democracydebate-blog

[democracydebate-blog]

Introduction: Demi Hensen

Democracy is literally ruled by the people. The term is derived from the Greek dēmo, which means people, and kratos which means rule (Dahl, 2017). Democracy is established by the Greeks, and after the 17th century it reappear on a global scale (Tomyn, n.d.).

How many people in a society hold the power of a country, and how they exercise it, are eternal themes of political debate. At the one extreme, a single person hold all the power; a monarchy. Sometimes, even called tyranny or dictatorship. The other extreme is democracy, ruled by the people. Every individual of society can influence decisions. People vote on motions, and the majority after voting wins (Unknown, n.d.). Democracy can be exercised in several ways, directly by citizens or through elected agents (Tomyn, n.d.).

According to the U.S. Department of state, the democratic style of government, adopted by the United States in 1776, declared that democracy has six basic characteristics; popular sovereignty, majority rule (the people decide), individual rights (such as freedom of religion), free and open elections, citizen involvement and open compromise to guarantee individual rights (Tomyn, n.d.)

According to the Global Democracy Ranking,  in the years 2010-2011 and 2013-2014, is Norway the most Democratic country in the world. The Netherlands on place 6, the US on place 16. (Campbell, Pölzlbauer, Barth, & Pölzlbauer, 2015) These rankings relies on several conceptual formula for quality of democracy. It refers to one political dimension, and five non-political dimensions, which are gender, economy, knowledge, health, and environment. To every dimension, a score is assigned from 1 to 100 (Campbell D. , 2008).

The 2016 democracy index concluded that almost half of the world’s countries is sort of democratic, however the number of full democratic countries is decreased from 20 to 19 in 2016. The US is not a full democratic country anymore, but a flawed democracy due to because of a further erosion of trust in government. The democratic recessions got worse in 2016, in 72 countries experienced a decline in their total score (The Economist Group, 2017).  

References Campbell, D. (2008). The basic concept of democracy ranking of the quality of democracy. Retrieved from Global Ranking Democracy: http://democracyranking.org/ranking/2012/data/basic_concept_democracy_ranking_2008_letter.pdf

Campbell, D. F., Pölzlbauer, P., Barth, T. D., & Pölzlbauer, G. (2015, December 15). Scores of the Democracy Ranking 2015. Retrieved from Global Ranking Democracy: http://democracyranking.org/ranking/2015/data/Scores_of_the_Democracy_Ranking_2015_letter.pdf

Dahl, R. A. (2017, December 4). Democracy. Retrieved from Encyclopeaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy

The Economist Group. (2017). Featured Topic: Democracy index. Retrieved from The Economist: http://www.eiu.com/topic/democracy-index

Tomyn, R. (n.d.). People of our everyday life. Retrieved from What are the six characteristics of Democracy?: http://peopleof.oureverydaylife.com/six-characteristics-democracy-7287.html

Unknown. (n.d.). History of Democracy. Retrieved from History World: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=chz

[democracydebate-blog]

For: Esther Welles

Democracy is the best form of government

Churchill said "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time" (Langworth, 2009). This means that there are flaws in a democracy, but other forms of government are worse. According to Ranker, sixteen countries in the world are ruled by a strong democracy (Countries ruled by a democracy, n.d.). This means, that the government is ruled by mostly democratic regulations. These countries include countries like the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Stated, which are also, according to the Human Development Reports, in the list of most developed countries in the world (Table 1: Human Development Index and its components, 2015). Think that is a coincidence? Then, to explain why democracy is the best form of government, the definition of democracy should be given. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of democracy is: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation, usually involving periodically held free elections (Democracy, sd). According to Abraham Lincoln, democracy is defined as: ‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people’ (A short definition of Democracy, n.d.). Democracy stands for equality, freedom, representing the people, and the respect of Human Rights.

Equality As a matter of fact, as democracy means the rule of people, democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally – either directly, or through elected representatives. According to the United Nations, the rights in a democracy for groups like indigenous peoples, minorities, and persons with disabilities, ensure an equitable distribution of wealth, and equality in respect of access to civil and political rights (Rule of Law - Democracy and Human Rights, n.d.).

Respect of Human Rights Furthermore, what is also important in a democracy is the respect of Human Rights. Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. If democracy is put at its appropriate performance, then, all facets of Human Rights are respected. The citizens would have thirty different rights, including the right to speech, information, and vote. Democracy concerns about the ability of people to have a voice in the running of the state; in the economy, education, infrastructural development, etc. According to International Studies Quarterly, the states with the highest levels of democracy, are correlated with better human rights practices (Cherif, De Mesquita, Downs, & Smith, Alastair, 2005) Concluding, democracy is the best form of government up to this point. Democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It stands for equality distribution of wealth, and equality in respect of access to civil and political rights. Also, in a democracy, citizens have a voice in the running of the state, due to thirty different rights to express their voice.

References A short definition of Democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from Democracy building: http://www.democracy-building.info/definition-democracy.html Cherif, F., De Mesquita, B., Downs, G., & Smith, Alastair. (2005, August 8). Thinking Inside the Box: A Closer Look at Democracy and Human Rights. Retrieved from Wiley Online Library: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2478.2005.00372.x/full Countries ruled by a democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from Ranker: http://www.ranker.com/list/countries-ruled-by-democracy/reference Democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy Langworth, R. M. (2009, June 26). “Democracy is the worst form of Government…”. Retrieved from Richard M. Langworth: https://richardlangworth.com/worst-form-of-government Rule of Law - Democracy and Human Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from United Nation Human Rights : http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/RuleOfLaw/Pages/Democracy.aspx Table 1: Human Development Index and its components. (2015). Retrieved from Human Development Reports: http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI

[democracydebate-blog]

For: Meltem Argun

DEMOCRACY IS THE BEST GOVERNMENT FORM I vote for the motion, that democracy is the best form of government, the fun fact is that without democracy the people would not be able to vote at all.  As mentioned earlier, there are now nineteen countries in the world who are ruled by a strong democracy, according to Ranker (Countries ruled by a democracy, n.d.). The favourable effects of the democracy includes maintenance of the rule of law, free markets, small government consumption, and high human capital (Baro, 1996) . According to Robert J. Barro, a democratic decision always involves many persons, discussion, consultation & meetings. This takes time, but reduces the chances of rash or irresponsible decisions, which further improves the quality of Decision-Making.     Better governance due to transparancy First, let’s talk about transparency. According to Carolyn Ball, Transparency reveals to some metaphors, where the most important are; - transparency as a public value embraced by society to counter corruption - transparency synonymous with open decision-making by governments and non-profits (Ball, 2014). In addition, Perceptions of government transparency mediate the relationship between the use of social media by the government and the trust in the government (Song & Lee, 2016).  This information is according to an experiment about trust in the Government by Changsoo Song an Jooho Lee. Trust in such a big system reveals to more order and less conflicts. No other form of government is known to work well According to Judick Gunter, leadership was used mostly in the past. For example, Stalin who used communism. He started with ruling the population but set everyone up against other religions or nations (Gunter, 1999).  According to Topuz, socialism does not even come close to the best form of government, looking for example to Greece’s current state. Democracy may have its flaws, but all in all works very well. To wrap it up, Democracy has never led to government disorders like for example, one can see socialism did (Topuz, 2016). References Ball, C. (2014, 12 8). What is transparancy? Opgehaald van Taylor& Francis Online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/PIN1099-9922110400 Baro, R. J. (1996, 3). Democracy and growth. Retrieved from Springerlink: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00163340?LI=true Countries ruled by a democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from Ranker: http://www.ranker.com/list/countries-ruled-by-democracy/reference Gunter, J. (1999, 4 30). Redbook: Stalin and the Jews: The Tragic History of the Jewish Antifascist Committee and the Soviet Jews; By Arno Lustiger.Retrieved from Proquest: http://search.proquest.com.rps.hva.nl:2048/docview/220300601/6996B4F31FF042A4PQ/1?accountid=130632 Song, C., & Lee, J. (2016). Citizens' Use of Social Media in Government, Perceived Transparency, and Trust in Government. Retrieved from Proquest: http://search.proquest.com.rps.hva.nl:2048/businesspremium/docview/1758244305/7D33BDE57DF14A8FPQ/1?accountid=130632 Topuz, S. K. (2016, 7). Hükümet Sistemleri ve Devlet Sekillerinin Ülkelerin Demokrasi Seviyeleri Üzerinde Yarattigi Farkliligin Tespiti Üzerine Bir Çalisma/A Study on Determining The Difference That Government Systems and State Forms Make on Democracy Levels of Countries. Retrieved from Proquest: http://search.proquest.com.rps.hva.nl:2048/docview/1868176808/6444FEAD5D34EB5PQ/1?accountid=130632

[democracydebate-blog]

Against: Chantal van Muiswinkel

Democracy is not the best form of government

Democracy is counting the heads, not what is in them, quoted by writer Deignan. With “democratic voting” the majority decides over the minority (Ghiorgis, 2012). There is not looked at why people vote differently and the minority is left behind powerless and with that the individual, according to A.J. Simonson (Simonson, 2013). Besides this, democracy means transparency (Unknown, sd). But is this necessarily a good thing? No. Transparency includes being allowed to attend public meetings and people are able to get information about what decisions are made, by whom and why, also said by A.J. Simonson (Simonson, 2013). People have a right to know, but this can be abused by, for example, insurance companies. There occurs pay discrimination and that violates the equality of people. Secrets that not everyone is supposed to know, for example, about the state, become transparent as well. Is it not weird that one principle helps violating another principle of democracy?  

Furthermore, democracy is about popularity. It all comes down to who says the right thing, what people like to hear (Simonson, 2013). Populism attracts people because there are expectations of betterment, according to Mr. Moffitt from Stockholm University (Moffitt, 2016). Candidates design their campaigns and approach to fit the media. They say the precise right things that concerns the majority (Street, 2011). Often promises are not kept, they use it to gain power and make the individual again powerless. This is said by professor Kaltwasser from Diego Portales University (Kaltwasser, 2016).

At the end, democracy is almost impossible, which has something to do with arrow’s impossibility theorem (Kelly, 1978). This is the impossibility of having an ideal voting system and there is no possibility of voting to satisfy everyone’s choice. According to Kenneth Arrow, in any voting system based on ranks, when there are more than two candidates, it is impossible to vote. An example, if the majority prefers person A to person B and C, then there is assumed that society prefers person A to both of them. But if the majority prefers person B to person C, and person C to person A, then there is assumed that society prefers person B to person A. Only because person C beat person A. No one should be allowed to dictate what society prefers, there are others that prefer another person or thing. It is an almost an impossible thing to explain, how can this work out in a democracy? This is what happens in a democracy, there is no possible way to satisfy everyone and look into everyone’s heads to find out what everyone wants. But that is not a real democracy then, is it really the best form of government or does it need solid changes? References Ghiorgis, A. G. (2012). MAJORITY RULE / MINORITY RIGHTS. Retrieved from Asmarino: http://asmarino.com/articles/1592-majority-rule-minority-rights Kaltwasser, C. R. (2016). Populism and democracy: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Retrieved from HuffingtonPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-conversation-global/populism-and-democracy-dr_b_12766002.html Kelly, J. S. (1978). Arrow Impossibility Theorems. New York: Acdemic Press. Moffitt, B. (2016). Populism and democracy: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Retrieved from HuffingtonPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-conversation-global/populism-and-democracy-dr_b_12766002.html Simonson, A. (2013). 10 Reasons Why Democracy Doesn't Work. Retrieved from ListVerse: http://listverse.com/2013/06/16/10-reasons-why-democracy-doesnt-work/ Street, J. (2011). Mass Media, Politics and Democracy: Second Edition. In J. Street, Mass Media, Politics and Democracy: Second Edition (p. 8 and 112). London: Palgrave Macmillan. Unknown. (n.d.). Principles of Democracy. Retrieved from Law and Democracy: http://www.lawanddemocracy.org/pdffiles/amazing.prin..pdf

[democracydebate-blog]

Against: Kristy Bakker

Democracy is not the best form of government According to the law about democracy, a principle of democracy is equality, everyone is valued equally (Simonson, 2013).  Everyone has equal opportunities and everyone’s vote is counted equally. In theory that works (Christiano, sd). The goal of democracy is to make the best possible decision for the society, but in reality, it is necessary to let the experts decide about something. It is rarely that this theory of democracy will work (Simonson, 2013). Some believe that we are all born equal, but that does not mean that we should count opinions as equal. Opinions are based on knowledge, and knowledge differs per person. To let someone with less knowledge decide about the policies in society is very tricky. People that are specialized in politics, people that have been studying for years, can ensure what it is the best policy for the society, sometimes better than that the society itself can decide (Simonson, 2013). Not representative for society Everyone has the right to vote, but the minority of the voters is left powerless. Citizens vote for parties that get not represented in the cabinets’ formation. Next to that, the majority as well. People vote for ideas and principles, but that is often not achieved by the person with power (Simonson, 2013). The processes in democracy take much time and cost a lot of money (Langworth, 2009). Threats The biggest threats for democracies are terrorism (Fish, 2007) and corruption (Chowdhury , 2004). If terrorists are capable of making governments employing tactics in order to fight terrorism, by secret surveillance and censorship, which distinguishes from theirs, it could be argued that they already won no matter the outcome of the battlefield (Fish, 2007). How do you measure a government being the best or worst, and when is it working well? Democracy is not the best form of government, in the form it is right now. The democracy we know is far from optimized, and it has to be adapted. Right now it is just an object of faith and hope for society.

References Chowdhury , S. K. (2004). The effect of democracy and press freedom on corruption: an empirical test. Elsevier, 93-101. Retrieved from Science Direct Christiano, T. (n.d.). Democracy As Equality. Retrieved from Philisofy Faculty: http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/rarneson/Courses/christianodemocracy.pdf Fish, S. (2007, October 7). Why Democracy? The New York Times. Langworth, R. (2009, June 26). ''Democracy is the worst form of government...''. Retrieved from Richard M. Langworth: https://richardlangworth.com/worst-form-of-government Simonson, A. J. (2013, June 16). 10 Reasons Why Democracy Doesn't Work. Retrieved from Listverse: http://listverse.com/2013/06/16/10-reasons-why-democracy-doesnt-work/