Critical Appraisal of Democracy

DEMOCRACY IS THE WORST FORM OF GOVERNMENT EXCEPT THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN TRIED FROM TIME TO TIME

Allan Soi,

Africa Political Society

March 6, 2015

            Simply defined, democracy is a form of government based on the consent of the governed, political competition and political equality, and political liberty. Winston Churchill in his popular quotes said, "Democracy is the worst form of government except those that have been tried from time to time." If democracy is a worse form of government then a better one is yet to be found. So, until a better alternative is accepted, we have no choice but to live with democracy. Indeed, democracies of all types come with its own problems both in theory and practice. One would imagine that the panacea is to recreate an alternative system to fit with contemporary age, but no. There exist endless disagreements over the review and research due to different approaches in the study of democracy.¹

            The political arena is essentially comprised of competing and conflicting interests. Conflicts are inherent in human nature, where humans rarely agree one hundred percent over any issue. Emerging democracies in particular, feature deep seated divisions in populations emanating from nationalistic hatred and negative conflict. The winner take all system generates factional attempts to control power to suit their selfish interests, thereby turning the state into a battle field. Identity politics continue to define political societies to date. Group allegiance risks promoting intolerance of divergent views. As such ethnic, religious and gender nationalism is a challenge to state power often leading to irredentism and ethnic cleansing.²

            For example in Kenya, citizens belong to their ethnic nationalities first and Kenya second. The goodwill of all is sacrificed at the altar of ethnic loyalty. Fukuyama's study of Kenya reveals successive post colonial regimes failed to forge a national Kenyan identity. Consequently, Kenyan societies have been marred with zero- sum conflict between the big ethnic groups over authoritative allocation of resources to the extent of affecting its development. Political cleavages militates against an agreement over creation of unified national narrative to hold the polarized society together.³

            Democracy is practically the dictatorship of the majority who while having their way are expected to give minority a chance to have their say. Democracy hands down unchecked power to the majority to the detriment of the minority. This situation is especially worse in societies where political cleavages are advanced to reinforce dominance of the majority group. As a result, the minority groups are consequently, marginalized in exclusive, oppressive and unresponsive majority regimes. These segments of the minority are defenseless and pulverized such that they become powerless to safeguard their interests and choices in decision making.⁴ Power should seem to rotate between the different social groups, but in practice privileged groups dominate the political system. For some groups, democracy has failed, perhaps never will, deliver on its promise to this segment of the population. Imperfections has made rules of the game so skewed in favor of some groups that it is practically impossible for the underdog classes to gain representation in government.

            On paper democracy is the rule of the majority but in reality it is the few who rule. Yes, it is the elected few elite politicians who actually call the shots. The elected representatives personify elite capture in the guise of representing popular will. The masses rarely make critical decisions that affect their lives but their elected representatives do. A power vacuum is created and demagogues, populists and authoritarian politician superficially coat democracy with their faces and passing themselves as the people.⁵ Iron law of oligarchy succinctly summarizes this view pointing out it is the minority officials and bureaucrats who actually rule as the populace is incapable of ruling over selves.

            Despite, it's carefully crafted tools like referendum; democracy should not be taken at its surface value. More often than not, popular participation has been abused to turn the people into mere rubber stamps for decisions already made. For this reason referendum is just a tool of gentleman's shadow of participatory democracy rather than a vessel of substantial policy decisions. In any case, government can still refuse to implement the decisions made.⁶

            In Kenya's 2005 referendum, the government was able to sneak in proposals to the draft constitution using dubious means. It was apparent that forces were keen on manipulating a noble cause to the detriment of the populace. Although the draft was finally defeated the government of the day refused to listen to public voice and instead became increasingly intolerant to dissent. The government selfishly interpreted the "no" verdict to mean that people wanted the old constitution to prevail. If a powerful clique would not gain control of constitution amendments, then nobody would. This status quo favored domination by incumbent. A clique of hardliners emerged in government treating matters of the state as personal property by blocking reforms.⁷

            Democracy promotes corruption and dirty politics in a contest to win power. Wealthy politicians can easily buy their way into government. Once in government they enact laws that protect their ill gotten positions. They even use state resources to their advantage, making it difficult for citizens to question them or demand accountability for actions from their elected representatives.

Conclusion

In summary, democracy however good a system, is loaded with plenty of dysfunctions, at times leading to crisis.  Apparently, democracy fuels dirty tactics in competition resulting in undeserving people being elected. Above all, democracy fuels zero sum conflicts over spoils of power eventually leaving the political society more divided on delicate factional lines. Gaps between theory and practice have turned democracy into rule of a few yet at the same time dictatorship of the majority. Power doesn't seem to rotate freely between social groups leading to exclusions of the minority from representation. Even handmaiden direct initiatives can be abused to the detriment of the population. Therefore, it is prudent to begin searching for an alternative democracy.

Bibliography

Arblaster, Anthony. Democracy. Berkshire: Open University Press, 2002.

Cunningham, Frank. Theories of Democracy: A Critical Introduction. New York: Rutledge, 2002.

Held, David. Models of Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006.

Fukuyama, Francis. "States and Democracy". Democratization, 21 no. 7 (2014): 1326-1340. doi             10.1080/13510347.2014.960208.

Soi, Allan. "Democratic Consolidation in Kenya: The Role of Opposition." (Undergraduate dissertation, Kenyatta University , (2014), 19-27.

End Notes

            1. Frank Cunningham, Theories of Democracy: A Critical Introduction (New York: Rutledge, 2002), 15.

            2. Ibid., 15.

            3. Francis Fukuyama, "States and Democracy", Democratization 21 no. 7, 2014: 1326-1340, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2014.960208#.VKaP-M9RWxU.

            4. Frank Cunningham, Theories of Democracy: A Critical Introduction (New York: Rutledge, 2002), 15-16.

            5. Ibid., 19-20.

            6. Anthony Arlabaster, Democracy (Berkshire: Open University Press, 2002), 84.

            7.Allan Soi, "Democratic Consolidation in Kenya: The Role of Opposition", (Undergraduate Dissertation, Kenyatta University, 2014), 19-27.

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