Democracy as a Form of Governance
Introduction
Democracy is a system of governance whereby the whole population or the state’s eligible members – through the elected representatives. In other words, it is a representative government whereby the citizens have the authority to choose the government or governing legislation. From a philosophical perspective, democracy is justifiable theoretically and it is highly practical in reality. However, democracy is problematic owing to the inability of leaders to satisfy the desires of the population. Although it has been considered as a highly inefficient form of governance, Moghaddam (2016) explains that democracy has fewer governance issues compared to other forms such as monarchy, authoritarian, and oligarchy, among others. Democracy is the best form of governance owing to its ability to represent the people by placing faith in humanity, to provide freedom, and respect of human rights through a transparent manner of authority.
Democracy as the Best System of Governance
Democracy is considered the best form of governance owing to its ability to place faith in humanity by providing them with the opportunity to choose their rulers which respects their rights of equality and freedom. From a political perspective, democracy is the most sound owing to the fact that fosters social, political, and individual interests in a manner that is more functional that dictatorial forms of governance. However, Kendall (2003) explains that democracy is filled with flaws in a manner that fosters political interests more than individual interests, such that people’s needs end up unaddressed. While this is true, research shows that the flaws inherent in democracy as a form of governance can be improved through increased provision of power to the citizens and ensuring that their needs are prioritized over political concerns (Connelly, 2006). As such, democracy is an effective form of governance owing to its moral and ethical phenomenon and the fact that democratic governments can be improved through the implementation of effective strategies of governance.
Democracy provides the citizens with freedom in that it places power in the citizens to ensure that governance is executed in favor of the people. In this case, the citizenry has the power to choose the people who rule them such that each vote counts. This phenomenon is effective in that it provides the people with equality and liberty, values that are inexistent in other forms of governance such as dictatorship which eliminates individual liberty and oligarchic forms of governance that disregard equality altogether. Additionally, democratic states are considered to have more freedom than autocratic states owing to the right of citizens – by extension – to decide the nation’s policy and how their nation should be policed. As explained by Doorenspleet & Pellikaan (2013) the citizenry has more power to express themselves and criticize the government when they deem most appropriate. However, people’s freedom is only limited to the government’s specification in that they do not the opportunity to participate in the making of most policies. Considering that most people are not considered rational enough to make the most reasonable decisions, the participation of people in governance has been diminished owing to decision making by the trusted leaders and personalities (Connelly, 2006). Nevertheless, democracy is an influential form of governance owing to its ability to provide the society with the choice of participation – although minimal – which can influence the government’s actions and policies.
The most significant virtue of democracy is the fact that it is a government by the citizens for the citizens. This means that the government is responsible for representing the views of the elects who have the power to eliminate the government if they fail to represent their views. However, this has been argued as an ineffective owing to the fact that democracy does not represent the people as expected. This is because, the posts may fail to have the support of the majority owing to the fact that most people are unlikely to participate in voting (Connelly, 2006). As such, the population that determines the party that gets to govern is active rather than the majority. Upon election into the position, the elects fail to act as a representative of the citizenry and instead, they tend to push their interests and only become representative of the population towards the election. However, although the power of citizenry representation has diminished owing to individual interests and corruption, Babawale (2007) explains that this problem can be resolved by fostering transparency in leadership. This can be promoted by having the participation of the media and judiciary to ensure that the executive uses the provided resources to promote people’s interests. Although the people do not have the power to track the electives, independent institutions such as the judiciary can investigate the executive to identity secretive undertakings to ensure that people’s interests are prioritized.
Executed perfectly, democracy is a form of governance that protects and promotes human rights. Unlike dictatorial forms of governance, democracy allows the citizens to exercise their freedom of speech in regards to the well-being of their economy, health, education, and infrastructural development. Additionally, the ability of the citizenry to participate in the voicing of the economy, health, infrastructure, or education facilitates the development of a balanced environment for the development of the government (Dahl, 2008). However, it is difficult for the state to accommodate different conflicts views that the citizens are likely to have, an aspect that may put the interests and rights of the minorities into jeopardy. Additionally, democracy has an array of avenues that can block the development of the economy and the creation of projects to foster the development of the country’s resource base (Connelly, 2006). However, this is not the case considering that the richest and most developed countries are democracies. As such, efficient use of power by the elected representatives can meet people’s needs more effectively compared to other dictatorial forms of governance that are aimed at meeting individual needs.
Conclusion
Democracy is the best form of governance owing to its ability to represent the people by placing faith in humanity, to provide freedom, and respect of human rights through a transparent manner of authority.
References
Babawale, T. (2007). Good governance, democracy, and democratic” Best practices”: a prescription for Nigeria (No. 3). Concept Publications.
Connelly, S. (2006). Looking inside public involvement: how is it made so ineffective and can we change this?. Community Development Journal, 41(1), 13-24. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsi046
Dahl, R. A. (2008). On democracy. Yale university press.
Doorenspleet, R., & Pellikaan, H. (2013). Which type of democracy performs best? Acta Politica, 48(3), 237-267. https://doi.org/10.1057/ap.2012.35
Kendall, N. (2003). Localizing democracy and good governance. Peace Review, 15(3), 259-266. https://doi.org/10.1080/1040265032000130832
Leftwich, A. (2002). Democracy and development. New Political Economy, 7(2), 269-281. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563460220138871
Moghaddam, F. M. (2016). The psychology of democracy. American Psychological Association.