The Most Essential Characteristics of a Democracy - Essay Example

Running head: WHAT ARE THE MOST ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A DEMOCRACY? What Are The Most Essential Characteristics Of A Democracy? Insert Insert Grade Course Insert Tutor’s Name 7 December 2010 What Are The Most Essential Characteristics Of A Democracy? Introduction Democracy is simply defined as the right to vote freely. However, it also has other dimensions; for instance, it refers to a system of governance where leaders are chosen in free and fair elections, the citizens have the liberty to participate in civic and political activities, the human rights of people are upheld, and lastly the rule of law is applied equally to all persons (Shultz, 2002, p.1). Some basic characteristics of democracy are that: first, all adult citizens exercise their civic and power responsibility directly or through elected representative. Secondly, democracy should rest on majority rule and individual rights, protection of basic human rights like freedom of speech, religion, conducting free and fair elections where the citizens have rights to participate. In sovereign rule, the highest authority rests with the people; however, in other forms of governments, namely authoritarianism and communism, the sovereign power lies on some individuals or a small group of people in the society (Woolfe & Rawcliffe, 2005 p.4). Moreover, there are many requirements that a nation must meet to be defined as a democratic nation. This paper explores the nations of North Korea and Burma as nations that do not meet basic characteristics of a democratic nation. The nations do not have a clear process of elections, as one is a monarchy while the other is governed by the military. In addition, the human rights records of both countries are not good, while the ruling elite of the two countries view their system as democratic but by the characteristics of democracy, they are far off. Burma Burma, a nation in the Asia pacific, has limited level of democracy. It is under military juntas – the State Development and peace council (SDPC) rule has for a very long time, been involved in repressive acts; and the human rights are not observed among other oppression. For instance, the key opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy has been under house arrest for a long time. In addition, Burma has not conducted parliamentary elections since 1990; however, the nation the ruling military junta endorsed a new constitution in 2008 that was passed in a referendum which is seen as fraudulent by many (Martin, 2010, p.1). In the 1990 parliamentary elections, the National League for Democracy won the elections but the military turned them down (Congress, 2010, p.14486). In addition, the juntas set up laws that would limit registration, organization, and operations of political parties. The selection of the persons to sit in the Electoral commission was done by the military; hence, the process of elections was subjective. In this case, members elected in the commission are all affiliated to the ruling military juntas. Moreover, the electoral commission’s decisions cannot be appealed in Burma judicial courts; and worse still, the registered political parties are restricted in their activities while new ones are met with strict regulations that are meant to keep them off. The referendum held in February 2008 was mulled with many fraudulent incidents and was far from being fair. The most undoing at the time was the decision of the juntas to conduct the referendum at a time the nation was experiencing a natural disaster, Cyclone Nargis, which prevented many people from voting (Martin, 2010, p.4). Human rights in Burma In order to establish their repressive régime, the SDPC have been violating the human rights of citizens; for instance, people who opposed the systems have been tortured and some murdered (Congress, 2010, p.14486). In addition, freedom of speech is greatly restricted as the state controls the media industry, while foreign media houses are not allowed to cover the affairs within the nation. Moreover, the opposition leader had been under house arrest for ten years and released only November 2010, thus causing much outcry from activists and governments around the world. The constitution of Burma denies some groups of people the right to participate in political activities through either voting or vying for political office. These people include members of religious order, persons in prison, people who are outside the country illegally, and civil servants. For instance, the opposition leader Asung Suu Kyi is prohibited from vying for political party, belonging to a political party, or voting in elections. The government also limits the freedom of religion if it feels that religion is being used for political purposes. Moreover, the judicial system is always used to spread the interests of the junta, and it is not applied equally to all citizens. In other respects, the Burmese government promotes democracy as outlined below. The constitution provides suffrage rights for every person who is 18 years old and over in spite of their background, except certain groups like religious leaders. In addition, there are comprehensive arrangements that are aimed at bringing back quality human rights to Burmese people (Soohoo, Albisa and Davis, 2007, p.134). North Korea North Korea is a totalitarian state; it has one political party and the leaders of this party come from one family. The nation’s leaders believe that the country is democratic and this is shown by the name of the nation, “Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea” (Quiñones & Tragert, 2003, p.143). However, the level of democracy has been declining in North Korea since 1960; studies show that the level of democracy in 1960 and 1965 was about 21 and in 1980, it was 11 in the scale, but since the 80s, democracy decline to very low levels as Korea index in 2008 was 0.86 (Dalha, Shapiro and Cheibub, 2003, p.529). North Korea is an authoritarian regime whose politics are based on one political party. Primarily, the president of the country, Kim Jong-il who succeeded his father in 1994 has the absolute control of the country and the government. This kind of leadership is not likely to end soon, as it has been observed that, the president who has been speculated to be in ill health is grooming his younger son to take over from him. This is evident from the recent conference, where the son, Kim Jong-Un’s status in the army was raised to four stars general. The president however retained his position as the party leader of (WPK). The one party in North Korea, Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK) always runs its affairs in an undemocratic manner. In addition, Quiñones & Tragert (2003 p.143) observe that the membership of the party is primarily made up of the loyal workers and allies to the leader, thus giving little or no room for democratic decision making. Nevertheless, the world sees North Korea as a communist nation though it has revised its constitution not to bear the term communism. Political structure Being a one-party country where the president exercises unlimited powers, there is absolute tendency for the leadership to practice centralism by controlling the government and the society (Quiñones, & Tragert, 2003, p.144). Generally, the Workers party of Korea has three organs that include Central Committee of Politburo, Politburo, and the Party congress. All these arms of the party are headed by allies of the leader and not democratically elected persons. For instance, the current president was not elected as he succeeded his father in 1994, while the younger son of the president is set to take over from his father. Generally, the state has severe restrictions on political and economic involvement. Korea has two other small parties, the social Democratic Party and Chondoist Chongu Party; these two parties have accepted the dominance of the WPK and sometimes support the ideology of WPK. Human rights in Korea North Korea is a closed and secretive country, hence making it difficult for the outside world to assess the level of human rights violation in the country. Unfortunately, it is believed that the government, through its strong military, constantly violates the rights of its citizens. The state limits the movement of its people out of the country in fear that once people left, they would defect to other nations. However, there is a large number of persons migrating from North Korea and seeking refuge in the neighboring China, with the main reasons given being political oppression or desire for political freedom (Human Rights Watch, 2002, p.2). Political defectors run the risks of torture, beatings, or even murder/assassination if the government identifies them. There are repressive policies that discriminate or reprove people based on their family background or political inclinations. In addition, repatriated persons are legally responsible to detention in labour camps for prolonged periods of time or death penalty. Nevertheless, being a secretive country that limits the entrance of foreign visitors or journalist in the country, freedom of speech is muzzled through full control of the press by the state (Committee on Homeland security & Government affairs, 2006, p.15). Another aspect that shows lack of democracy the country is the fact that the government forces its citizens to work in factories and other workplaces with low wages or no pay. In addition, the working conditions in such areas are very harsh, while there is no special preference for the old or children; for example, the retired people are forced to work in opium farms through a direct order from the supreme commander while children are forced to cultivate in farms, exposing them to difficult labour that their young bodies cannot handle. Korea does not have a free, independent, and accountable judicial system. Even in its state, the judicial system does not take account of rights of the citizens and does not provide proper trial for political prisoners (Derouen & Bellamy, 2008, p.564). Primarily, the judges in the system are selected by the SPA who monitors how they conduct their jobs. It is therefore not surprising to observe that Korea has one of the highest levels of capital punishments where defectors, political prisoners, and soldiers suspected of treason are sentence to death even without a good trial. It is estimated that up to 200,000 people are held in political custody camps and another staggering figure to have died in police custody. In spite of all these, the state of North Korea has consented to four important UN conventions on human rights. Conclusion The basic characteristic of a democracy are rights of the citizens to participate in civic and political activities, as well as elections that are free and fair where basic human rights are upheld and the rule of law applies to all persons without discrimination. Some democracies do not meet all characteristics; hence, they operate as partial democracies. The nations of North Korea and Burma have a system of governance that is not clear democracy, where the rule of law is not applied equally to all citizens, while the citizens are denied rights to participate fully in elections by either vying or electing leaders. In addition, the rights of people are violated greatly and there are restrictions to basic rights like freedom of movement. Moreover, the top leaders on these nations are not democratically chosen by their citizen; in the case of North Korea, the presidency position is passed down the family line. 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CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Woolfe, A. & Rawcliffe, J., 2005 Democracy. London: Evans Brothers. Read More