MODEL OF DEMOCRACY

WESTERN VS COMMUNIST

General Forms of Democracy:

Democracy has taken a number of forms, both in theory and practice. The following kinds are not exclusive of one another: many specify details of aspects that are independent of one another and can co-exist in a single system.

·         Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens participate in the decision-making personally, contrary to relying on intermediaries or representatives. The supporters of direct democracy argue that democracy is more than merely a procedural issue. A direct democracy gives the voting population the power to:

o    Change constitutional laws,

o    Put forth initiatives, referendums and suggestions for laws,

o    Give binding orders to elective officials, such as revoking them before the end of their elected term, or initiating a lawsuit for breaking a campaign promise.

·         Indirect or Representative Democracy involves the selection of government officials by the people being represented. If the head of state is also democratically elected then it is called a democratic republic. The most common mechanisms involve election of the candidate with a majority or a plurality of the votes. A characteristic of representative democracy is that while the representatives are elected by the people to act in their interest, they retain the freedom to exercise their own judgment as how best to do so.

·         Parliamentary democracy is a representative democracy where government is appointed by parliamentary representatives as opposed to a 'presidential rule' wherein the President is both head of state and the head of government and is elected by the voters. Under a parliamentary democracy, government is exercised by delegation to an executive ministry and subject to ongoing review, checks and balances by the legislative parliament elected by the people.

·         Liberal model of democracy is a representative democracy in which the ability of the elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law, and usually moderated by a constitution that emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals.

·         Communist model of Democracy is a type of democracy, which implies necessarily the end of the division between different classes of society. It is part of the workers' democratic movement, and struggles :

o    for the abolition of capitalism, wage labour, and the division of human beings into social classes ;

o    for the end of the dictatorship of the capitalist class, and to replace it with direct democracy;

o    for a socialist-communist society;

o    for the end of sexism and male domination;

Major Types of Democracy in present context:

In present context, Democracy can be classified into two types: These are western and communist model.

Types of Democracy

Western Model

Communist Model

 

Western model of Democracy:

Western model of democracy can also be considered as liberal democracy. Comparatively, this model of democracy is open than communist model. Because, in western "real-democracy" the people have more power than in an autocratic system, however, that is very limited.

John Locke says people in the state of nature had three natural rights: right to life, right to liberty and right to property.

Political scientist Peter H. Merkl has mentioned four principle of liberal democracy in his book named “Political Continuity and Change”. These are:

·         Democracy is a government by consent. That can be acquired by public discussion or periodic election.

·         Majority rule which means the decisions are taken by the majority vote on the principle of one-person – one vote.

·         The recognition of minority rights through legal safeguards.

·         Constitutional government, which means a government by laws and not by personal interests.

Allan Ball has added some principles of democracy. These are:

·         Multi party system and political competetion among such party to acquire people’s support and political power.

·         Protection of civil liberty.

Liberal political scientist says: democracy is the only political system, where both political order and progress can go together and there is no necessity of a revolution.

Liberal democracy permits plural character. It emphasizes the role of multi party system and pressure groups in a political system. Thus, pluralist political scientists blamed the political system of former USSR and China is undemocratic because of not alloweing plural system. Plural concept admits that power in society is shared by many groups.

Robert A. Dahl, Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University who support western democracy said that, in a democratic process of making collectively binding decisions, each citizen must have an adequate and equal opportunity of expressing a preference concerning the final outcome, and the preferences expressed must be taken equally into account.

In western model of democracy, like liberal democracy, people should have right to participate in political activities. Basically, as western model of democracy, liberal democracy may include following elements:

·         political pluralism;

·         equality before the law;

·         the right to petition

·         elected officials for redress of grievances;

·         due process; civil liberties; human rights; and

·         elements of civil society outside the government

Western model compares democracy with first generation of human rights. The first generation of human rights covers civil and political rights. Civil rights include right to life, liberty and equilty. On the other hand, political rights include right to participate in political matters, right to vote, right to hold public posts on the basis of approved norms and values.

There is a global intrument on Democracy called “Universal Declaration of Democracy – UDD”. The Declaration has determined key principles of Democracy. It includes following:

·         Freedom, equality, transparency and responsibility, with due respect for the plurality of views as conditions of democracy.

·         No one is above the law and all are equal before the law.

·         Peace and economic, social and cultural development are both conditions for and fruits of democracy.

·         The key element in the exercise of democracy is the holding of free and fair elections. These elections must be held on the basis of universal, equal and secret suffrage so that all voters can choose their representatives in conditions of equality, openness and transparency that stimulate political competition.

·         Function of the State to ensure the enjoyment of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights to its citizens.

·         Public accountability, which is essential to democracy, applies to all those who hold public authority.

·         People participation should be accepted every matter of state.

·         Judicial institutions and independent, impartial and effective oversight mechanisms are the guarantors for the rule of law

·         Active civil society is an essential element of democracy

·         The state of democracy presupposes freedom of opinion and expression

Comparision between Western and Communist model of democracy:

·         Even the elite groups of the western industrialized countries have not been content to understand democracy as meaning self-government by the citizens. It has sufficed here too when democracy has meant that the rulers represent the people. The criteria for representation are, however, different: those in power must be chosen by free elections with at least two parties participating. Even though this 'western democracy' gives citizens better opportunities for having an influence than peoples' democracy, it is nevertheless still a far cry from the ideal of democracy.

·         A certain degree of freedom of speech is one of the more important achievements of democracy in the West.

·         Even though the possibilities of citizens to influence matters within the framework of western democracy are few, there are fortunately other ways of implementing democracy: people can join together, form action groups and movements. By means of a movement's internal culture and information citizens can start to free themselves from the control of the governing elite and its ideology, and of their own apathy and despair.

Definition of Democracy

·         The Greek philosopher Cleon defined in 422 BC the term democracy. He said, that shall be democractic which shall be of the people, by the people, for ther people.

·         Former US President Lincoln defined democracy as the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

·         H.B. Mayo writes, a democratic political system is one which public policies are made on majority basis by representative subject to effective popular control at periodic elections, which are conducted on the principle of the political equality and under conditions of political freedom.

·         Prof A.V. Diecy says: democracy is a form of government in which the governing body is a comparatively large fraction of the entire nation.

·                     Gettell says: democracy is that form of government in which the mass of the population possesses the right to share in the exercise of soverreign power.

Classification of democracy:

a)       Direct and indirect democracy:

·         In a direct democracy, all the people assemble at one place and decide the matters which concern them. In the small city siates of ancient Greece, the adult male citizens were expected to meet together in the assembly and decide the important issues of the day. Direct democracy is found in Canton system of Switzerland.

·         In direct democracy or representative democracy is that form of government in which the people elect their representative to carry on the administration of the country. In other other words, it is a representative form of government, in which sovereignty is vested in the people’s hand. People control over the government through periodic election. Indirect or representative democracy is the prevailing form of democracy in the world.

Conditions necessary for successful Working of Democracy:

·         Democracy demands that there should be a high standard of honest and honour among the people.

·         The people should have a high level of intellegence and a sound system of education.

·         The people should be conscious of the community as a whole and a strong sense of solidarity.

·         The people must take interest in public affairs. That is possible only if they are given an opportunity for effective participation in politics.