Democracy Today (Essay Sample)

AS WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID, "DEMOCRACY IS THE WORST FORM OF GOVERNMENT, EXCEPT FOR ALL THOSE OTHER FORMS THAT HAVE BEEN TRIED FROM TIME TO TIME". FOLLOWING THIS CLAIM, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE MODERN DEMOCRACY?
Leon James
Political Science 404
February 25, 2015
There have been quite variant controversies between the supporters of oligarchy and those of democracy, which of course, has been a raging moot topic with greater heat since the middle of the last century. In Liberalism and Democracy, Andrews Bobiola notes, “although the concept of democratic governance has long been in existence, it was the emergence of the nation state government system which saw the rise and flourish of democracy in modern day”. Presently, almost seventy five percent of the world’s governments profess to be democratic. As ostensibly as democracy may be widely accepted, it still has its intrinsic cons as a system of governance. Critics of democracy allude to numerous vices that are tied to democracy as being morally corrupt, economically inept, or politically zealous .Inspiring the famous Winston Churchill statement “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” .Thus the basis of this discourse in the subsequent paragraphs.
Economic instability is one of the major flaws of modern democracy. This is well elaborated by Haggard Stephan and Robert R. Kaufman stating, “The frequent change in political power which follows the democratic concept of election every four or five years is a major source of economic instability. Since every political party has its own ideas for governing a nation, there is frequent change in policies with regard to the economy. Such changes can daunt investments and affect corporate and individual businesses, limiting the nation’s economic growth”.
Further explained In Democracy, Policy and Economic development, Amsterdam Peterson asserts that, “The limited duration of political parties in power also leads to short-termism. Because politicians know they have limited time to be in power, they mostly adopt short-term policies which promote immediate gratification for citizens so as to attract the votes of the people, even though such policies could be disadvantageous in the long run”. This clearly shows notoriety of democracies in forming fickle political parties that steer them to general elections and winning it, basically sacrificing short-term pain for long-term gains. Most young democracies, especially those in South countries suffer lack of quality educational, health and economic policies because policies are not sustained to be tried and tested. The rising government debt in the US and most democratic nations in the EU could be attributed to the economic instability and the short-termism which are major flaws of democracy.
Democracy is a recipe for anarchy and chaos. As well illustrated by Bobiola, “Ancient philosophers such as Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and Plato, were very critical of the flaws of democracy and saw the principal concept of democracy – unlimited freedom and liberty for all – as a tool of manipulation which breeds disorder and chaos in the society”. In spite of the popularity and successes of democracy in modern day governance, democracy is still prone to the manipulation of greedy and despotic politicians and political stakeholders who are ill-bent to use it as a cover to acquire power and accumulate wealth for their selfish interest creating anarchy and chaos in the society. Thomas Hobbes is of the view that democracy permits reckless liberty that usually undermines the conservation of law and order in the society.
Politicians usually exploit the antagonism between economic classes and dissimilar ethnic groups and turn them into votes for their parties. Instead of cooling the differences and passions of the people, these unscrupulous politicians most likely fan them so as to appear as their heroes. Their main propaganda tool usually the media which they have monopolized solely for achieving such courses. This creates divisions among the community and results in riots and chaos. In 2006, two major nationwide riots erupted in France, the first which started in February was economic in nature and the next which was in November was ethnic and religious in nature. This is a typical example of what diverse opinions can bring in a nation, simply called anarchy or state of lawlessness.
As well illustrated in this essay modern democracy has been faced with myriads of innate challenges, visible among them are the economic instability and anarchy; which are exhibited at varying levels in the democratic states with critical situations being in developing and underdeveloped countries while the west countries are at w...