[Term 2] Democracy Creates Stability in a Society

I believe that Democracy creates stability to a certain extent, but first, let us define Democracy. Democracy is a system of governance, whereby the power to select the government rests with the people of the society. The ‘Majority Rule’ is practiced in a Democracy, in that the majority is taken to be correct.

Democracy can create social stability in a society, as due to the Majority Rule, the government would need to maintain the support of the majority of people so as to retain its position in the next election. Thus, the government would make decisions with the people in mind, pleasing the majority, leading to social stability.

However, protests are allowed in a Democracy, as all members of a democratic society enjoy universally recognized freedom and liberties, such as the freedom of speech. The flaw of the Majority Rule is that the minority is often ignored, and they may protest, possibly degenerating into riots. For example, during the Civil Rights Movement, it was due to the implementation of pro-white laws that marginalized the black minority, leading to protests and subsequently riots, which caused instability. Social stability then leads to economic instability, due to reduced investor confidence in the nation.

Democracy may also lead to economical instability in a society, due to the people electing an incumbent government. An example would be the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Due to many incumbent democratically elected Asian governments, the fiscal policies of many Asian countries were mismanaged, which exacerbated the economic crisis rather than to resolve it, causing widespread economic instability in Asia. If the voters did not make an incorrect choice, this may not have happened.

Democracy can also breed political instability, due to incumbent politicians are elected into government, or when a political deadlock is created due to politicians having differing views and ideals. For example, the 80th United States Congress in 1947-1949 was nicknamed the “Do Nothing Congress”, as the Republican Congress opposed many of the bills passed by the Democrat President. This political deadlock resolved nothing, and was a cause of political instability during that time due to the indecisiveness of the government.

The underlying factor to whether Democracy can create stability in a society is actually the people that make up the society, as in a Democracy, the power to decide the government rests with the people. Thus, the people are actually the ones who determine whether a society is stable or not, as instability would be created if the people incorrectly decide to elect an incumbent government.

However, the fundamental assumption of democracy that the majority is always right is incorrect, as seen from the examples above. Factors such as the people’s educational level and their standard of living influence the decision of the people, and incorrect choices may be made due to that. Thus, I believe Democracy can create stability in a society to a certain extent, because stability can only occur if the people make the right decisions in choosing who makes up the government.

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