Commentary for Term 2

Today, states and countries are increasingly moving towards democratization. Personally, I believe that democracy does not create stability but rather gives rise to even more openings in the country’s security.

Democracy allows for everybody’s, including the minority’s, views to be considered before effecting change on policies or making decisions through direct or indirect means ie. Representative and consensual. Therefore, everyone will feel satisfied with any change to a certain degree and there will be no conflict between different groups. This in turn creates social and political stability, and thereafter economic stability. In Singapore, bills and decisions are first debated in parliament before they are enacted.

Democracy also promotes egalitarianism due to unrestricted expression of opinions. When equality is ensured, everyone will be self-sufficient and vices such as theft will not exist. Due to equal status, people will be able to live in harmony instead of constantly competing against each other. Therefore, there will be social and political stability. One example close to the point would be welfare states, where the people’s needs are constantly being looked after by their respective elected governments.

A democratic government would also be “indebted” to the people as they were the ones who put them into power through their votes. Therefore, the government would have greater sense of responsibility towards the people. This would drive them to do more for the people and place them as the first priority. The Singaporean government, for example, is constantly improving the quality of life for their citizens by implement various schemes like the Workfare bonus scheme.

On the flipside, democracy seeks to find the best possible solution to accommodate the needs and views of everybody. As such, the resultant policies would be less restrictive and effective as compared to policies in other systems like the authoritarian-capitalist system. These weaker policies would inadvertently affect the country’s economic, social and political stability. An appropriate example would be India. Although the country remains Southeast Asia’s largest economy, the country is gradually experiencing economic and social decline.

Besides that, democracy may also give rise to misguided ideas or beliefs. As democracy works on the basis of popular belief, common views shared by the people would be perpetuated by means such as media propaganda. Sometimes, these views may be false or incorrect and may be targeted at certain groups, leading to social conflict and societal instability. One such example would be the racism in democratic United States in the twentieth century which resulted in a protracted civil war between the blacks and the whites.

Democracy is solely based on reaching a consensus amongst the people and will prove ineffective in the long term. Policies, consensually agreed upon by the people, would be less productive for the country. Human nature, in the presence of egalitarianism, may manifest in the form of greed for both the people and the leadership, making either party susceptible to initiating social or political instability. Furthermore, bandwagon may mislead the people into false thinking. Therefore, democracy does not create stability.