Delegative Democracies are Ambiguous Democracies (Essay Sample)

Delegative Democracies are Ambiguous Democracies
Guillermo O'Donnell coined the term "Delegative Democracy" (DD), which depicts first-time democracies emerging from autocratic rule. Delegative Democracies (DDs) are quasi-democracies because they exhibit traits improbable to lead to genuine representative democracies. In essence, such democracies are non-institutional and hence exist on a shaky limb, on the verge of reverting to authoritarian rule. However, they can still undergo a secondary transformation and become genuinely representative democracies. Destabilization is inevitable in those kinds of democracies since they have already acquired inherent social and economic problems from their dictatorial histories. Guillermo's description of DD, which states that democratic political systems allow for free elections and assure freedom of speech and expression, is somewhat supported by polyarchy. Because they often do not impose exhaustive democratic citizenry obligations, many DDs aren't real polyarchies. However, due to their inadequate infrastructure and failure to adequately meet the freedom of speech and expression, DDs are ambiguous democracies.
The inadequate institutions in DDs weaken citizens' aspirations through unchecked ruling power. DDs give their elected presidents unencumbered freedom, allowing them to operate freely and carry out their policies without the checks and balances found in true representative democracies. Negri (2021) claims that DDs have effective hierarchical responsibility but non-existent or poor horizontal accountability systems. Hence, there is a significant power disproportion between government departments because of horizontal unaccountability. Furthermore, it indicates that presidential conduct is nearly entirely free of adequate scrutiny from the other parts of government. Even though presidents are elected through democratic procedures in DDs, this does not guarantee that these rulers will provide the population's basic requirements. Such leaders are more inclined to pursue egotistical interests employing harsh measures that suppress the interests of the public. However, DD presidents often have absolute power over all other government entities. For example, according to Brill (2018), DDs have rulers who reign as they choose, restrained only by weakly defined power dynamics and legislative term restrictions. As a result, these presidents could use selfish interests to overturn the people's will in all parts of governance. As a result, DD systems become somewhat ineffective for the majority, transforming democratic systems into autocratic regimes. Ultimately, DD is a non-existent democratic structure due to its totalitarian tendencies.