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Explore the concept of democracy in this session, covering participation, competition, and liberty. Learn about voting, elections, political parties, and separation of powers in democratic systems. Reading list included.
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POLI 214Introduction to Comparative Politics Lecturer: Dr. MaameAdwoa A. Gyekye-Jandoh Contact Information: mgyekyej@yahoo.com Session 9 DEMOCRACY
Session Overview • Overview • This session will discuss the concept and practice of democracy, including the three important elements of democracy – participation, competition, and liberty. Citizen participation in governance is very essential to a democracy, and voting and elections as well as the electoral system are crucial elements of participation.Political parties and separation of powers are also crucial elements of competition. • By the end of this session, you are expected to be able to define and explain the concept of democracy; distinguish between the two major forms of electoral systems;explain the functions of political parties in a democracy; and explain the concept of separation of powers and its importance in a democratic system of governance.
Session Outline The key topics to be covered in this session are as follows: • Topic One: What is Democracy? • Topic Two: Participation: Voting, Elections, and the Electoral System • Topic Three: Competition: Political Parties and the Separation of Powers
Reading List O’Neil, Patrick H. 2007. Essentials of Comparative Politics. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company. Huntington, Samuel. 1993. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Normann: University of Oklahoma Press. Huntington, Samuel. 1996. The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Shuster. Olson, Mancur (1993). “Dictatorship, Democracy and Development”, American Political Science Review 87, no. 3. September: 567-576.
Topic One What is democracy?
Definition of Democracy This topic introduces the origin and definition of the term democracy. This knowledge will help broaden your understanding of the concept of democracy, and will be useful in studying the remainder of the session. The term democracy has different meaning to different people. It is a concept which has been used variously to describe different circumstances. For example, whereas communist China sees democracy as collective security, full employment and universal education, the United States sees it as individual freedom and free market competition. The word democracy is from the Greek word demos, meaning the common people, and kratia meaning power or rule.
Definition of Democracy (contd.) From the origin of the word, some have defined democracy as the rule of the people or power to the people. Patrick O’Neil (2007) defines democracy as a system of government where political power is exercised either directly or indirectly through participation, competition and liberty(p. 135). In its simplest form, Abraham Lincoln, a former president of the United States, defined democracy as a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
Origin of Democracy The first system of participatory democracy was practiced in Athens-Greece, commonly referred today as Athenian democracy. It was a system of direct democracy whereby the whole population excluding women, children and slaves were allowed to directly participate in decision-making at a public forum. Modern day democracy, however, is traced to the Roman Empire where a system of indirect democracy was practised. Under the Roman Empire’s indirect democratic system, the public elected their representatives to participate in the decision-making process. This form of democracy is also known as republicanism. There was separation of powers within the state, but power was granted only to the upper classes of society. Liberal democracy, as practised across the world today, originated from England with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. The Magna Cartaestablished what is known today as due process under the rule of law.
In Summary • The term democracy has attracted several definitions. Originating from ancient Greece, the term came from the two Greek words demos and kratia. • It is simply defined as rule by the people or power to the people. The system of democracy practiced today is different from the direct democracy practiced under Athenian democracy. The modern day indirect democracy is much closer to the democracy practiced in the Roman Empire.
Questions to Consider • Give at least one definition of democracy. • Briefly explain the origin of democracy. • What wasAthenian democracy in Greece like? • Can you distinguish between democratic and authoritarian rule?
Topic Two Participation: voting, elections, and the electoral system
Voting and Elections This second topic discusses voting and elections as the means for citizen participation in elections. Voting and elections provide opportunity for citizens to participate in the democratic process. They are also the surest way of changing bad leaders and checking leaders who abuse their powers. The right to vote, also known as universal adult suffrage, is guaranteed to all adult citizens in most democracies. Different countries have different qualifications for the right to vote. In Ghana for instance, the voting age is 18 years, but prisoners who are 18 years or above are not qualified to vote. In some countries, voting is compulsory, and those who fail to vote are fined for not voting. Brazil and Australia are examples of such countries.
The Electoral System Electoral systems are the rules and procedures countries adopt to regulate how votes are cast, how they are counted, and how the votes are translated into parliamentary seats. It also includes how the president is elected into office. There are two major forms of electoral systems practiced in the world today. These are the single-member district (SMD) systems and the proportional representation (PR) systems. The SMD, also known as first past the post is the system under which the candidate who has the largest number of votes wins the seat in the constituency. It is a winner-take-all system whereby all the votes cast for the losing candidates are wasted. Countries that practise the SMD include the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, India, Ghanaand Nigeria.
The Electoral System (contd.) On the other hand, under the PR system voters cast their ballots for a party rather than for a candidate, and the number of seats in the district is distributed to parties based on the percentage or proportion of votes received by a party. PR therefore operates where the country is divided into multimember districts (MMDs) where each district has more than one legislative seat. The PR system is practised in South Africa where election to the National Assembly is not based on individual candidates, but purely on competition for votes by parties. Other countries that practise the PR system include Germany and Turkey. Some countries have decided to mix the SMD and the PR systems into what is known as a mixed electoral system. Under this system, voters cast two ballots, one for the candidate and another for the party to take care of proportional representation for parties.
In Summary • Elections provide opportunity for citizens to participate in the democratic process and to change leaders they have judged to have failed in their job as leaders. • In Ghana, the qualification age for elections is eighteen years. The three main electoral systems in the world include single-member district (SMD), Proportional Representation (PR) and Mixed electoral systems.
Questions to Consider • State any two reasons for voting and elections in a democracy. • Explain what an electoral/election system is. • Distinguish between the single-member district (SMD) system and the proportional representation (PR) system. • What possible advantage could a mixed-member district electoral system offer in a democracy? • Explain how Ghana’s electoral system is different from the electoral system of South Africa.
Topic Three Competition: Political parties and the separation of powers
Political Parties • Political parties are the most significant actors in any democratic state. They are indispensable in any democracy because they provide the basis for competition of ideas, which is the hallmark of democracies. It is therefore not possible to have a truly democratic state with only one party or with no party. Some of the reasons why political parties are inevitable in liberal democracies include: • Political parties provide the room for citizens to organise themselves along the lines of ideology. They therefore ensure order in the political system. • Political parties create the means for accountability in the democratic process. • They provide the citizens with a choice in terms of the policy and ideological direction of a particular country. • They are central to the process of electing leaders to rule in a particular country.
The Separation of Powers • Separation of Powers is a system which ensures that different branches of government are able to check the powers of each other so that no one branch can exercise absolute power or abuse the limited power that they enjoy. • The concept of separation of powers, originated by Baron de Montesquieu, a French philosopher, is a significant process of guaranteeing oversight and moderation of power in any democracy. • The three arms of government namely the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary are therefore empowered to check each other in the process of governance. One of the arms should not have absolute power that cannot be checked by the other two arms. The extent to which separation of powers is allowed to operate effectively depends on the system of government practiced by the country.
The Separation of Powers (contd.) • The presidential system practised in the United States is regarded as the most effective system for separation of powers. • The British parliamentary system does not clearly separate the executive from the legislature since the Prime Minister who exercises executive powers is also a member of the legislature. • In countries where a semi-presidential system, also known as a hybrid system is practised, separation of powers is compromised. Ghana is currently practising the semi-presidential system.
In Summary Liberal democracies cannot exist without political parties. This is because political parties play four key roles that are very significant for the success of any democratic process. The three arms of government are designed to check each others’ powers in a purely presidential system of government. The concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances are therefore central to good governance in a democracy. The separation of powers is less effective in parliamentary systems or hybrid systems of government as we have in Britain and Ghana under the Fourth Republic respectively.
Questions to Consider • Why are political parties significant in a democracy? • Explain the concept of the separation of powers. • How do separation of powers and checks and balances operate with regards to the three arms of government in any democracy?
Conclusion of Session 9 In this session, the concept and origin of democracy have been introduced and examined. In addition, you have learned more about electoral systems, the significance and role of political parties, as well as the concept of separation of powers in a democracy. In Session 10, we will examine advanced democracies, sovereignty in advanced democracies, and social and economic changes in advanced democracies.
References O’Neil, Patrick H. 2007. Essentials of Comparative Politics. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company. Huntington, Samuel. 1993. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Normann: University of Oklahoma Press. Huntington, Samuel. 1996. The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Shuster. Olson, Mancur (1993). “Dictatorship, Democracy and Development”, American Political Science Review 87, no. 3. September: 567-576.
