The Strategy of Democracy - Essay Example

DEMOCRACY The onset of the 18th century marked the beginning of the determination to be involved in the affairs of the government by the people. Started by the ancient Greeks, it was generally pointed out that politicians worked for themselves and did not think about other people when making a decision. Among the expected merits and therefore payoffs of democracy was that it establishes and protect the freedom of the people, in terms of individuality and as a nation. Democracy therefore gives the public a chance to participate as well as be represented in the political system. In this case, it has the interest of the minority, since the minority is free from discrimination due to their views, and the interest of the majority. More clearly, democracy make it very easy for the people to freely participate in the political systems of the modern world, thereby making the principles of democracy very fair to all. According to Tilly (2007 pg45), democratic governments are opened to analysis especially about their socio-economic analysis. The public have the opportunity to assess and evaluate issues related to policy making, issues affecting the societal development and growth. Some of the main questions they are free to assess are about the economic policies that the government in place choose and are implementing, thereby addressing their possible outcomes. The next issue therefore becomes the effects of political issues on the economic outcomes (Barber, 2003 p 67). The study of democratic system of governments helps the public and learners to understand the role of agents that influence and make political decisions. The study also focuses on understanding the effects of institutional and constitutional choices. In addition to that, the study of such systems enables the public and learners to understand why many policy discussions require thinking and how changing any aspect of the constitution affects different aspects of policies. A close study of examination according to Capoccia (2005 p134) reveals the following as some of the benefits payoffs of a democratic form of government (system): Democracy is based on the principle of equality whereby all the members of the public or state are equal before the law. The rights, political, economic, social, and cultural rights are enjoyed equally by the people meaning that the government cannot discriminate among the citizens based on their sex, religion, gender; property classes etc. generally, all have exclusively equal rights to choose their government through election which should be free and fair. This process outlines the issue of social decision making, voting rules and Condorcet winner. Election involves choosing some positive political aspects of the campaigning politicians based on their promises, especially touching on the policies they intend to adopt upon being elected into the office. According to Capoccia (2005 p 136), the most difficult factor in democratic politics is to choose collectively a policy or alternative policies. For the benefit of the public, through their rights to elect their leaders, the public normally have strict choices and preferences to make among the alternative set of policies. Some of these alternatives among the set social preferences include the unanimity rule, majority, dictatorship, borda count, and utilitarian efficiency policies that maximize the utilitarian welfare function. Democracy safeguards the interest of the people in the sense that just as the real power lies on the hands of the people according to Barber (2003, p78-9), people elect their owned preferred people based on the choices of policies these have are considered to yield a better payoffs for their economic, social, and political needs form the government. Tilly (2007, p45-7) affirms that the social, economic, and political interests of the people are better served under this system. This aspect of policies that represent the interests of the people properly outlines the competitiveness of policies in a representative democracy through electoral process. Basically, politicians will compete among themselves to attract voters they want in order to win the election, say b/c; according to Barber (2003) in the process, politicians can credibly offer policy, for instance, tax rate or size of public spending. Under such circumstances, the public has an ideal policy they generally want; each voter has an ideal policy between the two policies and therefore chooses the one close to his or her ideal policy, normally preferred to as bliss point according to Barber (2003). A close political studies shows that through realization of the common problems affecting the people, many politicians will have common policy agendas thereby making their policies to converge at some points (policy convergence) through electoral process (Capoccia ,2005). The public in this case have a duty to perform in electing an individual who will safely safeguard, execute, and carry out their interest. Apart from the principle of equality, democracy helps in attaining stability and responsibility in administration. This fact is supported through checks and balances that the people bestow upon the administrators of their political interests. In the process, a democratic government becomes firm, efficient, and stable. Through public support, the elected administrators form a stable government with a sense of responsibility to the people since they discuss matters thoroughly and take reasonable decisions. This is a perfect monarchial rule whereby the Monarch make decisions as he or she pleases. Dictatorship rules on the other hand involve dictators making decisions without involving people at all, leaving people no chance to criticize these decisions even if they are ineffective and are against the welfare of the people (Barber, 2003). As discussed earlier on, in order to win the interest of the people, politicians converge on their policy agendas during campaigns (Condorcet winner). Under that assumption, of offering the same policy, there is a credible commitment leading to a credible commitment to implement their electoral promises to the people. They become liable to their promises that they make to the people. In this case therefore, credible commitments according to Capoccia (2005) make sense in the world where there are strong rules and checks that enforce the electoral promises. More than that, credible commitment also make sense in situations where politicians only care about holding offices but not about policies, and therefore through checks and commitments, they become strictly answerable, responsible, credible, and committed to the policies and the people’s interest while in office. Democracy is based on public opinion which in its essence leads to strength. There is a perceived strength in unity and therefore under democracy and consensus and not on power, there is no fear. Tilly (2007) argues that democracy admits the existence of state for individual, but not the individuals for state. In this case therefore, democracy arouses the progress, development, and interest of individuals in the social activities by taking active part in the affairs of the government. Through this, they become devoted and convicted in the affairs, policies, progress, and development of the society, thus, a government of the people. Consequently, there is very limited and little chance for revolution in democracy as it is based on the public will. Focusing on the post-election politics in a democracy, there are, according to Barber (2003) partisan politics or lack of commitment. All of these lead to different results. Under the assumptions of electoral commitments, politicians simultaneously make their electoral promises, the voters vote sincerely, and the politician (the winner) implements the promised policies. In this case, it is observed that commitment is of extreme importance and policy convergence, according to Capoccia (2005) depends on this assumption. However, policy divergent is the result of partisan politicians and lack of commitments. These scenarios can be summarized as below: i. Pre-electoral politics are based on political competition and creates a political centripetal force leading to a political convergence ii. Post-electoral politics based on the politicians’ preferences and interests leads to lack of commitments to the promised policies thereby creating a centrifugal force. This leads to political divergence iii. Endogenous citizen candidates lead to political convergence or political divergence depending on the equilibrium and preferences Under the precepts of game theory, and assuming that the players want to maximize their payoffs, if the payers represent the people, the strategy represents the policy, and the commitment to policy represents the payoffs, then the elements of a democratic politics are the decisions made through the choice of the people in electing their representative which have consequences. These choices that they make are based on how they plan to successfully accomplish them, their plan of actions once elected. Through public analysis and examinations, people make a simple majority to elect their representative. It then becomes dawned on the politician to commit to fulfill the promises. The payoffs, in terms of either being committed or lacking commitment to the policies become the ultimate determining factor of the politicians and the game (Capoccia, 2005). In conclusion, although democracy also has some few demerits on it own too, the advantage of the democracy outweigh these demerits by far thus making an ideal government system in the current world in order to achieve some aspects of stability in the affairs of the government. With the ultimate hope that politicians remain committed to their pledges, policies promises, and do the will of the people, democracy is a powerful tool of societal development. References Barber, B. R. (2003). Strong democracy: Participatory politics for a new age. Berkeley, Calif. ;London: University of California Press. http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520242333 http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=2YbevnCXAhgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=democracy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TmQBU9GNHOLQ7Aa8hoDwDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=democracy&f=false Capoccia, G. (2005). Defending democracy: Reactions to extremism in interwar Europe. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=ZkScWhDbcYQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=democracy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TmQBU9GNHOLQ7Aa8hoDwDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=democracy&f=false McCain, R. A. (2010). Game theory: A nontechnical introduction to the analysis of strategy. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific. http://faculty.lebow.drexel.edu/McCainR/top/eco/game/game.html Tilly, C. (2007). Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.ca/books?id=g2wyDu9B8xoC&pg=PA138&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false Read More