Democracy: Perception and Application

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Democracy is a form of government that involves collaboration between the ruling class and the citizens in matters that affect the public. All citizens have equal rights and opportunities of expressing their views. ¹The notion of democracy was promoted by the United States of America. Democracy, an important component of US foreign policy, aims at promoting America’s basic values like human rights in order to create a stable, prosperous, and peaceful global environment that would enable it to pursue its national interests.

America believes that when all nations are governed democratically, they will be able to fight international terrorism, secure peace, deter aggression, promote economic development, uphold human rights, and expand open market. Although democracy may be considered as a fair form of governance, its application may not yield positive results in all countries.

²The perception of democracy varies basing on political, cultural, and religious aspects of each country. For instance, the perception of democracy in America is different from the Syria’s perspective. According to Professor Alexander Tyler, there are eight stages of democracy.³ “These are rescue of the masses from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, and eventually from dependence back to bondage”. ⁴In nature, democracy is dynamic and its application does not necessarily result in good life but returns people to the manacles of bondage that it purports to deliver them from. ⁵People have different political, religious, and cultural backgrounds and their understanding of democracy may differ.

As such, it may either promote stability or threaten the existing peace. In Western Europe countries, democracy enhances peace and stability because it enables people to air their opinion in a liberalized manner. In contrast, democracy in some countries such as Saudi Arabia may cause instability.⁶

Since democracy involves garnering majority of the votes in order to ascend to the position of political leadership, minority groups that cannot manage to get enough votes to propel them to influential political positions may resort to other means of attaining power, which may result in instability. For instance, terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida long for political power so that they can impose their religious ideologies on the masses but because they are unpopular with the masses, they may engage in violence in order to achieve their goals.

⁷Although some countries such as U.S.A may consider democracy as the best way of governance, democratic reforms in some countries may be detrimental to their national interests. For example, America may not support full democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia because influential Islamic groups may ascend to power and establish anti American policies. In addition, these groups may advance extreme religious ideologies that may transform the democratic process that propelled them into power to a dictatorial form of governance.

⁸Democracy cannot be achieved immediately. This is because of cultural and political variations among Nations. To attain democratic reforms, there should be a consensus among different political groups in order to reach an agreement on politics and leadership. For instance, in Middle East, democracy can be achieved if Islamist, secular groups, and the ruling elites agree on the means of sharing power and how they can impose their ideologies on the masses. To achieve this, a slow progress is needed in to ensure that each group is represented and catered for in the democratization process.

In conclusion, application of democracy cannot be achieved effectively because of political and cultural background of different countries. Global Democracy can only be attained if there is a consensus among different political groups.

Bibliography

Davenport, Christian. State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace. Cambridge :Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Dunn,John. Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC – 1993 AD, Oxford University Press, 1994.

Elster, Jon. Deliberative Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Hook, Steven. U.S. Foreign Policy: The Paradoxnof World Power.New York:CQ Press, 2006.

Morgan, Patrick.International Security: Problems and Solution. Boston: McGraw Hills Publishers, 2006.

Willard, Charles. Liberalism and the Problem of Knowledge: A New Rhetoric for Modern Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Footnotes

Steven, Hook. U.S. Foreign Policy: The Paradoxnof World Power.(New York:CQ Press,2006) 423.
Patrick,Morgan.International Security: Problems and Solution. (Boston: McGraw Hills Publishers, 2006) 146.
Jon,Elster.. Deliberative Democracy. (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,1998) 77.
John,Dunn. Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC – 1993 AD. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Charles,Willard, Liberalism and the Problem of Knowledge: A New Rhetoric for Modern Democracy(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,2006), 87.
Christian,Davenport, State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace (Cambridge :Cambridge University Press,2007), 97.
Steven, Hook, U.S. Foreign Policy: The Paradoxnof World Power (New York:CQ Press,2006), 414.
Patrick,Morgan ,International Security: Problems and Solution (Boston: McGraw Hills Publishers, 2006), 230.

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Democracy: Perception and Application

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