problems with Democracy
In the famous words of Sir Winston Churchill, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” As a staunch supporter of democracy, Churchill is admitting that although there may be a variety of flaws in a democratic government, it is still a far more suitable choice of governing as opposed to alternate forms of government. Widely accepted as the most popular and working form of government, democracy is, in a nutshell, a political system in which the power is given to the popular vote of the people. In fact, the very origins of the term democracy
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Foreign investors and international businesses would also be naturally reluctant to venture their businesses into a nation that has a potential undergo political turmoil. However, in most autocracies or extreme oligarchies, the exchange of power from one regime to another political party typically results in a large amount of bloodshed and violence. Furthermore, even if one regime manages to take control without any kind of violence and turmoil as most often the case, the new political party may or may not choose to take the country’s economic policies to a whole new direction. In a democratic country, however, change from one political party to another is fairly safe and secure with little political upheaval, since the new political party would be elected by the masses that political party’s economic policies should be reflection of a majority opinion of the country. Thus, democracy would be preventing any rash and unforeseen economic changes made by a new political party as well as maintaining the political and economic safety of the country. This in turn provides an incentive for local industries to look toward long-term economic growth, as well as providing the safety necessities for foreign industries to invest in the country’s growth. Continuing on the benefits of a democracy on the economy are the more obscure benefits such as
Democracy is a “system of government in which political authority vested in the people” (Ch. 1, Pg. 4). Democracy is by far the most challenging form of government, for perhaps both politicians and the people. The term democracy comes from a Greek term which in short means “rule by the people”. The antique democracies in ancient cities, such as Rome and Athens, represent precursors of modern democracies. Like modern democracy, the need for organized rule arose in the midst of power abuse. The democracy we abide by today was created in the 17th century during the Age of Enlightenment, by philosophers such as John Locke, Voltaire… These philosophers created the foundation for our modern democracy. These essential elements such as the separation
A democracy, according to Abraham Lincoln, is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek word "demos" which means “people" and kratia, which means rule (http://educationportal.ontla.on.ca/en/ ). A democracy is a system where the people have a little of control over the government in some specific important processes like voting in elections and decision making. In a democracy, the majority rule and minority rights . Although there are positive sides of the United Kingdom’s democracy, there are negative sides which cause the reliability of democracy in the United Kingdom to be questionable. “Over half of the world’s countries employ some type of democracy” (Clark, 2001-2016). Democracy is a very popular system of government; In a democratic government, everyone is under the “rule of law”, people have the power to devise laws and decide how they want to be ruled. Different political scientists have come to a conclusion that without the four basic principles; Free elections,Political participation, Civil liberties and a Functioning government, a country cannot be called a democracy (http://classroom.synonym.com/). There are two main types of democracy, the direct democracy and the indirect or representative democracy. In this essay, I am going to critically analyse the democracy in the United Kingdom, stating the strengths and the weaknesses of the democratic system in the United
Democracy has it benefits, with the most obvious being peace. The most important corollary benefit is that the opposition party plays a key role in keeping the party in power honest. It is obviously in the opposition party’s interest to keep the public informed about the missteps and misdeeds of the administration party. The opposition party is as crucial to ongoing publicity as a free press. And publicity is a crucial safeguard (not the only one, but a crucial one) against governmental abuse of power. Democracy, in short, prevents one party rule.
Democracy: A political system in which citizens enjoy a number of basic civil and political rights, and in which their most important political leaders are elected in free and fair elections and accountable under a rule of law (26). In the studies we have undertaken, comparing and exploring various countries and systems politically, economically, and psychologically throughout the quarter, this outcry of democracy has prevailed as a main theme. Successful countries such as the United States and Great Britain are based upon such democratic ideals. It is no wonder that countries have striven more recently toward this goal of democratization. Both the Russian and Mexican revolutions prove that democracy is an attainable goal in the next
The authors also argue that the greatness of the government driven by democracy is the right to
“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” are the ideals the United States was founded on. This means that everyone has a right to live and go after what makes them happy. They are able to do this without fear of punishment, retaliation, or persecution. However, some countries throughout history, believed that this was not the correct way for their people to live. They felt that the government should have outright control over everything the people did. In light of this, such a country may be led by someone who is formally known as dictator. Americans that have been born and raised with the belief in freedom and choice find this way of thinking to be unprincipled and undeserved. The idea of freedom and choice is known as democracy; which is the way the United States government has been run since 1776. Both of these forms of government are in some ways very similar. For the most part, however, a dictatorship is very different from a democracy.
I also believe that representative democracy will be the best choice because of the large population of people living in the United State. It will be impossible for every citizen to vote on all issues and law consider by local, state, and federal government. What if a citizen considers that an issues that is on the ballet is not important to him or her, will she or he take the time to educate themselves on the issue to make the right choice or will they guess or will they not bother in voting because is to complex? In my opinion that is why a representative of the people is best to serve on behalf of the citizen.
The United States of America believes in democracy demonstrated by freedom of land and people. The word democracy means the citizens rule (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx). A democracy is created when the people of that country are the overseers of the government demonstrated through elections and representation. Sometimes the democracy in particular the freedom of speech promotes an overflow of complaints from some citizens of America. However, this is the pros and cons of democracy and its wavering balance. Clearly, since the Athens Greece, democracy has been around. Researchers report democracy has been around for more than 2500 years (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx). In the 1700’s, the United States of America laid the groundwork and became a democracy. Moreover, true democracies can be displayed in two formats, direct and representative
The United States of America is not fully a democracy. People tend to vote for the issues and laws directly yet, most of the issues are resolved by representatives that are voted in by the people. Somehow, both of these are examples are a democracy, yet our country is mainly run by the second definition. However, republic has a better suited definition to the way our country works and allows things to be controlled. Republics have the power to vote for electives and others for the population to rely on. The federal government is a full on republic, however, looking more into state and local levels of governments, it is more along the lines of democracy. Yet, since the government that hold absolute power in the laws and decisions is mainly
Democracy has come to America. With the foundation of democratic by the Greeks and Romans, of English roots was the first to experiment and democracy was the answer for the Americans. By its equality of everyone has a role to vote, its voting vested in the people of supreme power through the representation of elections. With "that all men are created equal," and without the regulation of state power, that democracy could not survive. We learn from the mistakes, or to utilize critical parts is use today in America.
In truth, democracy has helped to stabilize and also create unity among citizens. It has become a recognized and accepted process which everyone look forward to periodically. It is intended to involve all qualified adults in picking their next leaders. The sense is that once everyone is involved, then the majority will be pleased with the government. However, as much as there has been good governance through democracy, there have also been some unintended consequences too. These consequences can be seen by examining the latent function of our democracy. Today, one can hardly watch TV or listen to the radio without seeing or hearing the fracture that exists in the political system of our country. Citizens have been divided into two or more groups based on their party affiliations. The divide is so obvious that parties are not willing to compromise on any issue. The result is a stagnant government, and no reasonable policies have been passed into law. It is hard to know if this fraction is recognized but we surely know that it is unintended.
Democracy is a unique type of government, and the purpose of this essay is to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses that a democratic government provides. I will detail that many components of this type of society are both strengths and weakness as each component has beneficial aspects as well as unavoidable pitfalls.
Winston Churchill once remarked that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried”. In agreement with his statement, this paper will examine the problems of democratic governments using specific examples, and compare it to the failure of fascist governments in Nazi Germany and Italy and communist governments in the Soviet Union and China.
Throughout history different types of instrumental regimes have been in tact so civilizations remained structured and cohesive. As humanity advanced, governments obligingly followed. Although there have been hiccups from the ancient times to modern day, one type of government, democracy, has proven to be the most effective and adaptive. As quoted by Winston Churchill, democracy is the best form of government that has existed. This is true because the heart of democracy is reliant, dependent, and thrives on the populaces desires; which gives them the ability for maintaining the right to choose, over time it adjusts and fixes itself to engulf the prominent troubling issues, and people have the right of electing the person they
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