Study of Liberal Democracy

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Table of Contents

Structure of liberal democracies
Advantages of liberal democracy
Benefits to the government
Problems of liberal democracy
Conclusion
Bibliography

Liberal democracy is also referred to as constitutional democracy and is the leading form of democratic governance in the world today. During the era of the Cold War, this type of democracy was feted against Communism because these two ideologies had differences in the form of governance and the two countries that were behind the Cold War were the United States which sought to promote liberal democracy, and United Socialist Soviet Union which promoted Communism. Eventually, the United States emerged victorious in the Cold War, and this was after the Soviet Union collapsed. Both countries strove to influence the kind of leadership in the world, and this led to several wars, the most notable being the Vietnam War. After the United States won the Cold War, it assumed the status of the world’s only Super Power and with it came to the responsibility of ensuring that the country was the world perfect. This meant the United States had the responsibility of ensuring that there was world order and also promoting democracy throughout the world. This has brought some benefits and also some problems to both the United States and also the world at large (David, 2005).

In the modern world, the word liberal means that the government conforms to the ideologies of liberalism, especially politically, and this means that the government affords the citizens to have individual freedoms from such things as internal control and government power. These ideologies were first highlighted at the age of enlightenment, and this was done by theorists who conformed to the social contract (David, 2006).

Structure of liberal democracies

In the world today, many of the countries that use the ideologies of liberal democracies have put in place a basis on which all adults of the country vote their leaders. This is done without any discrimination of any sort, especially discrimination that is related to sex, race, or religion. In this kind of state, the people choose their own leaders and the leaders they would like to be represented by. This means that the country has a voting system and that voters who have qualified to vote according to the legislation laid down by the country vote their own leaders. Some of the legislation in these countries requires that a qualified voter has attained a number of years, and most of the countries require that a registered voter must have attained the age of eighteen years and above. A registered voter must also be a citizen of a particular country, and this is enhanced by the fact that the voters must have documents that confirm that he or she is a citizen of that particular country or state (Anthony, 2007).

Another issue that arises is that the elections must be free and fair, and this has led to a number of controversies in the world. This is because, in a free and fair election, the most favorite candidate to the voters is supposed to win the election. However, in many countries, elections have been marred by irregularities, and there have been a raised number of rigged elections in the world. This has led to unstable governments, which have been marked by violence and civil wars, and also have led to coups and government overthrows. In the true sense of liberal democracy, the government is chosen by the voters, and in this sense, the government should answer to the people. This is means that the voters have the power to vote in an administration and also vote an administration out (Fareed, 2007).

In a liberal democracy, there should be many political parties in which the electorate chooses which one will form the government. This is referred to as pluralism, and it facilitates a country with a choice of the parties that govern the country. This means that pluralism gives the electorate a basis in which they can choose the most desirable administration from vast parties. This is very beneficial for a country because the electorate has the power to choose a combination of the best leaders which are given by a particular party and also have the element in which an electorate can choose a combination of leaders from various parties to form a government (David, 2006).

Another important structure of the liberal democracy is that the country must have a constitution, and this constitution lays a basis on which the rights and freedoms of the people are safeguarded against being exploited by the government. This means that the constitution lays a basis on which the powers of the government are controlled to the benefit of the citizens. The traditional setting of the constitution in America and Britain was that the powers of the government had to be separated. Many of the countries in the world have adopted this system, and this ensures that the countries authority is mainly split into three arms which include the Judiciary, Executive, and the Legislature. It is important for any country to have a free and independent judiciary that is not influenced by the other arms of the government. There is also a provision in which there is formed a system which affords checks and balances within the various branches of the government. Most of the countries that follow the ideology of liberal democracy also follow the rule of law, and this is mainly in the European countries. They also use federalism, and this is seen in democracies such as the United States and United Kingdom, and this lays a basis in which the power is distributed to avert abuse of power from a central government. The power is divided between various jurisdictions like provinces, municipals, and national governments (Robert, 1989).

Advantages of liberal democracy

When it is well run by an administration of a country, it is very beneficial to the country because the power is distributed to various government levels which ensure that the people are well served by the powers of the country. This means that in a liberal democracy, leadership reaches the electorate in very favorable conditions, and this means that the people get to have a voice in the way they are being ruled (David, 2005).

One of the advantages of liberal democracy is that the people choose their own leaders, and this is very beneficial to the people because they get to choose the leaders that they feel will deliver. This means that the people have the right to vote someone in office and this is because they feel that he or she is the best candidate for a post. This is exercised in most of the countries around the world, and this means that most of the countries exercise democracy. This is also beneficial to the people because when one of the elected officials has been deemed not performing or delivering, the electorate can vote him out in the next elections. Elections are held after a specified period, and most of the countries hold them after a number of years. In the United States of America, the elections are held after every four years. This gives the electorate a chance to elect new leaders if the current ones are not performing or delivering. Every leaders is given a number of years to prove his worth but when he cannot he is elected out of the office and a new leader is elected into the office (Anthony, 2007).

The electorate also is given the chance to air their views on various issues that concerns the nation, and one of these is done through the government coming up with programs that enable them to get their views from various quarters of the population. This means that the government will have to come up with good policies, or otherwise the public will air the negative perception of the policies. This has happened in a number of countries and a good example is the Bush administration’s war efforts against Iraq and Afghanistan and the people aired their views about their negative perception of the war efforts. This was done using media and even though the war was not deterred, the world was aware that the government did not have the support of the citizens in its war efforts against the two Arabic countries. The administration has the right to make policies which may not be desirable to the electorate but in so doing, it bleaches the contract with the people who voted it in. This have been seen in many countries and this have led to violence spells especially in the developing countries (Robert, 2003).

A liberal democracy also is very beneficial to the economy of the country, and this is because the people of the country have the freedom to choose any type of economic activity to engage in. In economic terms, the people are given the right to engage in various economic activities, and there is no control on the prices. This is one of the conditions of the liberal democracies, and many of the governments have had problems with this. But in the real sense, this has helped very much in ensuring that the economy is doing very. A good example is the United States where there is no internal control of the prices, and the economy has been doing very well for a number of years up to last year when there was a financial crisis. This means that the government has to play the role of ensuring that country is doing economically well, and this can be enhanced by a liberal democracy in terms of free market and no control from the government. This ensures that the investors in the country are free to engage in any type of legal business and this is very helpful to the overall economy of the country (Sanford, 1996).

In a liberal democracy, the media is not monitored, and it has its freedom to ensure that the people are informed in various issues which concern and interest them. Censuring of media is very destructive to a country because the government can implement policies which the people are not aware of and also which the people will not approve of. Media is a very important tool in the world today because it is seen as if it puts a check on various issues in the world. Media has played a very important role in history because it has been used to criticize governments when they have made policies which are not for the benefit of the people. This is one reason why in countries which are dictatorial and tyrannical, media is owned by the government and is used as a tool to rule the people in bad policies. In many countries, press freedom has been granted, and this means that many countries are adopting or have already adopted the new liberal democratic ideologies which is championed by the United States and the European continent (David, 2006).

In a liberal democracy, the resources are equally distributed, but there is a check on how the resources are distributed to the poor and the rich. Everybody in such a country has access to resources, although in many countries, this has led to great inequalities levels. This is because many countries have adopted bad policies of distributing the resources, and this has led to a situation where people are subjected to great poverty and this has led to the fact that the richer are getting richer and the poor are finding it hard to catch up with the rich people. The advantage related to the resources in a liberal democracy is that the government does not control the resources as many countries which are not democratic have been subjected to. In fact, the government allows the people to have access to all the resources they can and how they use them to benefit themselves is also free. However, the government may move in to control the use of resources where the government finds it that the resources are being wasted or not used in the proper means (David, 2005).

The people of such a country are also afforded a lot of rights, and this is very good for any type of leadership. The people are given a lot of rights, and these rights are protected by the constitution, and the government is limited on the authority in which it can limit these rights. One of the benefits of these is that the government cannot be able to limit the rights of the people to do a particular thing like owning property or the right of speech. The fact that the rights are protected by the constitution of these countries gives the people an edge to exercise their rights and can sue the government if it limits the exercise of these rights. The government is responsible for ensuring that the rights of the people are protected and if any entity or anybody tries to limit one’s right he is liable to be prosecuted in a court of law and this will help in ensuring that the country is living in harmony (Anthony, 2007).

There is also a lot of freedom that the people of that country enjoy, and this is because the constitution of those countries also have put clauses to that effect. This means that the country affords its citizens a lot of freedoms, and this is also a positive outlook of a government. The government uses various means to ensure that the people have their freedom protected and this ensures that the government will protect the freedoms of its citizens. This also means that the government will also employ some agencies in ensuring that the people’s freedoms are not limited by any entity (David, 1998).

Benefits to the government

Governments in the world which are formed on the basis of the liberal democracy have a number of benefits, and this can be accrued to the fact that it is easier to run such a government than the dictatorial government. One of the benefits of the government is that it has the support of the people. Any government that exercises democratic ideologies is seen as a government that is for the people, and hence the people will support it. People will support any government that allows people to exercise their own rights and also gives them the freedom that they deserve. This can be seen to the extent that many governments in the world which are supported by the people are liberal democratic governments, and this means that the government can rely on the support of the people. However, the government will need to deliver so that the people can have faith in it. Once the government has delivered, then the people will find that it good and hence they will support the government (Robert, 1989).

The government will also benefit in that it will find governing easier rather because the government will be able to delegate duties to various branches of the government. This is done through the government coming up with various branches level of government and also various levels of government. This is very beneficial to the government because governing the citizens is very easy, and this ensures that the government has its reach to the people in all levels. This is also very beneficial to the government because its quality of governance is of high standard and this means that the government is able to reach the entire population (Sanford, 1996).

The splitting of the government into three arms is also very helpful because it means that the government will perform its duties more efficiently than when it is controlling all the governance is one entity. The government establishing an independent judicial system means that the judiciary will efficiently handle all matters concerning the law and how justice is meted on to the people. The government will also ensure that the legislature performs its work of making laws and formulating policies while the executive will handle its work of administrating. This specialization is very beneficial to the government as well as to the people because they can address the right arm of the government when they are having problems (Ricardo).

Problems of liberal democracy

There is also a bad side of the liberal democracy, and this can be said to be the key to why some of the countries have adopted other forms of government. One of the problems is that the government affords too many rights and freedom to the people, and this means that the people can abuse these freedoms and rights. In so doing, they are jeopardizing the rights and freedoms of other entities and people as well. This means that the governments are having a lot of problems because many people are abusing these rights and in so doing, sometimes endanger the lives of other people. The government has to make adjustments to ensure that the people who are abusing their rights and freedoms are taken care of. This has necessitated the use of police force, but in some countries, their efficiency has been reduced because the people are claiming too many rights (Fareed, 2007).

It has also brought about the issue of inequality whereby the government is seen to be favoring the rich and not caring about the poor. When the government does not enforce price control, it is very dangerous for the people because the rich who owns the companies can dictate the prices and this will lead to exploitation of the people. This has brought a lot of controversies in the world and because when the rich dictate the prices with which to sell some very basic commodities to the people, the poor gets poorer and the rich get richer. This have led to some social problems, and the economy of the world is deteriorating because of this trend. Many people have also had to do without some basic things, and this has brought about a lot of problems both socially and economically (David, 2006).

This system of leadership is also giving some people a lot of power which they can use in negative things. A good example is George W. Bush’s war against the Arab countries citing the fight against terrorism, and this has led to many problems to both the countries and also the United States. This is because the United States has been criticized very much by the international community for the attacks. The Arab countries have never been stable after the attacks and many people died during the war (Anthony, 2007).

Conclusion

Liberal democracy is a good form of leadership, but it also needs to be controlled because the people have the freedom and rights protected by the government and, most importantly, by the constitution. However, the government also needs to know the limits at which the freedoms are exercised because it may harm the country if the rights are over emphasized.

Bibliography

Anthony H. Birch, The Concepts And Theories Of Modern Democracy, 3rd Edn. (London: Routledge, 2007).

David Beetham, Democracy: A Beginner’s Guide (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005).

David Held, Models Of Democracy, 3rd Edn. (Cambridge: Polity, 2006).

Fareed Zakaria, The Future Of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy At Home And Abroad, 2nd Edn. (New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton, 2007).

Ricardo Blaug And John Schwarzmantel, Eds. Democracy: A Reader (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, [N.D.]).

Robert A. Dahl, Democracy And Its Critics (New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1989).

Robert A. Dahl, Ian Shapiro And Jose Antonio Cheibub, Eds., The Democracy Sourcebook (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003).

Robert A. Dahl, On Democracy (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998).

Sanford Lakoff, Democracy: History, Theory, Practice (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1996).

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