Democracy - Essay
“Of the people, for the people and by the people”, a slogan we have all come across at some point in time, summarises the gist of democracy. There are several systems of governance that have been practised across time and space. In the present day, democracy has become the dominant form.
Democracy is a system of government in which the members of the nation play a role in the governance through their elected representatives. It is then a rule by the majority.
The history of democracy can be traced back to ancient Greece where it was the political philosophy behind the governance of the city of Athens. It is a system of direct democracy where in members of official positions were selected randomly and the entire population participated in the legislative. However, in today’s world such a system would be impossible and therefore representative democracy has become the norm. People elective their representative who make laws and are involved in the process of governance.
The crux of democracy lies in the electoral process. Elected representative means that they have been chosen by the majority of people of represent them in the legislative and other decision making bodies. The main qualification is that the get the majority support of the people. These elected representatives are headed by a president of a prime minister based on the form of democracy adopted. However, other officials such as the civil servants are selected using several merit based criteria. The political representatives keep changing after a given period of time.
The most important feature of democracy is that people play a role in electing a government that will provide for their needs. It is not merely a form of government by the political philosophy goes to explain any situation where the opinions of all the stakeholder matter be it a work place, classrooms, family and so on. The spirit of democracy lies in respecting the rights and freedoms of other people and giving value to the opinions and needs of the majority.
By Swetha