Homework Question on Democracy
- What is democracy?
- Is Democracy the best form of government?
- Using secondary sources, discuss what democracy means to you and if it is the ideal form of government that each country should adopt in the world.
- Reference page: Should contain an alphabetical listing of the literature used and consulted. Note that you should include at least five references from the library.
- No online sources unless they are articles from academic databases such as JSTOR, EBSCOhost etc.
- Make sure each page is numbered.
Homework Answer on Democracy
The term democracy refers to the type of government where the power rests solely with the people and their representatives. It is also the said to be the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Democracy guarantees that no leader comes to power without the will of the majority (Touraine 1). States, which exercise this form of government, are referred to as the democracies. In such states, the citizens have more power and direct influence on the matters of the country.
People from democracy states must also feel that they are free and not enslaved by the government; some governments presume that they know what is best for its citizens and that is against the spirit of democracy.There are principles that govern democracies. State is considered democracy if it follows all the outlined principles of democracy. The principles states that for state to be regarded as a democracy, it must ensure citizen participation, equality, political tolerance, accountability, transparency, regular free and fair elections, economic freedom, control on abuse of power, bill of rights, accepting election results, human rights multy party system and rule of law.
Citizen Participation
In a democratic state, citizens have the right and duty to participate in all the affairs of the country. They have to allow citizens to elect their leaders or be elected, attend meetings, join any legal group or organization, pay taxes and even demonstrate. All these helps in improving the level of democracy. Citizens and all other organizations within the country have a role to play (Dzur 105)