Democracy and Stability

Democracy creates stability in a society

The discussion on how democracy is able to create stability in a society would be based on these three articles
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2006/issue3/0306p29.htm http://www.thelockeinstitute.org/journals/luminary_v1_n1_p3.html
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/street/pl38/demo.htm

Democracy establishes stability in a society politically and socially. Economical stability is heavily influenced by the circumstances of the world, and is less significantly affected by any form of government. The stability of a society would definitely contribute towards the economy of the country as people are able to concentrate on the economy in a stable society. While it is observed that democracy fails to establish stability in certain countries, it is usually due to the exploitation of the democratic system, or undesirable outcomes through democracy. It should be noted that the failure of the implement of stability in these countries is not due to the nature of democracy itself.

Representative democracy creates political stability. The nature of the elective government in representative democracy considers everyone’s opinion regardless of their social differences. This would create equality in the decision of the government, ensuring the validity of the outcome. The nature of the elective government allows for both support and challenge to the political party in question. This ensures that the eventually elected government has the support of the majority, drastically decreasing the potential conflicts as the majority would be contended. This decrease in the potential conflicts would contribute towards the stability of the society.

Consensual democracy creates social stability. The policies are discussed and agreed upon before they are established. The people would be able to challenge in the proposed policies before they are implemented. This would create stability as the people would be satisfied with the eventual outcome as their opinions would be addressed if the policy is established. While it is impractical to have everyone in the society to reach upon an agreement, compromises could always be arranged.

Representative democracy seems to create conflict in a society when the majority does not overcome the minority by a significant margin. In Taiwan, the majority only won the election through a marginal difference, and the minority persists to put forth its movements which opposes that of the majority’s, creating conflict. As such, representative democracy is subjected to instability when the majority does not surpass the minority convincingly. However, I believe that the underlying factor which has resulted in the conflicts is due to the extreme polarity of the two opposing parties, which leads to their inability to accept the established government.

Representative democracy could possibly lead to tyranny of the majority over the minority as seen in the case of Sri Lanka, where the Sinhalese discriminate against the Tamils. This would lead to conflict between the majority and minority due to the discrimination's that the minority face. However, this is caused by the absence of responsible government and the failure to take action for the minority.

In conclusion, democracy creates stability in a society as it promotes equality, allows for freedom of choice and seeks to meet the concerns of the population in attempt to prevent conflicts. The conflicts that arise in democratic countries is due to the failure of the subjected government.

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