Democracy is a system of government by which political sovereignty is retained by the people and either exercised directly by citizens or through their elected representatives. In other words, a democracy is the government of the people by the people.
Nowadays, there are many countries in the world which use democracy as their policies. Some of them, like Singapore and Korea, have successfully achieved prosperity. But some though have tried hard to implement democracy; still do not have prominent progress.
What kind of society is considered stable? In my opinion, the country must be affluent, and also united. If people suffered in poverty and formed many factions which hide different intentions behind the semblance of accord, the country would not exist for long.
Democracy provides each citizen with equal right to vote or to speak. Their elected representatives would fulfill their wishes. Then there will be no potential riotous factor and nation-disintegrated possibility existed.
So, democracy does create stability of society. One example is the feedback system in Singapore which looks at ideas from people for improvement in public service. With democracy, people are free to express their ideas and suggestions to the transparent and fair government. Some of their contributions from people can be very effective that may considerably help the government to overcome some of the problems. Simply to say, this policy helps the country to have positive changes and development.
This and the consensus of people promote social stability not only economically but also politically. This also explains why democratic states are ranked high in the 2005 Human Development Index.
But on the other hand, democracy does not always create stability.
In India, although it is developing at a fast rate, many people still live in poverty. The rich are getting richer while the poor are still being marginalized and are not able to maintain a decent standard of living.
The condition of Indian economic is pretty poor and how can we expect that it has a stable society?
What goes wrong is the corruption and money politics. Even during election, celebrities were roped in for running for seats. The parties were offering cash ranging from 50,000 rupees to 500,000 rupees a day. Gradually, the high cost unable the Indian economic to finance normally, which made the nation unstable.
Politically, as for the election which is said to be dominated by democracy, it is also quite unfair. The candidates could use all devices to persuade the voters. Such as in Indonesia, millions of T-shirts, bearing party logos or politicians’ mug shots were handed out, and more creative camps even distributed sneakers, cigarettes or bottled water. The most important aspect of good government is having able men in charge. Able men are selected from election, but according to what Lee Kuan Yew has said, “It is very difficult when you have popular elections, as a candidate is not judged by his ability to govern but by his persuasive power.” Through democracy, leaders can be selected in compliance with the willing of the people, but if the leader is able to maintain a stable nation is still a question.
In all, democracy can be a two-side knife, as soon as people get rights to vote, to speak and to take part in more activities, the potential instability gradually emerges. Since, not all people can have one consensus, there must be majority and minority, and then the conflict between them would not come to an end.
So, we have to apply democracy in a proper way, and then social stability might then be temporarily created.
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