Democratic transition

Democratic Transitions
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Abstract
There are many administrative regimes that do exist in the world. All these regimes are based on a set of principles upon which they are based. Many nations of the world strive to attain the democratic regime. This implies moving from their current regimes. This process is called the democratic transition, and is faced by many challenges. The essay below looks at this in greater detail.
Democratic Transitions
According to Democratic Transitions (2012), the process of democratic transition or what is otherwise referred to as the democratization process is the process where nations move from a less democratic regime to a more democratic type of political regime. At this point, it is worth noting that democracy is widely defined by the great words of Abraham Lincoln; A government of the people, by the people, for the people. This implies that a democratic regime is one in which the people have power in deciding how they will be governed and how their resources will be utilized. The ICDT (2012), which looks at the democratic transitions in the different parts of the world, indicates that a democratic regime is one in which the electoral process is respected. The people have the power, and all the leaders are given the mandate to hold the offices by the electorate. However, other regimes such as dictatorship, monarchs and egalitarian regimes do not rely on the masses for guidance on governance. The movement from these regimes to the democratic regimes is called the democratic transition.
This process is not always very smooth. More often than not, there are challenges that face this process. OSIWA (2012) indicates that one of the greatest obstacles to the democratic consolidation is the issue of corruption. When the leaders are corrupt, the masses loose the faith that they have in the government. As such, they do not participate in the democratic processes such as voting, mainly because they are frustrated by the leaders. This encourages the continuation of the wrong regimes, hindering any possibility that democratic consolidation can be achieved.
Violence is another killer of democracy. Adcock (2005) posits that the foundation for a democratic regime is built on "free, fair and recurrent elections allowing the citizenry of a country to choose their representatives or leaders." However, many nations struggling to attain the democratic regime are often faced by violence. The military and the civilians engage in civil wars which have no meaning at all. Furthermore, the violence often disrupts the peaceful election process, thus hampering the process of free and fair elections. This is the situation observed in many African states such as Algeria, other nations of the world such as Colombia, Guatemala and even some countries in the Arab League. Such violence slows down the process of these countries in achieving democratic consolidation.
Lack of a sound constitution is also another factor which derails the process of democratic consolidation. Africa Democracy (2012) cites that the constitution is the compass which guides the country towards democracy. However, nations which do not have a sound constitution cannot find it easy to attain the democratic consolidation. This is mainly because they do not have a clear map that can help them navigate through the processes associated with democracy. As such, if nations wish to achieve a democratic regime, the first step should be the creation of a sound constitution which ...