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The word democracy roots can be traced back to Ancient Greece, it is derived from the Greek term ‘kratos’ meaning power and ‘demos’ refers to the people implying that its meant to mean ‘rule by the people’ the notion attached to democracy seems to be false in this period of time, democracy now is a system of corruption to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, it’s become a system based on hierarchy, privilege and wealth instead of being based on equal opportunity, meritocracy and hard work. As Abraham Lincoln described how the nature of democracy should be ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people ‘evidently showing that democracy is the government linking to the people. One of the core principles of democracy is political equality which is an equal distribution of political power and influence such as MPs that are used for the ‘people ‘to voice their ideas and thoughts, the right to vote and the right to stand for an election. Basic principles of democracy include the right to a free and fair vote all carrying the same weight and all votes matter meaning majority rules, in an event of a disagreement the most popular vote wins.
Direct democracy is self-explanatory it’s based on direct and constant participation of citizens in the role of government. The people directly vote on laws and policies which is a direct involvement of the people making the policies fairer and addresses the whole of public. One of the best qualities of direct democracy is equality it allows the people the chance to get their voice heard and to input in government through a direct vote without using anybody to voice their wants and needs-direct access to the government without involving someone classed as the ‘middleman’; it includes everyone implying that all votes count the same which increases accountability. The word direct meaning that its very quick without involvement so it’s more responsive to the people, direct democracy increases participation as people are more likely to vote if they knew it was going to have a high effect on the outcomes making them positive. However a key fault or disadvantage in direct democracy is ignorance and being misinformed or uninformed not everyone has the time, inclination or knowledge on many different laws as people are ignorant about issues they may be influenced by others racist, homophobic or sexist views and agree with them creating unjust and discriminatory laws. On the other hand it enables the public to express their own views and interest’ without relying on self-serving politicians’ politicians are selfish and have been seen to take their own needs and interest in first place instead of the publics they accept lobbyists that pay large amounts of money for politicians to convey and infiltrate their ideas and needs into parliament then leading It to the formation laws involving them which defeats the purpose of democracy it becomes completely illegitimate therefore, citizens exercise their own destinies and needs is.
A pure form of democracy and it ensures that the rule is legitimate as the people are more likely to accept decisions they have made themselves .The origins of classical direct democracy of Athens formed of mass meeting where the people of Athens met together to discuss and weight situations of their state and to further make policies and decisions, realistically in this modern society where people are consumed by time not everyone will make the time and effort to meet in great volumes and it would not be possible in reality, competition and leadership is in the characteristics of every human so people will definitely end up competing to lead the public. In the past the people of Athens never hesitated to participate in state affairs or to take responsibility to do things they were told but in the 21st century political participation has decreased people even lack the energy to go vote at polling stations for as little as 5 minutes showing that will not be able to fulfil the criteria of direct democracy and politics doesnt matter as much, citizens are participating through different ways that arent complex enough .Time plays a big factor in democracy and can be seen as a problem ,in order for changes to happen it could be big or small ,the entire state would have to vote and the votes would have to be continued which is a very tedious process which could make change near to never happening. American scholar and politician Alexander Hamilton believed that direct democracy was the most pure n perfect of government whereas Aristotle words ‘the foundation of democratic constitution is liberty’ linking to one of the key and significant elements of democracy -‘ruling and being ruled in turn’ showing that even in direct democracy which is supposedly the purest form of democracy the epitome of alienation and lack of involvement is also introduced.
Representative democracy involves voting but unlike direct democracy it’s to vote for a person to represent you that works with others to make laws and policies. John Locke believed that ‘ the Form of the Government is a perfect Democracy. Implying that the source of sovereign power is the people, government should be there to protect natural rights -life, property and liberty .One advantage of representative democracy is that it provides representation of the public elected politicians are given the task of making decision for an entire city and everyone living in that area benefits from getting their voice heard by their own representative. Nonetheless individuals arent voting on every single issue in the democracy but their opinions are still heard and taken to account ,Edmund Burke believed that if the sate didnt fulfil or protect the natural rights then every citizen legally had the right to rebel against the government .The population is dissatisfied with the progress and performance of a politician they have elected, they can vote to remove that person, they can also vote on major matters that affect the future of a country for example over 17 million of the British public voted to leave the EU therefore, the British government has started arrangements and the process of leaving the EU showing that the voice of the people are heard and shows that their input matters.
Edmund Burke said ‘ It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own’ he believed that the duty off the representative was not only to express the wishes of the electorate but also exercise their own power by using their own judgement even if their views are not reflective of the voters this defeats the purpose of representative democracy, politicians may create manifestos and make promises but after that get elected by the same people who voted for them only because of the so called policies they were going to create they betray the electorate and go with their own interest which makes it unfair and unresponsive, the electorate does not get the full potential of democracy they should be getting through the representative’s electorate trust the official to represent them as efficiently and successfully as possible, but they can only put their faith and trust in the representative to purse the political process the electorate voted for if not the representative could have a secret agenda and pursue something entirely different to what they stood for. Also, representative democracy is shown to be discouraging participation people know that whether they vote or not they still receive representation in government, so some people dont find it necessary to vote as they know for. Affect that they will receive governmental representation the other hand others choose not to vote because none of the representatives that are running in an election dont cater to their needs or do not address the things they stand for.
In conclusion, I think both models of democracy are attractive but in reality representative democracy is more applicable in this period of time as it is applied to most nation states of the world even though there are some disadvantages such as corruption, it can create a gridlock if there are 2 or more parties in office and communication must be effective. Representative democracy is more attractive as I believe it can improve if great minded politicians come to office, they can make this structure more effective.
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