Democracy

Democracy is based on the freely spreased will to determine to their own political ecenomic social and cultural system and their full participation in all the expects of their lives.i The word democracy is a term that comes from Greek and it is made up with two other words demos= People and kratein= to govern, to rule. Democracy can then be literally translated by the following terms: Government of the People or Government of the Majority. Democracy, like a State form, is to be distinguished from monarchy, aristocracy and dictatorship. The most common definition of democracy gave by U.S president Abraham Lincoln (18091865). Government of the people, by the people, for the people I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong. Mohandas Gandhi

Democracy helps to made a cohere society. Democracy is a form of government in which the people govern, either directly or through the elected representatives .It is based on t he belief that the view of the many should prevail over the opinion of few.iiDemocracy can be known as form of government in which the supreme power is grabbing in the hands of the people and they exercised it directly or indirectly through a system of representation generally involving periodically free elections.iii

The democratic system is used in a second way to explain political system in which all or most citizen participate directly in making government decisions.

29

Democracy is the most difficult form of government both for the politicians and for the people. History has given away that the process of building democracy is a very complex.iv

The democracy holds free elections contest by freely organized parties under universal suffrage for control of the effective centers of governmental power. There are numerous differences on the best institutional form of democratic government whether it will be presidential or parliamentary system. Which is most preferable? Whether to establish a federal structure of rule, or how to organize an effective electoral competition. But on the most essential issue there is agreement a democracy is a political system institutionalized under the rule of law. Now question arise for an autonomous civil society. Whose individuals join together or into different groups with self-designated reasons? They collaborate with each other through the mechanisms of political parties and establish through freely contested elections a system of representative government. The most government officials speak of democracy in the pages to follow, it is something close to this notion of government that they have in mindv

The term democracy, refers very generally to a structure of group decision making characterized by a kind of equality among the participants at an important for the collective decision making. Four feature of the democracy is noted which are the essential elements of democracy.

First, democracy concerns collective decision making, by which I mean decisions that are made for groups and that are binding on all the members of the group.

Second, this definition means to cover a lot of different kinds of groups that may be called democratic. So there can be democracy in families, voluntary

30

organizations, economic firms, as well as states and transnational and global organizations. Third, the definition is not intended to carry any normative weight to it. It is quite compatible with this definition of democracy that it is not desirable to have democracy in some particular context. So the definition of democracy does not settle any normative questions. Fourth, the equality required by the definition of democracy may be more or less deep. It may be the mere formal equality of one-person one-vote in an election for representatives to an assembly where there is competition among candidates for the position. Or it may be more robust, including equality in the processes of deliberation and coalition building.
vi

Basic Types of Democracy

Direct Democracy Presidential Democracy Parliamentary Democracy

Direct Democracy
Direct democracy also called pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the people themselves, rather than elected representatives, determine the laws and policies by which they are governed. In direct democracy peoples makes decisions by themselves. It is opposite to the representative democracy in which representatives from the different areas of the country makes decisions on behalf of the peoples of that areavii.

31

Direct democracy raises Restores authority to the people, and makes them responsible, not the parties. It control the imbalance of power, makes politicians responsible to the people it helps the community to involve in the legislation process which results in better legislation commonly accepted by all of the people. It also have some drawbacks that The media and government may attempt to influence the decisions made by the people. Some peoples are more politically active than others. viii

Presidential Democracy
A presidential democracy is a system of government where an executive branch exists and Presides separately from the legislature also called an executive branch. Its originates from monarchies of France, England and Scotland in which executive authority was vested in the Crown. Countries with congressional and presidential systems include the United States, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, South Korea and most countries in South America, as well as much of Africa and the Central Asian Republics.

The executive branch is unipersonal. Members of the cabinet serve at the pleasure of the president and must carry out the policies of the executive and legislative branches. However, presidential systems frequently require legislative approval of presidential nominations to the cabinet as well as various governmental posts such as judges. In a presidential democracy, the people directly (or indirectly, like in the US) elect their president or chief executive. The executive branch is separate from the legislative branch of government.ix

32

Parliamentary Democracy
It is democratic form of government in which the party who has highest representation in the parliament (legislature) forms the government, its leader becoming prime minister or chancellor. Executive functions are exercised by members of the parliament appointed by the prime minister. The parties in the minority serve as opposition. It originated in Britain. Defining parliamentary Govt. Garner says that the parliamentary form of government there is a close collaboration between the body that make laws and custodian of finance on the others. This system is also called a responsible system.x

Essential elements of democracy

Fundamental freedom and fundamental rights Rule of law (Separation of powers) Free and fair Elections Public opinion and freedom of the media Fundamental freedom and fundamental rights Human rights are important element of democracy. In 1945 United Nation was created all the states are members of UN .In 1948 it published the Universal Declaration of Human Right which gave the guaranteed to individual Right.xiUN made significant contribution in various regions of the world for the pursuit of democracy.

It focuses on the basic human rights of people. Freedom is the basic right of people. Every person who born has a right to born free. All human beings are born with equal and inalienable right sand fundamental freedoms.

33

The

United

Nations

is

committed

to

upholding, promoting and protecting the human rights of every individual. This commitment stems from the United Nations Charter, which reaffirms the faith of the peoples of the world in Fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has stated in clear and simple terms the rights which belong equally to every person. These rights belong to you. They are your rights. Familiarize yourself with them. Help to promote and defend them for yourself as well as for your fellow human beings. Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948xii Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it is independent, trust, on-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. Then there are political and civil rights mean that people participate
34

freely without any restrictions in the political process. This also include the freedom of speech and freedom of press

Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.xiii This means that everyone has a right to live in the world, freely and no one has a right to bound the life of other. And every person has a right to secure himself. Maslows hierarchy of needs put the right of security at second level, after the fulfillment of basic needs human wants security and protection. Then social and economical rights came which include the minimum level of wages for the survival of the life. These also include the right of education. The development and growth of human rights are only possible when humans live in a democracy. Human rights are much more important component of democracy. The development and evolution of human rights are only possible when humans live in a democracy, and it is possible only when the population itself or through representation can draw up the laws that will rule and publicly control the three powers: the legislative power the executive power and the judiciary power.

Rule of Law

The Rule of Law has some necessary principles and procedures that guaranteed the freedom of each individual and which allow to participation in political life. There is, first of all, the right to growing of individual personality. In the Constitution of a Democratic State of Law the concept of independence of the judiciary is deep-rooted. This means that the judiciary is strictly distinguished from the executive and the legislative powers. Rule of Law ties politics to

35

law and right, it mean submit your expression of the power under judicial control and guarantees the citizens for the personal freedom.

Separation of Powers The term separation of powers actually means division of the State power into three parts. In a democratic State, the power of the State can be controlled and influenced efficiently, first leading by itself. The State power must then be spread among several organs. In general, it is the Constitution of a country that settles how the State power is to be distributed among different organs. Usually the power is separated through three institutions xiv Legislative Power Parliament should normally base into two chambers the legislative power draws up and adopts the laws of countries. Executive Power It is based on the Government and administration the executive power enforces laws and government policies in countries. Judicative Power It consists on the courts of justice. The judiciary power represents the legal framework for countries and exercising the power on the masses.

Free and fair Elections The Elections compose one of the most important pillars of democracy. The Electoral Laws clearly define the organization of the elections. Mean how the voters can take decision and

36

how to assign them into the corresponding seats. For this purpose there are two types of laws. That is kwon as an active electoral law and a passive electoral law.

Active electoral law It defines that which can participate in Govt decision about the masses. Citizens who can use active electoral law have the right to vote. Passive electoral law It is related to the elected represantitatives. Those who can use passive electoral law have the right to be elected. In the most cases, the whole electorate can use both types of right.

Democratic elections are free when citizens have the right to choose from a number of candidates or parties that can run for the election without any constraint. They must also be free to decide whether they want to use their right to vote or to give up from doing if they desire. Democratic elections are impartial when each citizen who can use his/her right to vote has at his/her disposal a vote and when neither his/her origin nor his/her sex, language, incomes or possessions, job or social stratus/class, sexual identity, training, religion or political convictions have an influence of whatever kind on the assessment of the value of his/her vote. In democratic elections, there must be no way of knowing for which political party or for which particular candidate a citizen has voted.xv

37

Public opinion and freedom of the media Media freedom is significantly important for democracy. It contributes to creating plural, open societies and accountable, transparent systems of government, as well as safeguards human rights and fundamental freedoms. In a free media sector plays an essential role in guaranteeing the freedom of expression and freedom of information, both are necessary for smooth the progress of the effective participation of citizens in democratic processes. Freedom of expression therefore includes an obligation on states to prevent unnecessary media concentration and control. As special representatives on media freedom from international organizations note, In recognition of the particular importance of media diversity to democracy, special measures, including anti-monopoly rules, should be put in place to prevent undue concentration of media or cross-media ownership

38

Liberal internationalism
The word democracy, and more importantly liberal democracy, without defining either of these complicated words or explaining the significance of their association. It confine a complete depiction of Washingtons operational code that is known liberal democratic internationalism it is concerned that must search more deeply the nature of American liberal democracy itself by seeing the way these values and practices have evolved historically in American lifexvi Americans have operationalized their concept of democracy is to turn to the term liberala word that has never been defined with the relative precision of democracy. Giovanni Sartori offers a helpful definition: Liberalism is the theory and practice of the juridical defense, through the constitutional state, of individual political freedom, of individual liberty. Two things will be immediately noted: a) I have not given prominence to individualism, and b) I say constitutional state and not, as is at times suggested, Minimal state.xvii

The united states assume international leadership and thoughts that the democracy cant exist without United States. The US has the traditional foreign policy agenda known as liberal democratic internationalism. The American idea of the world order impose to imperialism and composed of independent self determining, preferably democratic states bound together through international organization having a peaceful attitude to handling the conflict, free trade and a mutual defense treaties but the Wilson was the first leader who tries to give strength to democracy, he thought multitude of international organizations created a balance instead of inclusive, consensus building mechanism of a collective security.
39

The American mission of world order of democratic states can be understood not only as an expression of American national interest but with the respect of in context of nationalist debate about the state building in the 20th century. American efforts to create a comprehensive framework for the world order from the Wilsons time. Its the most constant tradition in the American foreign policy for global change and protects the expression of democracy around the world.xviii According to Dahl, democracy helps prevent rule by cruel and vicious autocrats, guarantees citizens a set of fundamental rights, ensures a broader range of personal freedoms, helps people protect their own fundamental interests, provides the maximum opportunity for self-determinationthe freedom to live under laws of one's own choosingprovides the maximum opportunity for the exercise of moral responsibility, encourages human development, fosters a relatively high degree of political equality, promotes peaceas modern representative democracies do not fight one anotherand generates prosperity.xix

The liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy in which elected representatives hold power that limited by a constitution and its give emphasis to protecting individual liberties, equality and the rights of minority groups. the liberties that strength be protected are freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of religion, the right to private property and privacy as well as equality before the law and due process under the rule of law. The constitutional rights, also called liberal rights, are definite through controlled institutions and statutory laws. in addition, the constitutions of most contemporary liberal democracies prohibits majoritarianism, which is rule by the will of majority, when it harms those in the minority.xx

40

The united states assume international leadership and thoughts that the democracy cant exist without United States. The US has the traditional foreign policy agenda known as liberal democratic internationalism. The American idea of the world order impose to imperialism and composed of independent self determining, preferably democratic states bound together through international organization having a peaceful attitude to handling the conflict, free trade and a mutual defense treaties but the Wilson was the first leader who tries to give strength to democracy, he thought multitude of international organizations created a balance instead of inclusive, consensus building mechanism , a collective security. The American mission of world order of democratic states can be understood not only as an expression of American national interest but with the respect of in context of nationalist debate about the state building in the 20th century. American efforts to create a comprehensive framework for the world order from the Wilsons time. Its the most constant tradition in the American foreign policy for global change and protects the expression of democracy around the world. It is very difficult to identify the US role in the promotion of democracy, because every administration uses different approaches. The approaches are mixture of high and low policies. Sometimes it is known as confrontation and sometime it is known as engagement. In addition the enthusiastic rhetoric surrounded us democratic policy always. George w bush and his top advisors are deeply committed to promote democracy around the globe. In the 2nd inaugural address president bush set out what can to be known as his freedom agenda. And declare America is a nation with a mission that mission came from the most basic beliefs. That united states seek and supports the growth of democracy in every nation and

41

culture. Freedom agenda explicates the American ideas and American interests. In July 2007 meeting he started I came at it his belief in spreading liberty globally in many different ways. From the political science prospective it can be called as a theological prospective. The ideological underpinnings of U.S. foreign policy have stay quite from the Vietnam War to the present War in Iraq. The goal of this foreign policy has been to defend liberal democracy against its opponents, but this goal has been destabilized both in Vietnam and in Iraq by the neoconservative belief that the aspiration to democracy is universal because everyone is interested in freedom. This argument neglects the fact that the U.S. is not promoting democracy per se, but a particular form of democracy dominated by liberal principles of government. Because liberal democracy consists of a set of procedures like elections and legislative decisionmaking,it is a universal and rational form of government that can be implemented anywhere and anytime in order to create human freedom. But procedures such as elections and legislatures are not in fact a part of a universal aspiration toward freedom but make up a set of specific traditions and rituals. The establishment of liberal democracy consequently is not simply a matter of allowing a natural development to occur in the absence of violence, but consists in the establishment of a certain form of political representation and liberal procedures.xxi First, democracy as an international norm is stronger today than ever, and democracy itself is widely regarded as an ideal system of government. Democracy also has near-universal appeal among people of every ethnic group, every religion, and every region of the world. Second, democracy promotion as a foreign policy goal has become increasingly acceptable throughout most of the international communityxxii

42

Democracy provides protection to the people in nemoures ways. It is mean by which the citizens can hold the government for its policies and prevent corruption, save human rights and abuse of power. It also protects people from certain catastrophes by giving government the political incentives to guard against famines and to take preventive measures to relive human suffering if there is a danger of mass hunger.

43

End Notes
i

Munoz,Herldo, Democracy Rising Assessing the global challenges, Published in US(2006),

P.135

ii

Becker, Paula, Jean-Aim A. Raveloson, WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/madagaskar/05860.pdf ,pp.4-20

iii

------------,------------,http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democrac(Accessed

April20,2012)

iv

------------,--------------, Democracy Building http://www.democracy-

building.info/index.htm (Accessed April 23,2012),P,4

v

Ibid,P.6 Christiano, Tom, "Democracy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition),

vi

Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/democracy(Accessed MAY 5,2012)

vii

Longly , Robert, Direct Democracy,

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/DirectDemocracy.htm(Accessed May5,2012)

viii

Perker, Bran , Direct Democracy http://direct-democracy.co.uk/ (Accessed May20,2012)

44

ix

------------,-------------- http://www.scribd.com/doc/19220246/What-is-a-Presidential-

Democracy (Accessed July20,2012)

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1384209/parliamentary-democracy(Accessed

July20,2012)

xi

Ibid .p,4 United Nations,declaration of human rights

xii

http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf p,1

xiii

Ibid.P,1 Ibid. P,10 Ibid. P,6

xiv

xv

xvi

Smith, Toney, American Mission: The United States and the World wide struggle for

democracy in the twentich century(Princeton ,NJ: Princeton university press, 1994,P.14

xvii

Ibid, P.14 Ibid,P.11

xviii

xix

Ibid,P 148,149

45

xx

---------,-------------, What is liberal democracy http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-liberal-

democracy.htm ( Accessed 20 Feb 2012)

xxi

Pan, David, Liberalism as a Political Idealogy in U.S Foreign Policy , Availabe Dt 22 Mar

2008, ( Accessed 14 Feb 2012) , http://www.telospress.com/main/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=229

xxii

Ibid,P.148

46