DP (X)-LESSON-7 OUTCOME OF DEMOCRACY (LESSON NOTES)

 

DP (X)-LESSON-7

OUTCOME OF DEMOCRACY

(LESSON NOTES)

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v INTRODUCTION

Ø In the tour of democracy, we have reached at the end. Here we will try to find that: What does democracy do? Or what are the outcomes can we reasonably expect of democracy?

Ø Also, we will try to find that does democracy fulfils these expectations in real life. We begin by thinking about how to assess the outcomes of democracy. After some clarity on how to think on this subject, we proceed to look at the expected and actual outcomes of democracy in various respects.

v ASSESS or EVALUATE OF DEMOCRACY’S OUTCOMES: -

Ø We evaluate the democracy’s outcome by comparing it with other form of government or dictatorship. Democracy is better than other form of government because: -

§  It Promotes equality among citizens.

§  lt Enhances the dignity of the individual.

§  It Improves the quality of decision making.

§  lt Provides a method to resolve conflicts.

§  lt also provide the situation to correct mistakes.

v DILEMMA OF DEMOCRACY

Ø Democracy is seen to be good in principle but felt to be not so good in its practical aspects. This dilemma invites us to think hard about the outcomes of democracy.

Ø Most people blame democracy. Their fascination is that democracy can address and solve all social-economic and political problems.

Ø But we should know that democracy is a form of government that can create favorable condition for citizens to achieve something.

Ø So, for the outcome of democracy the citizens must take advantage of those conditions and achieve the goals of democracy.

v COUNTRIES CLAIM OF DEMOCRATIC PRACTISE AS

Ø Most of the countries of the world today claim and practice democratic politics by these features as

§  They have formal constitutions.

§  They hold elections,

§  They have parties and they guarantee rights of citizens.

Though these features are common in most of countries even these democracies are very much different from each other in terms of their social situations, their economic achievements, and their cultures.

 

v OUTCOME OF POLITICAL DEMOCRACY

Ø Accountable, Responsive and Legitimate Government

§  In a democracy, people choose their rulers. They also participate in the decision-making process. They also control on the Government so it is accountable to the citizens.

§  It is responsive to the needs and expectations of the citizens. Moreover, the government is efficient and effective.

§  Democratic government is legitimate government. It means it is the people own Government, in which people elected their representative.

 

Ø Do delays make government inefficient?

§  A non-democratic government does not bother about the discussions in assemblies.

§  They never take public opinion and are quick in decision making and implementation.

§  On the other hand, the democratic governments, follow all the procedures and then come to a decision. As a result, the decision is more effective and acceptable to people.

§  The decisions that are quick are usually taken without the approval of the majority of people. As a result, there are problems and conflicts within the nation.

Ø Why Democracy?

§  In a democracy:

·      The decision is based on norms and procedures

·      Decision making is transparent i.e. a citizen has the right to examine the entire process of decision making. (RTI Act 2005)

·      Government is accountable to people and the people have the right to hold the government accountable

Ø Points against democracy

§  Every coin has a flip side. Democracy too has some negatives. Here are some of them. In reality,

·      The right to question the process of decision making is absent.

·      There isn’t any mechanism to hold the government accountable.

·      Decision making is not based on norms and procedures.

Ø Areas where democracy is successful

§  Democracy is successful in holding:

·      free and regular elections.

·      creating conditions for open public debate

Ø Where does the democracy fall short?

§  There are certain aspects where democracy falls short. So, democracy, on the whole, falls short in:

·      Holding elections that offer a fair chance to everyone

·      Not every decision comes forward in a public debate

·      Sharing information with people rarely happens

·      Democracies have never been free of corruption

·      The government has failed to pay attention to the needs and expectations of people

Ø However, despite all this, a democratic government is still better than a non-democratic government. It is a legitimate form of government. Most importantly, democracy is people’s own government. This is the primary reason for its popularity. People across the globe only which to be ruled by the representatives elected by them. 

ECONOMIC OUTCOMES

v ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Ø It is also expected from the democracy that it produces the economic growth and development for a nation. But we see that in this field the democracies are not performing better as

§  If we compare from last 50 years It seems that democracies lag behind from the dictatorships in economic growth.

§  But this alone cannot the reason to reject democracy as we know that economic growth depends on different factors as: -

·      Size of the population of a country

·      Co-operation from other countries

·      Global situation

·      Economic policies adopted by the country

Ø And if we compare the economic growth between doctorships (4.45) and democracies (3.95) we found that this difference is very less.

Ø So, we cannot say that democracy is a guarantee of economic development. But we can expect democracy not to lag behind

Ø dictatorships in this field also.

v REDUCTION OF INEQUALITY AND POVERTY

Ø Though the dictatorships are something better in the economic development but they are not good to reduce the economic disparities poverty.

Ø So, any development that happens without an equitable distribution of wealth is not a true democracy.

Ø Democracy is solely based on political equality. Every citizen has an equal weight in electing representatives.

However, the same is not true in the economic field also. The poor usually become poorer and often find it hard to cater to the basic essentials of life like food, clothing, higher education, and health. Democracies have massively failed in this regard.  So, the idea is to remove this gap between the rich and the poor.

SOCIAL OUTCOMES

 

v ACCOMMODATION OF SOCIAL DIVERSITY

Ø Democracies are far better in the accommodation of social diversity in a nation. For example, we have seen in the Belgium.

Ø In each society there are so much diversities found on different factors. Democracies provides the mechanism to negotiate the differences.

Ø It also tries to reduces the conflict among the various groups and teach us to respect the differences.

Ø We see that non-democracies never respect the difference. In this field Democracy is best suited to produce this outcome.

But to achieve this outcome we must fulfil these conditions otherwise we also have seen what happen in Sri Lanka: -

§  It is necessary to understand that democracy is not simply rule by majority opinion.

§  The majority always needs to work with the minority. Majority and minority opinions are not permanent.

§  It is also necessary that rule by majority does not become rule by majority community in terms of religion or race or linguistic group, etc.

§  Democracy remains democracy only as long as every citizen has a chance of being in majority at some point of time.

 

vDIGNITY AND FREEDOM OF THE CITIZENS

Ø Democracy stands much superior to any other form of government in promoting dignity and freedom of the individual as: -

§  In a democracies conflict may arise but it respects each dignity and freedom at least in principles. It is the base of democracy.

§  This has been achieved in various degrees in various democracies. For example, long struggle of women makes their situation better.

§  Democracy in India has strengthened the claims of the disadvantaged and discriminated castes for equal status and equal opportunity.

§  It doesn’t mean that these inequalities have not find in democracies but once the principle is recognised, it becomes easier for disadvantage groups to struggle against what is now unacceptable legally and morally.

v DEMOCRACY EXAMINATION NEVER GETS OVER

Ø Expectations from democracy also function as the criteria for judging any democratic country. It is the most distinctive about democracy is that its examination never gets over as:

§  Democracy passes one test; it produces another test. As people get some benefits of democracy, they ask for more and want to make democracy even better.

§  In a democracy people always come up with more expectations, and many complaints. This complaining is itself a testimony to the success of democracy.

§  A public expression of dissatisfaction with democracy shows the success of the democracy.

§  It transforms people from the status of a subject into that of a citizen. Most individuals today believe that their vote makes a difference to the way the government is run and to their own self-interest.