“Democracy is a means for the people to choose their leaders and to hold their leaders accountable for their policies and their conduct in office. The people decide who will represent them in…
Democracy is a complicated concept. It is not just a structure of government, or electoral politics, democracy is “politics with purpose” (Oakes, pg. 491). The people should have input on how their government is run and their rights of “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” should be protected by the…
Democracy is a political system that makes sure that all eligible citizens have the right to participate in making the decisions that affect them either in a direct or indirect way. President Lincoln addressed that in democratic countries, “government is of the people, by the people, and for the people”.1 East and southeast Asian countries did not develop a democratic regime that integrates the western democratic system with their indigenous cultures and…
Ashley: Robert Maddex’s idea that democracy is not the system that humans naturally adopt holds true. To support this, Robert Maddex writes in his book Constitutions of the World, “history makes it abundantly clear that democracy is not the ‘default form’ of political organization.” A democracy is a system of government that uses elected representatives in order to make decisions for the whole population or all eligible members of a state; a system of government that is difficult to maintain because of the need for citizen participation and understanding. As stated by Heinz Galinski, “Democracy cannot be forced upon a society, neither is it a gift that can be held forever. It has to be struggled hard for and defended everyday anew.” Democracy requires that all citizens participate in the political process, a request that is not only difficult to achieve but also a request that can easily leave individuals dissatisfied and disillusioned with the whole political process if their efforts are not immediately reflected in society. (1 minute 4 seconds)…
In a true democratic society, it is essential to ensure a government that follows the will of the people and not the one that force the people to follow it, that is, a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” as said by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address which lasted a little over two minutes on November, 19, 1863. Democracy is not government of some people by some people and for some people as a frequent practise in some developing nations. Democracy is a nation ruled by its citizenry. The beauty of democracy is that the minority will have their say but the majority will have their way. Functioning democracy implies where the people approve to the government operating the nation. All eligible voters are given chance to select their leader through their right to vote and to be voted for. In a truly democratic society, the representative or candidate who have been elected are liable in many ways to the people who voted and elected them. They have to implement those pledges made during elections with much transparency, accountability and good governance.…
Not all countries/cultures are suited to democracy. The reason being is that some cultures are very feisty and in those cultures…
Democracy means “rule by the people” and originated in Athens, Greece. In this political system, citizens directly influence the government's decisions or elect leaders through free and fair elections. Regardless, laws are created to protect natural rights that are applicable to all people, who in turn are expected to actively participate in civic life. The will of the majority holds sway in a democracy, but the rights of the minority are not…
Democracy is a wondrous thing: its absence is suffocating and oppressive, the struggle to attain it is painful and dangerous, yet once obtained it's confusing and treacherous. Democracy complicates life, for citizens now have options and can make choices. They also acquire the burden of responsibility and lose the advantage of having an obvious culprit for their mistaken paths. Democracy also…
Though there is no exact definition of a democracy, it does “refer to a regime whereby political power is widely spread,” (68 Gerner, Ferdinand, and Lawson) and involves equality when it comes to politics. In a democracy, the people run the government. This system is thought to have four key elements: a system in which the government is chosen or replaced through free and fair elections, active participation of the people in politics and civic life, protection of the human rights for all the people, a rule of law in which the laws and procedures are equally applied to all the citizens. In a democracy, the people are sovereign because they are the highest form of political authority. They are the ones that “choose their leaders and hold their…
Democracy is a form of government where people choose leaders through elections and social construct that are based on the equality of everyone within the state. It is a form of government were majority and public opinions combine to choose leaders with respect to the social structure of a particular society, taking into consideration the social laws, rules, traditions, norms, values, and culture. Plato and Aristotle tow of the most influential figures in Greek philosophy. Both Plato and Aristotle were big critics of democracy as a poor form of government. Aristotle’s views about democracy hold that democratic office will cause corruption in the people, if the people choose to redistribute the wealth of the rich they will end up destroying the state and since the people have no knowledge about governance when they elect rulers they will err. In Plato’s thoughts on democracy were that it causes the corruption of the people through public opinion and creates rulers who do not actually know how to rule but only know how to influence the public. The main question that arises from such an observation is that do these forms of criticism hold true today? The most significant example of democracy today is that of the United States of America.…
The most interesting argument of Booker T. Washington’s speech, “Democracy and Education” is that instead of hating the white men, Washington not only forgives them, but sympathizes with them. In his speech, Washington says, “I thank God that I have grown to the point where I can sympathize with a white man as much as I can sympathize with a black man. I have grown to the point where I can sympathize with a Southern white man as much as I can sympathize with a Northern white man.”…
Democracy first appeared in Ancient Greek civilisations, before being wiped out entirely and not returning to western civilisations only until approximately a hundred years ago. One definition given for democracy is a political system that allows the constituents and citizens of a country the right to fairly vote and contribute to the decision of which individuals are ruling and are the governing power. Not only that but also provides citizens protection from the state1. Another definition is given by Abraham Lincoln, in which democracy is viewed as being a "government of the people, for the people, by the people”2. Democracy is often seen as a Western invention, but has now spread across to countries all across the globe, and is seen as the most advanced and fair political ruling system to date. I will be assessing whether or not democracy is the best possible political system, where its faults lie and where it can improve.…
However, there is a fact we cannot ignore that both dictatorship and democracy, in essence, are means of humans managing political life. Democracy is not a purpose but a means and is used to maintain people’s happy lives. The reason why many people advocate democracy is because they do not want their own rights by any human occupation, and they expect everyone who lives in the same society has equal rights. But from another point of view, democracy is not always so positive. In some special occasions, democracy will become an economic development obstacle, but the dictatorship will bring efficiency.…
In a democratic nation, it is the citizens who hold the right to elect their representatives and their governing authorities. According to a common observation, not all the citizens are fully aware of the political scenario in their country. The common masses may not be aware of the political issues in society. This may result in people making the wrong choices during election.…
Democracy, it is generally believed, had its roots in Ancient Athens. We know it spread its stems to most of Europe and later to parts of Asia by mid 19th century , mostly in the form of parliamentary democracy. But in the context of this paper,we are not interested in the histrocity of the idea or concept of democracy, but in the idea itself. That is to say we want to analyze the meaning of democracy and its different forms, study its efficiency (so to say), ponder over its limitations and compare it to other forms of government. Whether democracy was conceived of in Athens, Sparta or India is not a topic of interest in this paper (although there may be references to historical events in the evolution of the idea when pertinent).…