Introduction to democracy

Introduction:-
Democracy has now become the universal term describing the best political system. We have
analyzed democracy in a different way with its history and effects. We tried to find the answer to
the question that how democracy is or not good for Pakistan. Stable and strong countries try to
impose their ideology on undeveloped countries.

Terminology:-
The term originates from the Greek dēmokratía "rule of the people", which was coined from
dêmos "people" and kratos "power" in the 5th century BCE to denote the political systems then
existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens; the term is an antonym to "rule of an elite." The
English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French and Middle Latin
equivalents.

Definition:-
As far as definition of democracy is concerned, there is no universally accepted definition of
democracy. Democracy has long been among the most contested concepts in political science as
well as political philosophy, and a universally accepted view of democracy is yet to be obtained
Every nation defines it in its own way.

A commonly known definition is:

"A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state,

typically through elected representatives."

In its Human Development Report 2002, the United Nations Development Program
defined democracy as:

"A political system that enables people to freely choose an effective, honest, transparent

and accountable government."

It is also defined as:

"Government of the People or Government of the Majority."

Another definition is:

"Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the
decisions that affect their lives. Democracy allows eligible citizens to participate equally—
either directly or through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and
creation of laws."

These were some famous definitions of democracy.

Types of Democracy:-
There are many different types of democracy with respect to different aspects. According to
basic form of government there are two basic types known as;

Basic forms

 Direct
 Representative
 Parliamentary
 Presidential
 Constitutional
 Hybrid

Direct

Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens participate in the decision-making
personally, contrary to relying on intermediaries or representatives.

Representative

Representative democracy involves the selection of government officials by the people being
represented. If the head of state is also democratically elected then it is called a democratic
republic. The most common mechanisms involve election of the candidate with a majority or a
plurality of the votes.

Parliamentary

Parliamentary democracy is a representative democracy. Under a parliamentary democracy,

government is exercised by delegation to an executive ministry and subject to ongoing review,
checks and balances by the legislative parliament elected by the people.
Presidential:-

Presidential Democracy is a system where the public elects the president through free and fair
elections. The president serves as both the head of state and head of government controlling most
of the executive powers.

Constitutional:-

A constitutional democracy is a representative democracy in which the ability of the elected

representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law, and usually
moderated by a constitution that emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of
individuals.

Hybrid:-

Some modern democracies that are predominately representative in nature also heavily rely upon
forms of political action that are directly democratic. These democracies, which combine
elements of representative democracy and direct democracy.

Systematic understanding to democracy:-

Democracy has long been among the most contested concepts in political science as well as
political philosophy, and a universally accepted view of democracy is yet to be obtained, though
it exists in virtually all types of states and in almost every region of the world.

Not only that, the existing democracies in the world differ from each other in the extent to which
they approach the goals of democratization and make the task of finding an ideal model of
democracy.

A democratic government contrasts to forms of government where power is either held by one,
as in a monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals, as in an oligarchy.
Nevertheless, these oppositions, inherited from Greek philosophy, are now ambiguous because
contemporary governments have mixed democratic, oligarchic, and monarchic elements. Karl
Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, thus focusing on opportunities
for the people to control their leaders and to oust them without the need for a revolution.
History of democracy:-

Some scholars believe that democracy was first practiced in Mesopotamia. The history of
democracy traces back from classical Athens in the 6th century B.C. to the present day. Present
day democracy is a western oriented concept.

Role of Democracy in struggle for Pakistan and Two Nation Theory:-

If we analyze the democracy (as we have defined before it is simply rule of majority) the
political system of India was actually anti-Muslim. From the very beginning of two nation theory
it can be observed that Hindus were trying establishing superiority on Muslims. When they
encountered Muslims in politics, they were unable to accept their identical and ideological
difference. Quid-e-Azam was able to predict that what would be the future of Muslims if they are
going live with Hindus

Quid-e-Azam was observing that Hindus were trying to establish ram raj on behalf of
democracy. This is actually the democracy which ensures the majority religion, culture or
language to take over the identity of minorities.

Practical failure of Democracy in Pakistan:-

In Pakistan political institutions are not morally and practically effective. Still democratic government is
unable to establish good governance, rule of law and a good foreign policy. This is clear indication that
unfortunately democracy is not best for Pakistan.

Failure of Democracy in Pakistan

Causes of Failure:-
Democracy can be defined as the government of the people by the people and for the people. It is an
ideal form of the government in which all the strata of the population has great say in the internal and
external affairs of the country. Significance of the democracy can be gauged from the fact that in the
countries where it works and exists full well, they have well organized or disciplined states before and
mostly peaceful political, social weather is prevailed so farm.

However, it is rather unfortunate that democracy is derailed every now and again since the inception of
Pakistan by dint of certain causes. Bad governance is the first and the foremost reason responsible
behind the non-delivering of the democracy in the country. It is the bad governance that had been
paving the way for the emergence of military regime after the establishment of Pakistan. Furthermore,
mass illiteracy and feudal system being both present in the country, the democracy is reduced to an
empty show. Lack of democracy has pushed the country into a vicious circle by landing it into the state
of quandary and arising multidimensional crises on the surface. Due to weak democracy, the character
of Pakistan has been blackening in the world comity and putting the national integration at stake. In
short, lack of democracy, eats up into the vitals of the nation by plunging it in the state of uncertain.
Therefore, good governance should be restored to deliver democracy or true democratic system in the
country. Literary rate should be raised in the multitudes to make them politically educated. Democracy
is the only solution to the internal or external problems of the country and is the only way whereby the
nation can attain positive amendment or amelioration by all accounts.[9]

Bad political culture

To begin with, after the demise of the Father of the Nation, QUID E AZAM Pakistan had been becoming
the barren and sterile in the terms of leadership. Politics became a bad game or an effective means to
promote vested interests. Just after the getting independence, corruption soon took hold of the society.
The Rehabilitation Department accepted the fake claims of the Muslims coming from across the Indian
border that gave stimulus to the forces of bribery and other social vices. In the sequel, justice became a
rare commodity in the Pakistan's society and paralyzed people had to purchase justice through bribery.
The Muslim league fell a prey to internecine intrigues that gave birth to the political and economic
scramble. All of the above gifts of bad governance had been making the avenue for the emergence of
the military government. Thus, in 1957 for the first time Material Law took place and democracy was
derailed.

In this wise, delay in the constitution making played a paramount part to non delivering of democracy in
Pakistan in the early years. The case of India can positively and sufficiently be mentioned in this manner.
The democracy has dug its roots deep in India because the constitution there was enacted soon after its
establishment that resulted in democratic process by making India a well democratic state. In Pakistan,
however, the constitution making body became a tool in the hands of the knavish politicians who were
engaged in palace intrigues making and dissolving the cabinets. The sacred or prime task of framing a
workable constitution was thus crucified at the altar of power politics which ultimately leaded to the
derailing of democracy in the country.

Feudalism
Feudalism is one of the greatest barriers responsible behind the failure of democracy in Pakistan to a
large extent. Institutions can not work freely or independently in the presence of feudalism. Moreover,
in feudalistic societies democracy represents a specific group of society that is ruling class that is why
democracy never delivers in Pakistan. Feudal system stops the way of new leadership which comes from
gross root level by perpetuating its hold and rule, so the existence of workable and true democracy in
the presence of feudalism is not at cards.

Similarly, illiteracy fosters mediocrity. Much of Pakistan's inhabitants are illiterate and live below the line
of poverty or squalor. In fact, democracy is reduced to an empty show if the citizens or the multitudes
behave like dumb driven cattle and develop crowd mentality of being driven which every way the leader
direct. On the other hand, illiterate masses can hardly select a solemn candidate for themselves on the
confidence of their own. They hardly think out of the four walls of their village so that they choose the
leader what their landlord chooses often. Therefore, mass illiteracy reduces the standard of the
democracy by choosing shaky leadership.[10]

lack of responsibility
Besides it, lack of sense of responsibility and self-aggrandizement among the politicians and the ruling
class, corruption, terrorism, unemployment, economic inequality, favoritism in politics and other social
injustice have reduced the confidence of the masses and the classes from ruling class. Even coming
government is shackled with its interests of own and no any relief delivers to the poor or indigents.
Therefore, the name of democracy is reduced to its name only.

Role of Media
Imbalance role of media has not put any good show to make Pakistan a democratic state by favoring the
rulers frequently. The media is the greatest source whereby the people can know truth of every thing, so
the media of the present is a great propaganda missionary. However, in our country it is always utilized
as a weapon. Since the birth of the Pakistan it has been dancing to the tune of ruling regime. The masses
can not express themselves according to their wants. Thus, democratically process is there hardly
experienced. All of that have made democracy ineffective in Pakistan. That is why democracy is merely
named here not in working.

Education
Unless the people are educated and use their votes intelligently, democracy can never prosper and run
smoothly in the county. One of the reasons of constitution’s weakness in Pakistan is vast uneducated
and uniformed electorate. Aristotle has rightly remarked: “To neglect the education of the young ones,
is to weaken the constitution of the country”. Democracy is a function of education. It can not be
managed effectively and justly without sound education of the voters and their high level of
information.

Dictatorship
As we have described in political history of Pakistan that Dictatorship has also failed for Pakistan. A
Dictatorship is a form of government wherein the political power resides with the military.

This is not a proper political system. Job of military is not Politics.

 Language and area differences in Pakistan
Punjab is Pakistan's second largest province by area and largest by population

Punjabi (‫ )پنجابی‬is spoken as a first language by more than 44% of Pakistanis, mostly in Punjab. When
taking into account Hindko, Potwari, Pahari, Saraiki, Punjabi dialects are thus spoken by almost 60% of
the population in Pakistan

The main languages in the province are Balochi, which is spoken in the sparsely populated west, east,
south and south-east, Pashto in the north and north-west and Brahui in the centre.

Sindhī (Arabic script: ‫ )سنڌي‬is spoken by more than 35 million people(in 2011) in the province of Sindh.

Urdu ,Pashto in Khaiber Pakhtikha is also spoken in Pakistan. As we can observe there are many cultural
and linguistic differences in Pakistan unlike western democratic countries where culture is quite
uniform.

How present Democracy is not suitable:-

Democracy is either economically inefficient, politically idealistic or morally corrupt. Democracy is simply
rule of majority.

Irrational voters
Free-market-oriented economists since Milton Friedman have strongly criticized the efficiency of
democracy. They base this on the argument that voters are irrational, among other things. Their
criticism towards democracy is that voters are highly uninformed about many political issues, especially
relating to economics, and have a strong bias about the few issues on which they are fairly
knowledgeable.[14]

The masses are not adequately educated to be able to foresee the betterment of the community they
belong to, and therefore are unable to cast a vote to that effect. But given the right to vote, an
uneducated man would certainly cast a vote which will more likely be wrong as affected by the
personality charisma of the candidate or some other superficial reasons. An ordinary voter may also be
lured into casting a vote on the basis of financial help or some other petty promises.

Efficiency of the system

Chicago economist Donald Wittman has written numerous works attempting to counter these common
views of his colleagues. He argues democracy is efficient based on the premise of rational voters,
competitive elections, and relatively low political transactions costs. Economist Bryan Caplan argues,
while Wittman makes strong arguments for the latter two points, he cannot overcome the
insurmountable evidence in favor of voter irrationality.[15]
Wealth disparity
This could result in a wealth disparity in such a country, or even racial discrimination. Fierlbeck (1998)
points out that such a result is not necessarily due to a failing in the democratic process, but rather,
"because democracy is too responsive to the desires of a large middle class increasingly willing to
disregard the muted voices of economically marginalized groups within its own borders."[3] The
criticism remains that the will of the democratic majority may not always be in the best interest of all
citizens within the country or beneficial to the future of the country itself.

Uncontested good
Additionally, some political scientists question the notion that democracy is an "uncontested good."[7] If
we base our critique on the definition of democracy as governance based on the will of the majority,
there can be some foreseeable consequences to this form of rule.

Cyclical theory of government

Machiavelli put forth the idea that democracies will tend to cater to the whims of the people, who then
follow false ideas to entertain themselves, squander their reserves, and do not deal with potential
threats to their rule until it is too late to oppose them. He put forth a cyclical theory of government
where monarchies always decay into aristocracies that then decay into democracies, which decay into
anarchy, then tyranny, then monarchy.

Political instability
More recently, democracy is criticized for not offering enough political stability. As governments are
frequently elected on and off there tend to be frequent changes in the policies of democratic countries
both domestically and internationally. Even if a political party maintains power, vociferous, headline
grabbing protests and harsh criticism from the mass media are often enough to force sudden,
unexpected political change. Frequent policy changes with regard to business and immigration are likely
to deter investment and so hinder economic growth. For this reason, many people have put forward the
idea that democracy is undesirable for a developing country in which economic growth and the
reduction of poverty are top priority. [9] However, Downs argued that the political market works much
the same way as the economic market, and that there could potentially be an equilibrium in the system
because of democratic process. However, he eventually argued that imperfect knowledge in politicians
and voters prevented the reaching of that equilibrium.
Oppression by the majority
The constitutions of many countries have parts of them that restrict the nature of the types of laws that
legislatures can pass. A fundamental idea behind some of these restrictions is that the majority of a
population and its elected legislature is often the source of minority persecutions, such as with racial
discrimination.

Corruption within democratic governments

This is a simple form of appealing to the short term interests of the voters. This tactic has been known to
be heavily used in north and north-east region of Thailand. Another form is commonly called Pork barrel
where local areas or political sectors are given special benefits but whose costs are spread among all
taxpayers.

Mere elections are just one aspect of the democratic process. Other tenets of democracy, like relative
equality and freedom, are frequently absent in ostensibly democratic countries.

Moreover, in many countries, democratic participation is less than 50% at times, and it can be argued
that election of individual(s) instead of ideas disrupts democracy.

Volatility/unsustainability
The new establishment of democratic institutions in countries where the associated practices have as
yet been uncommon or deemed culturally unacceptable, can result in institutions that are not
sustainable in the long term. One circumstance supporting this outcome may be when it is part of the
common perception among the populace that the institutions were established as a direct result of
foreign pressure.

This explains that democracy is not only causing problem for multicultural societies like Pakistan, but
also for some western countries having uniform culture.

Conclusion:-

Best political system for Pakistan

Best political system for Pakistan is that which ensures the implementation and
practice of ideology of Pakistan. If any country has a system (as USA) which
ensures fulfillment of its ideology and reason then it is best for it. Democracy has
failed in this for Pakistan. Ideology of Pakistan is Welfare Islamic state.