Role of political parties on Democratic Governance (Essay Sample)

Role Of Political Parties In Democratic Governance
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Role of political parties in democratic governance
Throughout ages since time memorial, different types of governance have been deployed and most of them haven’t worked better as democratic governance has. In a democracy, the views and aspirations of the majority take the day. It is believed that the majority is always right even if the views of the minority might be right. In a democracy, institutions function according to the democratic processes outlined in the constitution of that democracy (Handyman, 2018). The democratic processes might be internal or external. Some of the institutions that play a role in a democracy are; political parties, civil society, churches among others.
On the question of whether political parties are a problem or a solution to democratic governance, my position is that they are a solution to democratic governance. Am going to support my position by explaining clearly what democratic governance is and what it entails, am also going to link my explanation on the role of political parties in building democracies. For this reason, this paper should include citations and references.
A democracy is people-centered governance. Political leaders get chosen through a democratic process to go into government to protect their interest. A democracy prevents monopoly of authority in a government through carrying out elections periodically. It also promotes equality among people through the rule of law. A democracy is responsible for a responsible and stable government. It also has a responsibility of doing and carrying out the will of the people in policy formulation. I will not forget that a democracy has the obligation of educating its citizens on matters political, economic and social. There is little chance of a revolution in a country with democracy since the government in place is formed by the majority. A democracy also promotes change since different leaders come up with different views and laws on the failures of a current regime. If the citizens buy the idea, they get elected and change things (Handyman, 2018).
I believe in an ideal situation if all the roles of a democracy listed above are well achieved, and then a nation will grow economically and socially. But it is not possible to achieve that if there are no political parties in place. Most governments have three major branches, the judiciary, the executive and the legislature. The judiciary has mainly professionals although its top leadership is political, the executive and the legislature have mainly politicians who are democratically elected. Without political parties, how can such leaders be elected, if for example, we choose to appoint them, who will do that given the fact that all humans are biased in nature? No matter how much you can think of it, political parties are very important in this process of electing leaders to the legislature and the executive.
For parliament, which is one of the pillars of a democratic governance, to function and work properly, there must be political parties. Parliament represents the interest of the people and clearly, as I have stated above, one role of a democracy is to protect the interest of the people. The question arises on how the interest of the people can be known. This solution is given by the political parties. Leaders who get elected as leaders get the backing of the people based on the solutions and interests they shared with the electorate during campaigns. Leaders are chosen along party lines and they represent the people along party lines. The majorities usually have their way and the minorities have their say when it comes to representing the people in parliament (Inoguchi & Blondel, 2013).
Democracies promote equality through policy formulation. Parties’ play a very big role in policy formulation. This is captured in the party constitution which states what the party stands for and also during campaigns; the electorate has the advantage of getting those policy objectives given by the parties. They will have the luxury of weighing out the policies that fit the majority of them and elect the leaders who resonate with the public feeling. Major areas in which most electorate looks into are policies on matters to do with security, internal laws and order, social economic policies among other areas ((Aditya, et al, 2016).
People have a right to know what is happening in the government. Most governments like human beings are evil and seek to satisfy selfish interests. Democracies, however, have the obligation to inform their people on what is happening in the government. You cannot know what is happening inside if you are not part of the process. This is where political parties come in....