The Groth of Democracy and Democratic Features - Coursework Example

English Research Essay Introduction The 20th century has witnessed the transformation of most of the countries of the world into democratic states. According to Larry (2015, p. 141), the world has never witnessed such a continuous growth of democracy ever since the human race came into being. Democratic states in this regard refer to the states under the rule of democratic governments and presumed to be a rule of people, by the people and for the people (Dahl, 1989, p. 5-7). On the other hand, some other states of the world have redirected their efforts towards stabilizing their economies for the well being of the native citizens. While democracy has seen growth and expansion of the level of freedom; political and civil rights in the different states of the world, the prevailing stability of economies of some nations has ensured a good life for the individual citizens. In major democratic states of the world today, people have the freedom to participate in fair and free elections, freedom to assemble and participate in communal activities, right to fair trial, right to life and security amongst others (Dahl, 1989, p. 151). Also, the different governments have the mandate of protecting their citizens against harm emanating from other people, organizations or even other governments as stipulated by the constitutions of the many states (Thomas, 2002, p. 5-21).With a democratic government, constitution is the most powerful weapon and not even a president is above the law. Nevertheless, the stability of the country’s economy is the basis of determining the country’s economic development (FitzGerald, 1999. 10-30). In the recent past, serious questions have been raised by different scholars in matters relating to the element of democracy in a state and its relation to the economic development of such nations and has left many wondering, if democracy is such an important element to economic development, why then do we still have so many nations of the global south struggling yet they embraced the democratic form of government decades ago? Do economic developments have anything to do with the type of governance in a country? There are a number quite a number of major countries of the world who have not yet embraced democracy as a form of governance and others are withdrawing from it yet they are in scaling heights of economic developments (Kormendi and Meguire, 1985, p. 141-163). Do we then say that a stable economy is more important than a democratic government? Such questions and others can only be answerable by critically reviewing the products of a democratic government; political stability, equitable distribution of resources and enforcement of human rights while at the same time reviewing the products of a stable economy; employment vacancies, great investment opportunities, stable prices on the goods and services in the market as well as a strong currency. Arguments for a Stable Economy and Against Democratic Governments Gerring et.al (1985, p. 324) once stated that “democracy is a luxury to be enjoyed only by the countries rich enough to afford it.” This is an argument that has been very common amongst the authoritarian leaders of the world and has acted as a major defense to their systems of governance. Such leaders therefore feel that the type of governance in a country has nothing to do with the economic status of the country (Gerring et.al, 1985, p. 325). To them, stability of the economy is the main thing. A stable economy is an economy where there are fewer market risks; inflation, economic recession and economic depressions. Presence of such economic disasters in a country does not only shake the economy of a country but also damage the lives of the different individual citizens (Stiglitz, 2000, p. 1075). Economic recessions, depressions and inflation are key contributing factors to the collapse of businesses and companies in a country (Stiglitz, 2000, p. 1075-1086). Further, they contribute to loss of jobs since most businesses close down as others retrench their staff members to reduce the amount of salaries so as to ensure that the company or the business makes it through the trying times. This has a direct impact on the lives of the different persons for without employment the individual persons are forced to live within their means. Further, access to good education and better health care becomes practically impossible for them and their family members. Poverty becomes a big friend and even good upbringing of the children becomes a challenge not only to the individuals but to the society in general. Big nations of the world such as China have never embraced the democratic system of governance and yet China has turned to be among the most developed and powerful states there are in the world today (Allen et.al, 2005, p. 57-116). Ever since China became independent in the late 1940s, it adopted the authoritarian system of governance. Over the years, no change in the system of governance in China has been witnessed despite the democracy wave of the 20th century (Challen, 2005. P6). How then did China manage to become a world super power? When other developing nations of the world were committing their resources towards democratizing their nations, China committed its key resources to abolition of poverty at the communal level (Xu, 2011, p. 1076-1151).The Chinese government mainly engaged in expansion of both the public and the private sectors such that it was able for these sectors to provide adequate employment to its vast population (Allen et.al, 2005, p. 57-116). Further, the Chinese government was committed towards expanding the foreign domestic investment (FDI) in the country what further extended the employment opportunities in the country. Within decades, China was able to climb from being a developing nation to a developed state. China is today is also known for its stern laws against global vices such ad corruption and other economic crimes. According to the Chinese laws, graft and bribery charges are punishable by death and all of the wealth of such individuals becomes the wealth of the state (Zhao, 2011, p. 248). In democratic nations, such laws are not possible since they do undermine the human rights of the citizens. Recently, human rights activists of the world are pressuring the Chinese government to drop some of the economic crimes carrying the death penalty (Zhao, 2011, p. 248). The law worked for China and I feel that it can also be an effective tool to fight corruption that has for long undermined the economic development especially in the nations of global south. Arguments for a democratic government and against a stable economy The 20th century and part of the 19th century has been characterized by formation of democratic governments in most states of the world. In fact in the early 1970s and 1980s only the United States and some other few European governments were democratic states (Gerring et.al, 1985, p. 324-326). The same states that began the journey to the democratization of the world are today among the most developed nations of the world with the best world economies. Democracy itself does not only come along with respect to the rule of law, human rights and political stability but also puts an end to marginalization of certain communities in a country by certain leaders. Fair share of wealth has been considered a key element to economic development in a country (Stiglitz, 2000, p. 1075-1086). Economists of the world have indicated that most of the African states today are steadily growing economically. The underlying reason being, most of the African states have embraced the democratic systems of governance. Democracy is a key factor to political stability in a country and a vital element to international relations with other countries of the world. Without political stability, there is no room even for foreign domestic investment and expansion of the domestic industries leave alone a room for foreign grants from other nations and world organizations such as the World Bank. Most of the countries of the global south adequately depend on the international community for loans and grants to finance their annual budgets. Without a stable political climate, no international nation would risk to offer such grants. Political instability is therefore a major stumbling block to economic development of the different nations of the world especially in Africa and Middle East (Roy, 2012, p. 5-15). Further, political instability objects to the creation of investment opportunities in a particular nation. This translates to lack of employment opportunities to the local population and inadequate goods in the market. Further, a civil war may ensue as citizens are likely to fight over share of economic resources available in a country. It is possible to have a state with a very stable economy but without democracy. But, what is the essence of economic stability without equal share of the prevailing market opportunities? Looking at some of the great nations of the world such as China and Russia who have further continued to embrace authoritarianism as the better form of governance, these nations are developed yes but what about their native citizens? In China for example, cases of underpayment by some local and multinational companies operating in the country is a common issue. Apple Company has in the recent past been accused of underpaying its workers based in China (Clleland, 2014, p. 83). What is then the importance of a government that cannot protect its citizens against exploitation by the multinational corporations? It is like on the outside the country is branded ‘a developed state’ for its massive investments and giant GDP but still breeding in the inside. According to Larry (2015, p. 145) countries especially the developing nations are still lagging behind for their failure to fully embrace democracy in their systems of governance as well as the prevailing democracy breakdown. There have been twenty five democratic breakdowns in different countries of the world since the year 2000 and still counting (Larry, 2015, p. 145). Conclusion Both a stable economy and a democratic government are vital elements to the economic developments of the different nations of the world. Some people would argue that a stable economy is more important to a state than a democratic government while other would prefer a democratic government to a stable economy. The bottom line is, both have merits and demerits and it depends on who the stable economy or the democratic government will affect. Is it the country in general or is it the individual citizens. to me, a stable economy is more important than a democratic government in the sense that democracy has been recently accused of favoring the culprits responsible of economic crimes such as grant and bribes in the different parts of the world (Larry, 2015, p. 145-149). Also, instability of the economy directly impacts the lives of the different individual citizens. For example, when a country faces an economic recession, the individual citizens are directly affected since there is likelihood that they will lose jobs. Even with an effective democratic government in play, the government would do very little to prevent such economic occurrences. The government will even not be able to provide adequate employment to the individuals who lose their jobs or fully compensate the businesses that collapse as a result of such economic disasters. But with a stable economy and an undemocratic government, it is possible that individual citizens will survive the reign as long as there are no war crimes. In fact, there are still nations of the world who have not yet embraced democracy in their system of governance and yet when we look at their per capita income per person, it is relatively higher than that of individuals in some of the very democratic nations of the world. Yes democracy means peace but I do not think that it is possible to consume that peace when hunger strikes in situations when the economic instabilities in a nation results into massive loss of jobs to the native citizens and further drives the prices of goods and services available in the market to unrealistic levels. 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Journal of Democracy, Volume 23, Number 3. Stiglitz, J. 2000. Capital Market Liberalization, Economic Growth, and Instability, World Development, 28(6), pp. 1075-86. Thomas, Carothers. 2002. “The End of the Transition Paradigm,” Journal of Democracy, 13, pp.5–21. Xu, Chenggang. 2011. The Fundamental Institutions of China’s Reforms and Development, Journal of Economic Literature, 49:4, 1076–1151. Zhao, Bingzhi. 2011. Chinese Practice of Death Penalty Reform (eds.), Beijing: China Legal Publishing House. p248. Read More