You may have seen news about the recent midterm elections in America. This week, we examine democracy as a political system and its accompanying strengths and limitations.
Firstly, what is democracy? It is a system of government with key elements such as free elections for people to elect their leaders, active participation from the citizens, protection of human rights of all citizens, and a rule of law where laws apply to all citizens equally. This is the ideal concept of democracy.
Watch this video to hear from the people what they think about democracy:
A survey titled ‘Democracy Perception Index 2018’ found that a majority of people living in democratic societies do not believe that their leaders are working in the best interest of the public.
Yet, most of the world believe that democracy is the way. According to this dataset by Our World in Data, most countries 200 years ago were autocratically ruled or under colonial rule. Today, most countries are democracies.
Democracy may not be suitable for every country
Take the case of Bhutan – a relatively young democracy of 10 years – which is starting to find itself discontented with democracy. As a fairly traditional country which measures their Gross National Happiness as one of the indicator of success and has a culture deeply rooted with Buddhism philosophies, politicking for votes can feel contradictory to its culture. Some voters expressed the longing for the previous system of monarchy rule under a beloved and benevolent king.
They are also struggling with the effects of new technology on elections, as social media gives anonymity that lead to insults and disharmony in the society. Back in 2015, the survey of the nation’s happiness levels indicated a decrease in two of nine indicators.
The country is finding its own way to run a democratic society and it remains to be seen if the costs of becoming democratic are worth the price for the long-term benefits to be gained.
Technology is changing the way democracy is playing out
In this article adapted from his book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuvul Noah Harari laid out the prospects of how technology is changing the human-computer interactions and the impacts on structures of governance. Leaps in development of information technology and biotechnology may be obsoleting a class of people, and the masses fear irrelevance. Emotions like fear may lead to leverage for politicians to play on those fears for votes.
As the advancement of technology increases job volatility, people are subjected to constant renewal and relearning of skills. Harari questioned the ability of people in coping with such constant change. If a new class of people with little economic power emerges, they might also lose their political power, and it becomes easier for governments to monitor and control them. New digital dictatorships could emerge with the help of surveillance systems and it is interesting to note that several democracies are building these systems too.
Questions for further personal evaluation:
- What are the benefits for nations under democratic rule?
- Do you think every nation should be democratic?
Useful vocabulary:
- ‘fervid’: intensely enthusiastic or passionate, especially to an excessive degree
- ‘blip’: an unexpected, minor, and typically temporary deviation from a general trend
- ‘ephemeral’: lasting for a very short time.
- ‘demagoguery’: an appeal to people that plays on their emotions and prejudices rather than on their rational side
Here are more related articles for further reading:
- Vox: An argument in support of a different system where politically informed citizens’ votes are more powerful.
“In 2016, Georgetown University political philosopher Jason Brennan published a controversial book, ‘Against Democracy’. He argued that democracy is overrated — that it isn’t necessarily more just than other forms of government, and that it doesn’t empower citizens or create more equitable outcomes.
According to Brennan, we’d be better off if we replaced democracy with a form of government known as “epistocracy.” Epistocracy is a system in which the votes of people who can prove their political knowledge count more than the votes of people who can’t. In other words, it’s a system that privileges the most politically informed citizens.”
- Huffington Post: An opinion piece on Singapore’s idea of democracy and the results of it.
“When we turn to “freedom to” metrics, however, one-party Singapore scores well below the U.S. on three of our core freedoms: “freedom of expression and belief,” “associational and organizational rights” and “political pluralism and participation.” In its overall freedom score, the U.S. earns Freedom House’s highest ranking, Singapore stands in the middle of the contenders and the Philippines about halfway between the two. Moreover, Pew Research, which conducts a survey on government treatment of religion, finds that Singapore imposes “very high” barriers on the exercise of faith.”
Picture credits: https://unsplash.com/photos/IBWJsMObnnU