Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Ake, C. 1992 The feasibility of democracy in Africa. Ibadan : CREDU
The checks and balances in America's political system
The feasibility of democracy in Africa
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Addressing this question, first, I want to discuss the criteria for consolidated democracy. Consolidated democracy in my opinion mainly needs balancing political institutions that prevent potential abuse of power leads to authoritarianism, freedom of speech, free and fair election accepted by everyone, a long term standing of democracy and so on.
Considering that, the following are the reasons why South Africa has been more successful than Russia in consolidating democratic politics.
1. Political Institutions (the balancing of power).
South Africa is parliamentary system but the head of the state is president. And Russia is semi-presidential with very powerful President and weak Prime Minister.
Different from South Africa, the President
…show more content…
It has numerous checks and balances from parliament, legislature, etc. that prevent its total dominance over the government.
In all, South Africa in this perspective has more balancing political institutions which Russia has a highly centralized political institution in dominance and lack of balance. And this leads South Africa has been more democratic and stable than Russia. Without the effective balances of power, when someone or some party or some institution hold too much power, their will be great possibility of changing to
…show more content…
During and after the recent Crimea crisis, this regulation has been strengthened. “Around that time, strong political pressure from the Kremlin resulted in a number of reorganizations and leadership changes in large Russian media outlets. Those included, among others, the liquidation of the state news agency RIA Novosti, and the dismissal of radio Ekho Moskvy’s director Yuri Fedutinov.” (Ognyanova, 2014) According to the Press Freedom Index which regarded one of authoritative measurements of freedom of press or media, in 2014, South Africa was ranked No.42 even before U.S. and Russia was ranked No.148. (The order of the rank is from countries with greatest freedom to least.)
Without the freedom of speech, individuals can’t express their wishes and thoughts. And the head of government can’t hear their voice. The whole exercise of policies is separated from individuals. The democracy therefore can’t be consolidated since this weakens the freedom of speech which is a major criteria of democracy.
3. The modes of transition to democracy and the past background. (To meet a long term standing of
The journey to democracy has been strongly driven by electoral systems. These systems provide routes for governments to represent the wills of their people. It provides the platform of legitimacy to the government and in most cases ensures freedom and order within a country. This essay will discuss the major differences between a majoritarian electoral system and proportional electoral system. In addition, it will demonstrate that the use of a majoritarian electoral system in a country would result in a more accountable and representative government. It will then go on to establish whether South Africa should adopt the majoritarian electoral system over the proportional electoral system, taking accountability, social representation and stability into account.
The way that a country is controlled by the government depends on the relationship between the legislative and executive authority. Most democratic nations, today, generally use one of two governmental systems, either a parliamentary system or a presidential system. Today most of Europe prefers to use a parliamentary system, whereas the presidential form of government is preferred in places such as South Korea, South America and the United States. The differences between these two governmental systems are not obvious at first, but there are some key differences. However, neither one of them is necessarily superior to the other.
In the twentieth century Latin America went through several political systems such as military dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. The transition to democracy involved national contexts,institutions, economic development, and that shaped the outcome (225). Although democracy is now more positive than how Latin American initially began, certain aspects of the state are not as democratized as others. In the general sense democracy is embedded in Latin American states and have accommodated democratic norms (250). Elections now function in a stable manner and governments easily rotate without dispute (250). Latin America is on the correct path to democratization however has not completely made the transition. There are still many issues
democracy is failing in Russia, and one of democracy's flaws. Democracy is also a very slow
In making this argument this essay seeks to five things. Firstly, to define democracy within the contemporary context offering the key characteristics of a modern re...
Representative democracy has been a topic of controversy among the general population for years. Questions of the morality of most governmental leaders arise due to displays of totalitarianism, however, this shadows in comparison to the oppressive umbrella that a monarchical society can cast. For one, in a monarchical government, the decision of a single person can affect the lives of many. It is also important for one to note that in a monarchical government the position of highest power (i.e. a king or queen) is an inherited position; meaning habitants are not involved in the election of the power over them for a lifetime. In a monarchical society, one would have to hope that the single person ruling over him or her is of just morals, whereas, in a representative government, there is a much larger trickle down of officials when it comes to making decisions.
Firstly, K. Isbester mentions that democracy has a different meaning for everyone, as some can define democracy as a good aspect for development, on the contrary other believe that it is nothing more than voting after several years. Although, Latin America see democratic g...
The United Kingdom is formally called “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.” Government in the United Kingdom is considered to be Parliamentary. Although it is parliamentary, it is also described as being “majoritarian.” Parliament in the UK works a little different than the United States; the people of the U.S. are allowed to elect their president. In the parliamentary system the people elect who will be in the legislature, and the legislature then selects who the next prime minister will be. Then, once the prime minister is selected he choses members of the cabinet. This system creates a quick and easy political decision-making by popular majority. In this essay we will discuss the strengths and limitations the majoritarian government of the UK. One of the strengths of majoritarian government is perhaps that it is the fastest to pass or veto legislation, however there are limitations or weaknesses also like it lacks checks and balances from the House of Lords, and the disadvantage that the smaller parties have when it comes to elections, and not having a set calendar date for elections.
... result of a direct democracy, complications like getting every citizen to vote on every single issue, something close to impossible with modern populations that grow like grass in springtime. These changes have caused democracy to become intertwined with other forms of government, and while they have caused a deviation from pure democracy, they have allowed countless nations to function efficiently while maintaining the basic pillar of democracy: that ultimate authority and power is derived from the citizens.
Although there are advantages and disadvantages to both a representative government and deliberative democracy the benefits are largely dependant on the context of policy making and whose interests are being considered. A representative democracy is one that is currently in place across Australia and, for the most part, the rest of the world whereby a group of representatives deliberate without unequal distributions to power on behalf of the nations citizens by denoting their beliefs, attitudes and perspectives. Recent and ongoing concerns regarding the self-interested, bureaucratic nature of government has lead to increased interest in a more classical deliberative form of democracy particularly at the idea of public participation (Heywood 2004) which “challenge[s] the dominant technocratic, empiricist models in policy analysis” (Fischer 2003). Deliberative democracy rests on the core notion of political inquiry that is concerned with improving collective decision-making under conditions contribute to reasoned reflection and refined public judgment. It highlights the opportunity for citizens who are subject to a collective decision to participate in consequential deliberation about that decision in the interest of a mutually acceptable solution. Although many democracies already have mechanisms in place for citizen participation, such as letters to local members of parliament or participation in public consultation, deliberative democracy is distinguished by the way in which deliberation takes place through rational argument in search of the common good (Torres 2006). This paper will highlight both the benefits and disadvantages of a representative and a deliberative democracy through careful examination of each type of governanc...
Throughout history different types of instrumental regimes have been in tact so civilizations remained structured and cohesive. As humanity advanced, governments obligingly followed. Although there have been hiccups from the ancient times to modern day, one type of government, democracy, has proven to be the most effective and adaptive. As quoted by Winston Churchill, democracy is the best form of government that has existed. This is true because the heart of democracy is reliant, dependent, and thrives on the populaces desires; which gives them the ability for maintaining the right to choose, over time it adjusts and fixes itself to engulf the prominent troubling issues, and people have the right of electing the person they deem appropriate and can denounce them once they no longer appease them. In this paper, the benefits of democracy are outlined, compared to autocratic communism, and finally the flaws of democracy are illustrated.
The road to consolidated democracy has many twists and turns. Many of the necessary qualities of a consolidated democracy are held at different levels of importance. Although some can be deemed more important, they all are needed in order to make a successful transition to a consolidated democracy. The rule of law and civil society are two arenas that are key in order for a country to create an effective democracy. Many of the arenas are crucial in the success of the other.
There have been enormous efforts to spread democracy as a political system throughout the world by the developed democratic countries and the international development organizations including the World Bank. By the late 1990s the United States alone spent over a half billion dollars to promote democratic expansion throughout the world (Diamond, 2003). These were done considering that the democratic system leads towards development. As a result in the late 20th century we saw a huge political transformation towards democracy. During the last few decades a huge number of countries adopted democracy as their political system. However, it retain a big question how far democracy is successful in bringing development of a country? At this stage, some people also criticizes the effort of democratization arguing that it is done without considering the context of a country, sometimes democracy is not ideal for all countries and it is an effort to extinct diversity of political system. In studying the literature regarding the debate, we found a paradoxical relationship between democracy and development. Some argue that democracy has failed to ensure expected outcomes in terms of development. While others confronted that democracy has a considerable impact on development. Another group of people argue that form of political system actually does not have any impact on development process. On the verge of these debates, some development institutions and academics throw light on why democracy is not working properly, and what measure should be taken to make it more successful in bringing effective development of developing countries. Consequently, this writing is an effort of revisiting the different views about impact of democra...
Democracy, in its truest sense, does not exist. There is no political authority currently existing where every person contributes an equal amount to the decision-making process of the authority’s directives. The election of officials and representatives by the populace does not, in itself, automatically result in the most democratic and widely accepted directives being enacted. However, this does not decrease the political power of the authorities, nor does it limit their practical power over their jurisdictions.
Press freedom takes influential place in a country. It represents citizen's freedom of speech and the right to know. Media can expose news without obstructor or any controls by government and organizations. There should not be control over the press and press freedom is necessary for regulation the growth of corruption, development of economy and maintenance of democracy.