Democracy is widely regarded as the best form of government, due to the equality it brings to everyone who practices this common form of government. There are many forms of democracies. These include representative democracy, parliamentary democracy, liberal democracy and direct democracy. Of all the forms of democracy stated, representative democracy is probably the most relevant to the topic at hand because it is the most common form of democracy in the world. Countries that use this form of democracy include USA, UK and of course Singapore. Representative democracy involves representatives of certain communities in a society being elected by their own people through voting. These representatives would then form a ruling body, which would act in people’s interests, but not necessarily their wishes.
Stability is vital for a society to survive. There are many meanings that can be derived from the word ‘stability’. Of all these meanings, resistance to sudden changes or deterioration in economy and society as a whole as well as steadiness in terms of progress would probably be the most pertinent to the subject at hand. In order to attain stability, a society would definitely have to have a consistent level of development along with a measure of equality in the society itself, so as to prevent social unrest and tension between different communities.
First of all, democracy brings about a sense of equality in society. Because the different communities elect their own representatives, the minority groups would then also have a fair share of power and can have their own views and problems taken care of by the government. Through democracy, the government would consist of people who would take care of the minority groups, even if the government mostly consisted of people from the majority group. Furthermore, by using the system, the minorities are indirectly giving themselves certain liberties that they otherwise would not have gotten, such as freedom to choose their religion. Take our very own country, Singapore, for example. Even though the majority of the country is Chinese, there are people in the government who represent the minority races. This system has worked so far, as seen from the successful multiracial society in Singapore.
Secondly, democracy grants people many rights that other forms of governments do not, such as the right to vote for their own leader. In democracy, the people vote for who they want to be in the government, so they are basically ruling themselves by deciding who would be the best in acting according to their interests. This contributes to stability in society because the people have more power in deciding their fate. Unlike other forms of governments such as dictatorship, where the needs of the people are rarely taken into account when creating policies, this system would help to eliminate social unrest in the society.
Nevertheless, there are still problems that can be brought about through democracy. First and foremost, the process of voting is not always fair. ‘Vote buying’, where some candidates give out money or gifts so that people would vote for them, happens quite a lot in certain parts of the world. This would sway the voters who are not really firm in their choice towards the candidate who gave them something, and would also lead to an unfair election. If this happens, the representatives of the people would probably not be the right person to act in the interests of the people, as he or she would have gotten that position without really earning it.
Another problem that could come up is if the winning party wins by only a small margin. For example, party A gets 100 votes, while party B gets 99 votes. If this happens, it could lead to social as well as political unrest because the people in the society would be split in terms of their choice of leaders. The government could also become a warzone if the two parties have conflicting points of view. For example, even if party A wants a certain policy to be implemented and party B does not, it could lead to a large debate and could lead to the instability of a country instead.
All in all, there are definitely noticeable advantages and disadvantages that democracy brings about to society. However, democracy certainly creates stability in society because the needs of the people are indirectly decided by themselves, so every community would have a fair and equal say in the government. The advantages of democracy far outweigh the disadvantages, thus leading to a peaceful and stable society.
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