There are many political systems which are used to govern countries and each system has its strengths and weakness. Politics play an important role in deciding things that are happening in the globe, therefore we were taught one of the most widely practiced political systems, democracy by Dr. hamid. The lecture was just brief information about democracy and how it started; nevertheless, I started finding more about it through internet. During my research about this issue, I have learnt a lot and I decided to share with you a masterpiece of information about democracy from numerous perspectives.
To start with Democracy is a political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections. It encourages active participation of people, as citizens, in politics and civic life. It is a rule of law where all the human rights of all citizens are equally protected. It is a means for the people to choose their leaders and to hold their leaders accountable for their policies and their conduct in office. It is the people who decide their representatives in the parliament. In a democracy, the people are sovereign which means they are the highest form of political authority, and power flows from the people to the leaders of government, who hold power only temporarily. Democracy can be direct or representative. Direct democracy involves the citizens themselves making important decision on all policies while representative democracy involves decisions being made by a few representatives chosen by the citizens. On the other side, Democracy requires the citizens to vote elections and keep an eye on the way their leaders exercise power. It is needs from the people to participate actively in civil society and non-governmental organizations. However, such participation is voluntary and no one would be forced.
Benefits of Democracy Democracy provides a set of rights for the citizens and that shows us its benefits to people. It allows people to have their own beliefs, and to say and write whatever they think. It guarantees freedom in religion, hence everyone is free to choose their own religion and to worship and practice it as they want. Democracy can provide for changes in government without violence. In a democracy, power can be transferred from one party to another by means of elections. The jurisdiction of the citizens of a nation determines its ruling authority. Moreover, any government is bound by an election term after which it has to compete against other parties to regain authority. This system prevents monopoly of the ruling authority. The ruling party has to make sure it works for its people for it cannot remain being the authority after completing its term unless re-elected by the people. Another important advantage of democracy is that the people gain a sense of participation in the process of choosing their government. They get the opportunity to voice their opinions by means of electoral votes. This breeds a sense of belonging towards society.
Drawbacks of Democracy
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. Secondly, mobs can influence people therefore citizens my vote in favour or a particular party under the influence of the majority. Thirdly, giving complete freedom to people will have negative impacts on the society. Due to this, we are experiencing rape, teenage pregnancy and other things especially in the developed countries where democracy is highly practiced.
How to overcome problems of democracy
However, every form of government is bound to have some shortfalls, Democracy is the ideal solution if is used with limits. I do remember one interesting saying by Mr. Kanta Kumar, during a town hall meeting about democracy. He stated that total freedom is only for the cow, meaning that humans unlike animals cannot do whatever they want. Instead, they fallow ethical roles either from their cultures or religions. Many people from West come to our countries in order to tell us the benefits of democracy while democracy is not fully practiced even in their countries. This means the western world uses democracy with certain limitations, while they are encouraging us to use it fully without assessing its negative impacts. In conclusion, the less economically developing countries can practise democracy but with limits and there is no such a thing called total freedom.
The link given below is used for reference and if you need to read more about democracy, please have look at it. Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-democracy.html