The Democracy - Essay Example

No Topic3 Order 351220 Topic: No topic The words, government of the people, by the people,for the people, (The Gettysburg....) the prize-words to describe democracy, are fascinating to read. But the grassroots realities in a democratic country are hard to practice but worth it. Democracy was once considered as a Western ideal, but its value is now universally accepted. The road to democracy is always under construction. Democratization is no ordinary process. Transition to democracy and its modes and processes are even tougher subjects. Dankwart Alexander Rustow(1924-1996) is known as father of transitology, a school of thought in the field of democratization studies. He has presented thought-provoking ideas in his article Transitions to Democracy:Toward a Dynamic Model, and challenged the prevailing schools of thought as to how countries turned Democratic. His main focus is on national unity as the precondition for democracy; social and economic preconditions were relegated to the background. Transition from authoritarian rule to democracy was something different—it was consensus between the contending elites on the specified rules of the game. Modernizationists like Lispet tendered a functional question:what can enhance or preserve the health of democracy? Rustows priorities were different. He believes that the question of transition from authoritarianism is more interesting: how democracy comes to be established in a country in the first place? Though he has taken up Sweden and Turkey for his case studies, one must know that they are small countries. The route which they owned during democratization can not be the choice of big countries like India, which is multicultural, multi-religious, and has more than 700 important language groups. Rustow identified four phases that are conducive for democracy. They are, National Unity, A prolonged and inconclusive political struggle,Decision phase, Habituation phase. What are the basic conditions needed for democracy to function and what makes it thrive? The running debate amongst the scholars, one must say, is the tribute to intellectual democracy amongst them, but there is a general consensus that the impetus for change is not from international or socio-economic changes, but on account of splits within a ruling regime. It is rather an arrangement of power-sharing and pacts of convenience between the elites. The demands of the democracy are many. Man has an innate capacity for self-government and and that intense desire finds expression. But the participation of an ordinary citizen in the democratic processes is limited, to the point one can say, in the day to day functioning of democracy, it is of no consequence. The real champions of democracy are the rich middle class and industrialists to whom economic interests are paramount. The conditions required for the successful working of a democratic system, Daniel Lerner has proposed a capacity for empathy and a willingness to participate. (p.338)Many theories and explanations have been put forth and the opinions and discussion of the scholars many times, are in partial agreements with the view points of each other. The merits of democracy has been eulogized by most of them, though the paths suggested by them are in variance. “... it is now widely accepted that democracy is indeed a process of "accommodation" involving a combination of "division and cohesion"and of "conflict and consent"-to quote the key terms from a number of recent book titles,"(p.339) The debate amongst the scholars, however continues. The most puzzled lot are the intellectuals/ writers on the subject of democracy. “All scientific inquiry starts with the conscious or unconscious perception of a puzzle." What has puzzled the more influential authors evidently has been the contrast between the relatively smooth functioning of democracy in the English-speaking and Scandinavian countries and the recurrent crises and final collapse of democracy in the French Third and Fourth Republics and in the Wiemar Republic of Germany.”(p.339) This being the position, many ancillary questions related to the human behavior, cultural factors, genetics, come to the fore as to how democracies function or what is the area of strain to turn them non-functional. Rustow examines one possible model of the transition to democracy thus: In the process of examination he runs into immediate difficulties, and he gives the example of military dictatorships which originate at secret meetings for the intended armed revolt. To sustain themselves in the seat of power, they resort to propaganda war and publicity. Support from the civilian sections also is selectively sought. “Charismatic leaders, according to Max Weber, establish their claim to legitimacy by performing seeming miracles but preserve it through routinization. A hereditary monarchy rests most securely on the subjects unquestioning acceptance of immemorial tradition; it evidently cannot be erected on such a principle. (p.341) With no fixed system to evaluate the level of democracy in a particular country, the other option is to agree that the actual functioning of democracy varies between two countries or in the same country in two different periods of time. Economics of a country affects the functioning of a democracy; the vice-versa is also true. There is a strong connection between the economics and the political set up of a country. The democracy in a rich country is different from its functioning in a poor country. Both democracies may be stable, but the reasons are entirely different. The decorations of democracy are infinite. The road to the mansion of democracy is ever under construction. Nothing like the final frontier of democracy exists. Let us take the example of a particular country where democratic traditions are prevalent, say for the last 50 years. In principle, from the legal point of view, perfect democracy prevails there, the elections are held every five years, as prescribed under the constitution etc. But the functional aspect of the governments that have occupied the power of seat during those ten tenures, may be much different. Different parties might have occupied the seats of power and their economic policies may be different , which in turn will affect the standard of living of the people. Even if the same party is in power, its style of functioning and the policies will differ depending on the size of majority. If the party is ruling with a wafer-thin majority, its prime concern would be to retain the seat of power, for which it would be willing to make compromises on the economic policies pursued. When the discontent level rises amongst the people, due to the impact of bad economic policies, the threat of take-over by a military dictator looms large. This remedy has many times, proved worst than the original disease, people have suffered more and have again launched agitations for reverting to democratic system of government. Rustow is fully aware of the limitations of the functioning of the democracies. The process of adaption is a continuous process. He writes, “ democratic behavior and their beliefs may adjust in due course by some process of rationalization or adaptation. To seek causal explanations,.... does not imply simple-mindedness. Specifically, we need not assume that the transition to democracy is a world-wide uniform process, that it always involves the same social classes, the same types of political issues, or even the same methods of solution. On the contrary, it may be well to assume with Harry Eckstein that a wide variety of social conflicts and of political contents can be combined with democracy." (p.345) Conclusion: The final word on the subject of democracy is yet to be written. Perhaps it will never be written. Finality on any issue is not in keeping with the democratic traditions! Democracy can be compared to a beautiful garden of vast expanse. It has to be maintained well, which is not an ordinary job. Rustow has done the hard work to analyze majority of the aspects related to democracy. The intellectuals, politicians, social-scientists and lovers of democracy look forward to his works with admiration and at the same time with an analytical/critical approach taking into consideration the ever-changing scenario in various countries. Works Cited: File by the customer. The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln... – Retrieved on January 20,2010. Read More