Democracy as a Form of Government - Assignment Example

Democracy Democracy refers to a form of government in which citizens participate through electoral representationand development of laws governing the society. Participation through development of laws is an indirect participation while participation through electoral representation is a direct participation. Democracy contrasts with other forms of government which involve control by an individual or a group of people. Peter Mair identified two definitions of democracy. The first one is procedural definition by Schumpeter who defined democracy as an institutional arrangement used to make political decisions in which the citizens are given the power to decide through competitive struggle for votes of the electorates. The second definition suggests that democracy is an institutional arrangement which is used to arrive at a political decision which achieves the common good of the people by allowing them to decide on certain issues by electing individuals who come together to carry out the will of the people. Illiberal democracy is also referred to as pseudo democracy or partial democracy. This is a type of democracy in which the citizens are not allowed to have civil liberties. Although the citizens are allowed to participate in elections, they do not have the right to knowledge about the activities of those who are in power. It is kind of society which is not open, and they cannot be categorised as free or not free societies. Illiberal democracy is caused by a limiting constitution which limits the powers of the government and ignores liberties of the citizens. In some illiberal democracies there are inadequate legal constitutional liberties of the people. Illiberal democracy occurs when the two concepts of electoral democracy and civil liberties grow apart rather than coming together. Mair further adds that illiberal democracies occur when the electoral process is followed by shortcomings in terms of inadequate constitutional liberties and/or limits on the exercise of power by the executives. Furthermore, illiberal democracy is a growing phenomenon which has never reached liberal democracy; in fact moving towards more illiberalism. Democracies which fail to foster both the two pillars of political participation and civil rights are considered as illiberal democracies. A hybrid regime is a political regime which combines both elements of an autocratic system and a democratic system. The structure of the political systems may include a combination of autocratic rule using democratic institutions or the use of a democratic rule using autocratic institutions. Having these dissimilar systems working together may sometimes bring tension in the political environment of a country. An example of how a hybrid system works is when elections are carried out but the politicians who are in power manipulate the results of the elections in their favor. This means that democratic elections are carried out in undemocratic institutions. In most cases, hybrid regimes stem from authoritarian regimes. Hybrid systems may also be regarded as defective democracies in which the features of freedom, limitation of executive power, and equality are not balanced. Mair suggests that hybrid system is not a transition from autocratic to democratic regimes, but it is a type of regime on itself. Hybrid states often have strong presidents with authoritarian characteristics. Authoritarianism refers to a form of political regime which involves absolute exercise of power by a ruler whereby the citizens of a country obey authority against their individual freedom. The people should show unquestionable level of obedience. It is also considered as a kind of political pluralism which controls political institutions and groups. The basis of legitimacy in authoritarian societies is driven by emotion. The authoritarian powers are considered as a necessary power needed to solve social problems such as underdevelopment and insecurity. An authoritarian regime also entails no extensive and intensive political mobilization of the general public, but a lot of constraints on the public including repression and prohibition against the opponents of a political regime or leadership. This form of repression is intended to maintain high concentration and centralization of power as well as the exclusion of challengers. Although there are no elections, authoritarian powers use political parties to mobilize people and convince them to accept the goals of the regime. Political power in an authoritative system is informal and unregulated because the leaders appoint themselves. Sometimes elections are held but the elected leaders cannot be removed by the free choice of the people. The people are therefore denied their civil liberties. Authoritarian societies also lack opposition; but if it is there then it is suppressed to ensure that they do not exercise their rights. The concept of democracy has been viewed differently by different people. Some consider it as having a universal meaning while others consider it as being relativistic. Those who are in favor of universalism suggest that democracy has common characteristics which apply in all political regimes. Some of these universal characteristics include free and fair elections, free press, freedom of expression and assembly, and protection of human rights. These features may be considered as the canons of universal legitimate rule, which gives birth to a universal democratic system which applies to all political systems. In terms of relativism, it may be argued that western views of democracy are different from the views of other countries in the world. The western ideas on democracy are always not received well by other cultural environments. For instance, liberal democracy is a western product which applies to the western experience. The experiences of other countries are different; hence the concept of democracy applies to specific experiences of each country. It is defined relative to the experiences of each country because what a western country considers as culturally undemocratic may be considered democratic in other regions of the world. Furthermore, the integration of moral concepts of democracy into other cultures is constrained by differences in cultures. This means that the concept of democracy is relative considering the fact that different countries define it differently. In some Asian and African states, the western efforts of promoting liberal democracy are considered to be unfruitful. Electoral authoritarian regimes have been caused by various factors. One of the factors is the presence of an opposition. When the opposition becomes tired of the incumbent, there could be unrests and anti-government protests. Elections become a necessary tool in an authoritarian system to silence the opposition. In this case, the ruling party gives the opposition the satisfaction of going into elections as a way of making them to stop their protests. In the end, the incumbent rigs the elections or ensures that he goes back to power under all costs with the help of his followers. Since wealth is accumulated in the hands of the government, the opposition always lacks the resources to form a nationwide party that can challenge the incumbent. The opposition therefore becomes divided and the government is able to manipulate and oppress them to ensure that they do not get into power. The incumbent then finds it easy to manipulate the opposition through elections. The rise of electoral authoritarian regimes has also been influenced by mobilizations of the opposition. In this case, the opposition uses mobilization as a strategy to challenge the ruling party. This weakens the incumbent’s legitimacy and gives rise to an electoral process in the authoritarian regime. International pressures also play a crucial role in pressurizing for a free and fair electoral system in authoritarian regimes. For instance, the interest of the west to spread democracy may influence other authoritarian countries to conduct elections. The death or turnover of an incumbent also increases the potential for opposition to become stronger because the successor of the incumbent may be disadvantaged by weak institutions initiated by the incumbent who died. This leads to higher pressure which results in elections. Lastly, economic factors such as economic crisis may lead to deterioration of the support of an authoritarian regime. This may lead to divisions in the ruling party and allows the opposition to mobilize and push for elections. In some cases electoral authoritarian regimes gradually become electoral democracies through gradual liberalization while in other cases electoral authoritarian regimes die out. As the opposition push for elections, the incumbent resists and when the competitive authoritarian regime accepts to have elections, the elections are first manipulated to maintain the power of the authoritarian regime. However, the opposition continues to push for free and fair elections with the help of the international community. Gradually, the manipulative power of the incumbent and his successors reduces and eventually the electoral authoritarian regime dies out and the opposition takes over. In other cases, the successor of an incumbent may change the system to become democratic due to pressure from different political players including opposition. Read More