OUTCOMES OF DEMOCRACY
Quality of Government
Economic well-being
Inequality
Social differences and conflict
Freedom and dignity
Room for
correction
q u a lity
E
Peaceful
methods to
solve problem
BASIS FOR
DEMOCRACY Im p
ort
Ind ance
ivid
u a l of
Participatio
n of
decision
making
Democracy is better than Dictatorship
Other Forms of Government
• Promotes equality among citizens
• Enhances the dignity of the individual
• Improves the quality of decision-making
• Provides a method to resolve conflicts
• Allows room to correct mistakes.
Assessment of Democracy
•Political outcomes
•Economic Outcomes
•Social Outcomes
Political Outcomes
• Accountable government
People have the right to choose their representatives and control them.
Citizens have the right to examine the process of decision-making .(Transparency)
Practices and institutions like regular, free and fair elections and open public debate.
Citizens right to information about the government and its functioning.
Contradictions:
Democracy produces a less-effective government
In democracy, decision are delayed
Justification:
Some people think that democracy produces a less-effective government. Other forms of
govt do not have to think about majority opinions and deliberations, But democracy
keeps in mind both.
Democracy is based on the idea of deliberation and negotiations, so some delay is bound
to take place and decisions may be both more acceptable and more effective. The
cost of time that democracy pays is perhaps worth it.
• Responsive government
Responsible and responsive to the needs and expectations of the people.
It promotes the formation of public opinion and cares about the public opinion.
Democracy is attentive to the needs and demands of the people.
It is expected that a democratic government is :
-largely free from corruption
-often sensitive to the people
Contradictions:
Most democracies fell short of elections that provide a fair chance to everyone and in
every decision to public debate.
Democratic governments do not have a very good record regarding sharing of
information.
Justification:
All one can say is that democracies have had greater success in setting up regular and free
elections. Thus, it is much better than any non-democratic regime in these respects.
• Legitimate government
Democracy is a government of the people .
The majority party or group of political parties forms the government.
Whenever possible and necessary, citizens should be able to participate in decision-
making that affects them all.
It generates its own support to itself.
Contradictions:
Democracies often frustrate the needs of the people and often ignore the demands of a
majority of its population.
There are routine tales of corruption which convince us that democracy is not a clean and
responsive government.
Justification:
Democracy may be slow , less efficient, not always responsive and clean but it is people’s
own government. i e the evidence of south Asian democratic regimes shows that
democracy is suitable government.
Economic Outcomes
• Economic growth
Economic growth in democracies if slow and gradual in the interest of people
of the country.
Democracy always seeks welfare and social-economic equality.
Contradiction:
If we consider all democracies and all dictatorships between 1950 & 2000, we
will see that dictatorships have slightly higher rate of economic growth.
The inability of democracy to achieve higher growth worries us.
Justification:
This alone cannot be the reason to reject democracy as when we find such
significant difference in growth rate, It is better to prefer democracy as it
has several other positive outcomes
Economic development
Depends upon the factors like population size, global situation, cooperation
and economic priorities.
The difference in the rates of economic development in democracies and
dictatorships is negligible.
Contradiction:
Evidence shows that in practice democracy cannot guarantee high economic
development.
Justification:
We do accept the fact of low economic development in democracy but we
can expect democracy not to lag behind dictatorships in this respect.
It is better to prefer democracy as it has several other positive outcomes.
Reduction in inequality of poverty
It is expected from democracies to reduce economic disparities.
Democracies ensure just distribution of goods, incomes and opportunities.
Contradictions:
We fine growing economic inequalities in democracy
In actual life, democracies do not appear to be very successful in eliminating
poverty.
A small number of ultra-rich enjoy a highly disproportionate share of wealth and
income, the have-nots have very little to depend upon
In Bangladesh, more than half of the population lives in poverty.
Several poor countries are dependent on the rich countries for their basic needs.
Justification:
Democracies lead to a just distribution of goods and opportunities. If democracy
cannot completely eliminate poverty, at least it tries to reduce poverty ratio with
welfare policies and programmes.
Social outcomes
• Accommodation of social diversity
Democracies ensure a peaceful and harmonious life to citizens.
Democracies usually develops a procedure to conduct a competition which reduces
the possibility of social tension becoming explosive or violent.
Democratic regimes have the ability to handle social differences, divisions and conflicts
through the provision of accommodation, reservation and special privileges.
Democracy evolves new mechanisms to negotiate.
Dignity and freedom of the citizens
Democracy stands much superior to any form of government in promoting
dignity and freedom of individuals.
The passion for respect and freedom
Freedom and dignity have legal and moral force in democracy
In India has strengthened the claims of the disadvantaged and discriminated
castes for equal status and equal opportunities.
The most distinctive feature about democracy is that its examination never gets
over.
As people get some benefits, they ask for more
People always come up with more expectations and many complaints
The fact that people are complaining is itself a testimony to the success of
democracy. It transforms people from the status of subjects into that of citizens.
