Challenges faced by Democracy. Social Sciences Research Paper

Name
Tutor
Course
Date
Challenges Facing Democracy
Introduction
Democracy is a system of governance in which people have been given the opportunity to exercise their power either directly or indirectly (Campbell 50). The direct exercise of power involves people holding demonstrations seeking answers to some of their grievances, whereas indirect exercise of authority entails people participating in elections to vote for individuals of their choice, whom they use to present their interests to the government of the day (Fukuyama 12). The system was first introduced in ancient Greece. Aristotle argued that it was effective in that decisions would be made with the people’s needs in mind, as opposed to other forms where politicians made choices in their favor.
Under the democratic system of governance, people are guaranteed freedom of speech, where one can air their views within the legal framework on a myriad of issues. Moreover, the democratic system allows individuals to live or move anywhere they please without any restrictions (Campbell 50). It guarantees the right to belong to any religion without any conditions attached. The minorities are protected from infringement and their voices and views matter as those of the majority. Women also enjoy the same opportunities and rights as their male counterparts. They can vie for political postings and join any party of their choice.
However, democracy has its own shortcomings, and as such, it has faced several challenges in the past three decades (Campbell 50). Democracy is its biggest enemy in a sense that people are allowed to make choices that may have a negative impact on their lives. Some scholars argue that since people are given a chance to vote for the leaders of their choices, they must make informed decisions. Nonetheless, this is not always the case since most politicians have devised ways to negatively influence voters in their decision-making (Campbell 50). The paper will comprehensively examine the challenges faced by democracy today and some solutions to these problems.
Heterogeneity of Population
Most countries have diverse populations in terms of income, wealth, ethnicity and religion. The diversity in population has led to serious problems as far as democracy is concerned (Steven 330). The following paragraphs will demonstrate how diversity is one of the biggest challenges facing democracy today.
Growing Social and Economic Inequality among People
One of the biggest challenges facing democracy today is ever increasing economic and social inequality among citizens (Peterson 147). Although under democratic system people have the right to vote and vie for various postings, only rich people have the biggest chance of winning the election. In some countries, particularly developing ones, poor people are sometimes forced to sell their votes to meet their basic necessities of life like food, shelter, and clothing. In most democratic countries, the people earning low income have low chances of winning any political seat, considering the fact that they do not have money to fund their campaigns. Hence, generally, most of the political seats are occupied by elites who do not represent the interests of the common citizens (Peterson 147). Therefore, the rich are usually elected as representatives in parliament and other branches of government, and they make laws and formulate policies that favor them and their fellow elites. Consequently, the gap between poor and rich is constantly increasing and it has shown no signs of narrowing.
Unequal distribution of income and wealth may adversely affect a poor person’s ability to participate in a democratic process than their rich counterparts (Peterson 147). Inequality in wealth distribution may lead to procedural inequality to a point where the poor may not have the same access to policy and political officials compared to wealthy individuals. With a high concentration of resources at the top, rich individuals are better positioned to achieve their political ideologies using their wealth (Fukuyama 16). The people with the greatest concentration of wealth usually enjoy ordinate of power and are able to influence the redistribution of resources as well as shaping the rules to favor the elites. A considerable number of researchers have found that legislative bodies are more responsive to grievances made by affluent constituents compared to those made by non-affluent citizens. Thus, it is apparent that rich people can use their wealth to influence some of the political activities to favor themselves, a feat that cannot be enjoyed by poor population. In addition, poor people are less likely to access civic education than affluent citizens (Fukuyama 16). Access to civic education plays an imperative role as far as making informed political decisions is concerned. It allows individuals to be aware of current political and economic issues affecting their countries and the leaders who have the capacity to address them.
Ethnicity and Religion
In almost every society, the population consists of people from different backgrounds in terms of religion and ethnicity (Houle 2). Currently, heterogeneity in terms of ethnicity and religion is one of the biggest challenges facing democracy as the section of the population with the majority take advantage of their numbers to vote in an individual from their religion, tribe or the race. For instance, in most African countries that claim to practice democracy, people vote depending on the religion and tribe (Houle 2). The individuals hailing from bigger tribes have higher chances of winning the presidency than those from smaller tribes. A perfect example of such countries is Kenya, where, despite the existence of more than forty-two tribes, only three tribes have occupied the top governmental seats since the independence. Resultantly, other tribes have consistently complained and are no longer interested in participating in elections where outcomes are determined by the ethnic numbers (Houle 2). In the United States, the same case applies where the Whites have dominated in the top governmental seats. It is only recently when a Black American, Barrack Obama won the presidential election, showing how ethnicity play a huge role in determining the outcome of the presidential election in the United States (Houle 2). Although a person should be elected based on how well their ideas are articulated and their ability to address the interests of people, this is not the case in democratic countries with heterogeneous populations.
Another country that has been plagued by the heterogeneity of the population as far as elections are concerned is India (Acharya 337). Indian society has several religious groups, with each religion sub-divided into various castes. During elections, a considerable number of people vote based on the significance of caste and religion of the candidate (Acharya et al. 337). Also, political parties offer the tickets depending on the candidate’s caste or religion. Individuals elected on the basis of religion or caste work for the well-being of the people who voted for them, abandoning the interests of others. Therefore, it is evident that the group with higher numbers will always prefer the candidate from their ethnicity or religion and the minority will have minimal chances of winning prominent posts. In some instances, the minority groups may become resistant to ruling groups, which may make their countries ungovernable by orchestrating civil wars as it has been witnessed in many African countries (Butcher, 1395). Some people have even resorted to boycotting the election, a practice that is threatening democracy.
Nonetheless, looking at democracy systems of the...