Democracy is a form of government, in which supreme power is vested in the people, exercised through a system of representation, involving free public elections. Based on the political ideology of Liberalism, it offers many tempting prospects of meritocracy, free market and enterprise, individualism and political equality. Does this system of government and leadership breed stability in a society, in its social, political and economic aspects?
Important criteria for a democracy are economic freedom, and equal economic opportunity through meritocracy. While Singapore is not a true-blue democratic state, it has adopted certain characteristics of Liberalism and democracy into its way of government. Through the free market, the situation of a greater demand than supply allows the economy to skyrocket and grow exponentially in booming times. Entrepreneurs can easily break into the market and the forefront because of free enterprise. In addition, Singapore also believes in capitalism, Singaporeans are encouraged to have private ownership in areas such as housing, encouraged by government schemes such as the Housing Development Board blocks which are heavily subsidized with taxpayer’s money. Meritocracy ensures stiff competition between skilled labour which increases the standards of potential and current employees as they continue to take up new courses and diplomas for self-improvement to remain marketable and competitive in the labour market. This certainly propels the economy forward and ensures economic stability.
On the downside, in Sri Lanka, a democratic state, the prejudice of the Sinhalese majority against Tamil minority, together with the passing of the National Language and University Admissions Acts, are in detriment to the Tamil population. While the state should not be granted total autonomy of the economy, there is a grey area of how much of role democratic states should play in their economy, because such a system of inequality of wealth exists, be it because of past discrimination or other unfair practices before the inception of the new government policies. A society needs to have political tolerance, free and fair elections to call itself a democracy, things that Sri Lanka is still struggling with. This, however, is not a failing of democracy, but rather the failing of a failed democracy.
Economic stability and growth should be evident in successful democracies, with the government minimizing damages and preparing reserves for the country during economic depressions, like in Singapore, where the government hands out, among other handouts, GST rebates to cushion the impact of inflation of global food prices as is happening now.
Moving on, the political aspect of ideal democracies can be generalized by political equality and multi-party systems. Multi-party systems offer a variety of viewpoints on issues, and offer voters more choices. A healthy discussion, debate and the constant questioning of the implementation of policies from even blue-collar workers allows every citizen to exercise their political rights and rights to freedom of speech and expression. In addition, this also allows the government to receive feedback and fine-tune its laws and bills. Regular elections are carried out, and every qualified voter is given equal power and rights.
There are two main problems here though. In a complete democracy, citizens should be allowed to decide whether to exercise their vote as part of Liberalism. Democracy, however, is dependent on active citizen participation for success. In countries such as the United States of America, the 2 main parties, the Democrats and Republicans, have their own party nominations in the run-up to the actual presidential elections. This long, tedious process leaves citizens, confused and tired, and may eventually not exercise their vote, because they may feel that their vote is insignificant to the large population as well. If there is no active citizenship, the ideal behind democracy of granting the majority’s wishes crumbles, and while it still remains to be a democracy, its practicality and application can be questioned.
Another common problem is the objective of political parties. While we all wish that politicians have the nation’s best interests at heart, there are instances where we nevertheless have to put in place checks and balances, which is one of the major strengths of a democracy. In a democracy, the ruling party which forms the government is often the victim of the opposition parties’ criticism and attacks, with even lower and middle-income citizens participating in their condemnation as well. These may be sometimes be unjustified or insignificant, and is a hindrance to the more pressing problems of society. This, as previously stated, however, are examples of failed democracies, for a society must have fair elections, accountability of appointed officials and transparency of happenings and transactions to qualify as a democracy.
The social aspect is also closely interlinked with the political and economic situation that is being faced. Democracy promises political tolerance, and that minority rights must be protected. This, however, is often not put into practice, like the many other ideals of democracy that are not practical in our materialistic and corrupt society.
In Switzerland, because of their system of Direct Democracy, many political decisions require referendums for approval. The public may not necessarily be able to identify the most major and important needs and the best solutions to address them. In this small, contained, self-indulgent society, citizens are often not willing to adapt and be open to change, leaving the government powerless, unable to effect tax increments, taking share of asylum seekers. While this does not provide substantial economic growth or radical political changes to society, their people still lead happy, peaceful and stable lives.
In addition, different cliques and groups in a single society may have conflicting wants and needs, and while there is supposed to be little discrimination between groups, in a power struggle, numbers mean strength, and the smaller minority groups often get muscled out, for example how the homosexuals are still not openly embraced in the Southern states of America and many other countries worldwide.
In the end, it boils down to a battle between realism and idealism. The ideals of democracy are ambitious and tempting, but largely impractical in our society. While democracy ideally brings stability to a society, it is because of public acceptance and satisfaction with its situation and decisions.
Due to human nature, democracy is largely unfeasible. The method of attaining stability, is unimportant, but it is the people – the leaders and the public voters, who really matter. Therefore, democracy does not create stability.
No comments:
Post a Comment