Pros And Cons Of Democracy In The United States

Democracy is a form of government that the United States of America acts on. The definition of democracy is rather simple, according to the author Harrison “Democracy is a Greek word meaning ‘rule by the people’” (Harrison, 1993, p. 2). This means that the power is in hands of the citizens. The rules of this governmental from are easily understood. Here are some advantages of democracy: the citizens have the freedom to elect and change their leaders. Citizens chose their leaders through elections which happen frequently; these elections are free and fair. And finally, citizens have civil rights. The United States of America is known to be a democratic country, but it uses a system known as “The System of Checks and Balances”, does this system

As mentioned earlier, democracy is a state form in which the power is in the hands of the people, and on the other hand, Bollen defines liberal democracy, in the American Journal of Political Science, as “ the extent to which a political system allows political liberties and democratic rule” (1993, p.1208). To simplify it, liberal democracy is a form of democracy that emphasises and protects individual freedom. Although democracy can be explained and understood in a straightforward way, but also there are specific details and elements that make up the whole system of government. The United States use a system called “The System of Checks and Balances”. Reading the name of the system, one might think that it relates to a bank, but in fact it is a governmental system. When the constitution was being written in 1787, the founders stated that the government should be divided into three sections and each section would have its own powers; this was done so that no branch would be more powerful or dominant over the other. These three sections are the legislative, the executive and the judicial branch. Each branch of the government has its own set of responsibilities and functions and they are balanced as well, this is also known as “The Separation of Powers”. However, the three branches have “checks” that limit other branches from becoming too influential and each branch have some power over the other two branches. The powers of the national government are separated and each branch is able to check the others because this makes it more difficult for the government to act