What is Democracy?

Why Democracy?

LIJIN GOLDEN
 Background (previous chapter)

 Some stories related with Democracy

 Difference- Democratic and Non Democratic
 This Chapter- What is Democracy? And its features.
 After that we can distinguish- Democratic and Non
Democratic country
 Democracy- is the most prevalent form of Govt, and
expanding more cuntries.
 What are the reasons behind this?
 Major Aspects

 Where did the word Democracy originate?

 What is Democracy?- Meaning and Definition.
 Features of Democracy
 Merits and Demerits of Democracy
 Difference between Democratic and Non Democratic
form government.
 Democracy- Direct & Indirect Democracy
Case Studies about different nations.

Myanmar - Army rule

Chile Pinochet
Nepal & Saudi - Monarchy
Pakistan - Military (Parvez Musharraf)
Poland &Iraq- USSR & USA (external)
China- Communist party (One party)
Mexico - PRI(Insti- Revo-party) (,,)
Zimbabwe - Mugabe (president)
 Broader meaning of Democracy

 Minimum understanding- we can identify

Democratic or Non Democratic country
 But – Democracy and good Democracy
 Features of good Democracy

 Conclusion
 Consolidation
 From where the word democracy is
derived
 The word democracy is derived from the Greek word
Demos- People
Kratos- Power or rule
 Meaning of Democracy

 Democracy is a form of government in which the

rulers are elected by the people.
 Who are the rulers?
 What kind of election?
 Who are the people?
 What kind of form of government?
 Abraham Linkon- Democracy is a government of the
people, by the people and for the people.
 Features of Democracy

 In a democracy the final decision making power must rest

with those who elected by the people.
 A democracy must be based on a free and fair election
where those currently in power have a fair chance of
losing.
 In a democracy, each adult citizen must have one vote
and each vote must have one value.
 A democratic government rules within limits sets by
constitutional law and citizen’s right.
 The opposition parties are allowed to function freely
before and after the elections.
 The democratic governments are based on fundamental
principles of political equality.
 Merits of Democracy

 A democratic government is a better government because

it is a more accountable form of government.
 Democracy improves the quality of decision making.
 Democracy provides a method to deal with differences
and conflicts. It is suitable the countries like India. India
having diversity of language, religion and cultures.
Democracy in India made it possible to keep unity in
diversity.
 In a democracy no one is a permanent winner or loser.
 Democracy is better than other forms of government
because it allows us to correct its own mistakes.
 Democracy enhances the dignity of citizens, because
it is based on the principle of political equality, on
recognizing that the poorest and least educated have
the same status as the rich and the educated.
 Demerits or Drawbacks of Democracy

 Leaders keep changing in a democracy. This leads to

instability.
 Democracy is all about political competition and
power play. There is no scope for morality.
 Elected leaders do not know the best interest of the
people. It leads to bad decisions.
 Democracy leads to corruption for it is based on
electoral competition.
 Ordinary people don’t know what is good for them;
they should not decide anything.
 Distinguish between Democratic and
Non Democratic government

Democratic Govt Non Democratic Govt

 Democracy is the best  The rulers are not

form of government as accountable to the
the rulers are people and their needs.
accountable to the
people and have to
fulfill their needs.
 Comparison

Democratic Non Democratic

 In democratic govt  People don not elect

people elect their rulers their rulers and have
and have right in no right in decision
decision making. making.
 The parliament cannot
 The parliament is a
pass a law about the
separate body and has army without the
no interference of consent of the chief of
army. army.
 Comaparison

Democartic Non Democratic

 Any citizen can aspire to  The citizens of the

contest election for any country have no right
post irrespective of his or to vote.
her caste, religion, socio-
economic and
educational background
which means the right of
vote is available to all
citizens.
 Comparison

Democratic Non Demcratic

 Democracy is based on  Non democratic govt is

consultation and in
democratic govt people
enjoy their right of
discussion.
 There are free and fair  In a democratic
elections. Elections offer
a choice and fair
opportunity to the people
to change the current
rulers.
based on dictatorship.
The ruler does what he
wishes.
government elections are
either not held and if
held they are not fair
enough rather they are
imposing.
 Comparison

Democratic Non Democratic

 There is a freedom of  There is no freedom of

expression and people expression and people
enjoy their do not enjoy their
fundamental rights. fundamental rights.
 Example- India  Example- Saudi
Arabia, Zimbabwe.
 Two Types of Democracy- Direct &Indirect

Direct Democracy
It is a political setup, where the people themselves
makes the laws and parliament directly in the
functioning of the govt.
Decisions are taken on the base of the majority of
opinion.
It is suitable for the geographically small countries with
less population.
Eg : Ancient Greek/ Rome and India
Modern period- Switzerland
 In Direct Democracy
 In the modern world most of the countries are
following the in direct democracy.
 It is system, in which the representatives are
elected by the people and they act on behalf of the
people.
 They are so sensitive to cater the needs and opinion of
the people.
Eg ; India/ France/ USA
 CASE STUDIES
PAKISTAN SAUDI ARABIA
CHINA ESTONIA
MEXICO FIJI
ZIMBABWE SRI LANKA
 PAKISTAN
 General Parvez Mushraff led a military coup in oct
1999.
 He overthrew the democratically elected govt.
 He declared the chief executive of the country.
 In 2002 he changed his position to president
 Then held a referendum- five years extension
 Media, Human right organisations and democratic
activist said- referendum was based on malpractices
and fraud.
 In Aug 2002- he issued Legal Frame Work order-
amended the constitution of Pakistan.
 According to this order- president can dismiss the
national or provisional assemblies.
 The work of civilian cabinet supervised by national
Security Council dominated by military officers.
 After passing this law the election held to the national
and state assemblies.
 The elected representatives have some powers.
 But final power rest with military officers and General
Parvez Mushrraf

(Check this incidents along with the features of Democracy

and find out which aspects violated)
 CHINA
 In China elections are regularly held after every five years
for electing the Country’s parliament- Quanguo Renmin
Diabiao Dahui (National peoples congress)
 They have the power to appoint the president
 It have nearly 3ooo peoples elected from all parts
 Some members are elected by the army
 Before contesting the elections the candidates needs the
approval of Chinese Communist party.
 Only those who member in communist party or eight
smaller parties allied to it were allowed to contest election
held in 2002-2003.
 The government is always formed by the communist party

(Check this incidents along with the features of Democracy and

find out which aspects violated)
 MEXICO
 Since its independence in 1930, Mexico holds
elections after every six tears to elect its president.
 The country has never been under military rule or
dictator rule.
 But until 2000 all election was won by a party called
PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party)
 Opposition parties did contest the elections but
never win the election
 The PRI use many dirty tricks to win the election
 All those who employed in govt offices had to attend
its party meetings.
 Teachers of govt school forced parents to vote PRI
 Media ignored the activities of opposition parties
except to criticise them.
 Some times the polling booths were shifted from one
place to another place in the last minutes, which made
difficult to the people cast their votes.
 The PRI spent a large sum of money in the campaign
for its candidates

(Check this incidents along with the features of

Democracy and find out which aspects violated)
 Saudi Arabia/ Estonia/ Fiji
 Saudi Arabia women do not have the right to vote.
 Estonia made its citizenship rules in such a way that
people belonging to Russian minority find it difficult
to get the right to vote.
 In Fiji, the electoral system such that the vote of an
indigenous Fiji has more value than that of an Indian
Fijian
(Check this incidents along with the features of
Democracy and find out which aspects violated)
 Zimbabwe
 Attained independence from white minority- 1980
 Since then the country has been ruled by ZANU-PF, the
party led the freedom struggle.
 Leader- Robert Mugabe, has been ruling the country since
independence.
 Elections have been held regularly- always won- ZANU
 President is popular- but uses unfair practices in election
 Changed the constitution and increased the power of
president and makes him less accountable.
 Opposition party workers harassed and disrupted.
 There is a law that limits the right to criticise the president
 T V and radio were controlled by govt and give only
ruling party version.
 There are independent news papers but the govt
harasses those journalists who go against this.
 The govt has ignored some court judgments and went
against it and has pressurised judges.

(Check this incidents along with the features of

Democracy and find out which aspects violated)
 Try to find out on which aspects are violated
in Democracy and which are preserved

 Bhutan- King declared that in future he will be guided

by the advice given to him by elected representatives.
 Sri Lanka- Many Tamil workers migrated from India
were not given to the right to vote.
 Nepal- King imposed a ban on political gatherings,
demonstrations and rallies.
 Bihar- The Indian Supreme Court held that the
dissolution of Bihar assembly was unconstitutional
 Bangladesh- Political parties agreed that a neutral
govt should rule the country at the time of elections
 Major decision by elected leaders.
 One person, One vote and one value
 Respect for rights
 Rule of law
 Free and fair electoral competitions.
BROADER MEANING OF
DEMOCRACY

LIJIN
 On this chapter we understood the meaning of
Democracy in a limited and descriptive sense.
 We have understood Democracy is a form of govt.
 The most common form that democracy takes in our
times is that of a representative democracy.
 In the countries we call democracy, all the people do
not rule.
 A majority is allowed to take decisions on behalf of all
the people.
 Even majority does not rule directly.
In Democracy majority of people rule through
their elected representatives- Why?
 Modern democracies involves such a large number of
people that it is physically impossible for them to sit
together and take a collective decision.
 Even if they could, the citizen does not have the time,
the desire or the skills to take part in all the decisions.
 Aims of Good Democracy

 True democracy will come to this country only when

no one goes hungry to bed.
 In a democracy every citizen must be able to play
equal role in decision making. For this you don’t
need just an equal right to vote. Every citizen needs
to have equal information, basic education, equal
resources and a lot of commitment.