Democracy has often been flattered excessively as the best form of government. The freedom it gives to those under the so-called democratic governments is also viewed by those under communism or authoritarianism as a panacea for the oppression they face. However, is democracy really worth of such worship? My answer would be a no. Firstly, democracy is defined as the rule of the majority in which people holds power and exercises it directly or indirectly through a system of representation that involves free elections. [1] Thus, its flaws lie in its inability to protect the rights of the people and its susceptibility to election-oriented politicians, though it should also be noted for its free media which allows progress. When comparing with republics and oligarchies using these three criterions, we can then conclude that democracy is not the best form of government to a large extent.

            Firstly, pure democracy cannot safeguard the rights of the people and is actually a “tyranny of the majority” in which the minority can lose all of its human rights to the interests of the majority. When there is no limitation to the power that the masses have, the minority will actually lose all of its freedom that democracy has promised. Hence, in pure democracy, the American middle and lower class can easily split the wealth of the upper class by using their majority vote, while the 80.5% of the population in India who are Hindus [2] can easily ban Islam and Christianity with their sheer size. In a republic, however, the rights of all citizens are protected by a constitution which can never be changed simply by the majority. Those nations that are often thought to be democratic like America and most of European countries are actually republics, and this form of government has proven itself to be much more stable and effective than democracy that has never really existed in any nation throughout history. On the other hand, an oligarchy does not give the people any freedom as well, since the people are powerless and are subjected to the rule of the aristocracy or dictators. Therefore, a democracy is not the best form of government since it cannot protect the rights of the people.

            Secondly, periodically held elections result in politicians becoming more election-oriented rather than being service-oriented. The threat from such politicians is that policies implemented are only aimed at garnering more support from the voters for the election and have little or no benefits for the nation’s economic and societal progress. Take the example of the Taiwan Presidential Election in 2004, in which the President Chen Shui-bian was fighting for his second term in office. He and his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), spent much of their political ammunition on accusations of the Kuomintang as being “betrayers of Taiwan”, due to their support on closer relations with China so as to improve Taiwan’s economy. [3] It is an undeniable fact that the Taiwan economy is relatively reliant on China, its giant neighbour; hence Chen’s confrontational election tactics against closer relations with China actually worsens the economic problems in Taiwan. These tactics only help him to win support from the voters who were mostly supportive of the independence of Taiwan. Similarly, a republic involves presidential elections as well; hence such problems are inherent too. For oligarchies, however, the dictators’ grip on power is significantly stronger than that of democracies and republics due to an absence of political opposition and elections, hence the administration need not emphasize excessively on gaining support from people, instead it can channel its energy to the implementation of economic and societal programs for the better good of society. Thus, in this aspect, it can be seen again that democracy is not the best form of government.

            However, we cannot deny all virtues of democracy, especially its freedom of speech. In a democracy, according to the Centre for Democracy and Governance in America, free media ‘ensures that citizens make responsible, informed choices’ in elections, and also ‘[ensures that] elected representatives uphold their oaths of office and carry out the wishes of those who elected them.’ [4] In this way, corruption and failures of policies can be made known to the people without any distortion of truth, thereby maintaining democracy by a well-informed populace which would have the power to vote an incompetent party out of power. Likewise, in a republic, freedom of media is, in most nations, granted and upheld by the constitution, though the extent of it varies from place to place. Despite the fact that the head of state can still ultimately censor certain news that are undesirable to his or her administration, it should be noted that democracy too might not be able to bring about an entirely free media as it is not protected by a constitution. Contrastingly, oligarchies do not tolerate any form of opposition that might threaten its survival; hence by silencing the media and blocking all constructive comments, economic and societal progress will stagnate if the leaders of the nation are not competent. Therefore, democracy is indeed the best form of government in this aspect.

            Based on the three criterions, which are the ability to protect human rights, the susceptibility of governments to election-oriented politicians, and the extent of free media, we can then deduce that a republic is actually the best form of government. It differs with democracy in its ability to safeguard the rights of the people through a constitution. Hence, democracy is, to a very small extent, the best form of government.

Bibliography

1. Definition of democracy http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy

1. CIA Factbook: India https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

1. 2004 Taiwan Presidential Elections, Wikipedia http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%AD%E8%8F%AF%E6%B0%91%E5%9C%8B%E7%B8%BD%E7%B5%B1%E9%81%B8%E8%88%89

1. THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN DEMOCRACY A STRATEGIC APPROACH. June 1999 Technical Publication Series. Centre for Democracy and Governance Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support, and Research U.S. Agency for International Development. Washington, D.C. http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance/publications/pdfs/pnace630.pdf