Democracy creates stability in a society

Ever since the Ancient Egyptian times, human civilizations have been governed by leaders, and this political system has been evolving across the centuries. What each of these leaders aims for is a state governed by the nation, which is to say that the country is ruled for the people, by the people. Due to this ideology, a new system called democracy was invented - where the political leaders are voted in by their people or their representatives. However, the nature of this system assumes the very fact that the people have the ability to choose the right leaders. But is this always true?

Currently, many countries in the world adopt democracy as their political system. By using Darwin’s theory of “survivor of the fittest”, we can deduce that democracy is perhaps the most suitable method to rule a country. This is apparent because when the people get to vote for their parties, they would vote for the party with the most capable people, who would benefit them most. When the party attains political sovereignty, the majority would be happy, and stability in the country would follow. When we take a look at Singapore, the reason why the People’s Action Party is able to form the majority of the government’s body, is perhaps because they are doing a decent job and the people believe that they are able to continue to rule the country. I would also say that Singapore is a relatively stable country with blossoming economy, minimal riots, and low crime rates. If we were to widen our scope, we can see that big countries such as America also adopt a similar style. Every time the potential presidents campaign, they are always trying to convince their people why they are suitable for the position, and how they are able to cater to their needs.

Stability of a country depends largely on the conflicts between the different bodies of people. During the elections, each of these groups would also vote for the party of their best interests. However, when the feuds between these groups are too great, the best political party would be the one that would resolve these conflicts. This is when the ability of the people to vote for the right government is challenged. If the people were to vote for their favourite government without thinking about others, the government body will constantly change. This means that the laws would change and everything has to be reset every time a new government gets into power. This would impede the growth of the country and would be detrimental to the stability. The people will still not see eye-to-eye, and fights would start, which would further cause more chaos. Recently I read an article about Africa’s political cultures and it’s problems of government written by Elliot P. Skinner. Africa is a country that contains a rich diversity of cultural groups with many different needs and different practices. Therefore, unless the political leaders agree to govern each ethnic group equally, the African countries will continue to be racked by conflicts. This is because it is hard for 1 political party to see to all the needs of so many different people. This is also why till date, the ethnic riots still claim the lives of so many thousands each year.

There is also another problem to democracy, which is the stability of the country after the fall of a leader, which has ruled the country for many years. When a party rules the country for many years, the people are too reliant on the party, and are not prepared for a change. For example, Indonesia is a country that has practiced democracy for a long period. The 2nd president of Indonesia, Suharto was a great leader, and was in office for a total of 31 years. However when he retired, Indonesia’s political system became a chaos, with many changing political leaders. Only when a leader is able to fulfill the needs of all his people, will he then be able to regain the stability of the country. Another example would be Taiwan. The KMT has been ruling over Taiwan’s politics ever since its liberators stepped onto its lands. After more than 40 years, the people decided to start a revolution by voting for the DPP, however some of them regretted their decision some time after due to several conflicts. The country was dumped into a chaos until the KMT was back in power this year.

As we can see, democracy does create stability in societies, as it appeals to the majority of the people. However, when the people are not rational or they are unable to vote, the country would fall into doom. In a country that is sub-divided into groups of people with many different ideologies, perhaps authoritarianism might even be a better choice. Therefore, democracy only works in most of the countries, and not all.