Every nation in the world today is either desirous of being a democracy, or claims to be one. With the collapse of the communist superstructure-the USSR, ‘democracy’ has become a fascinating word. It is seen as a supernatural word. It is seen to assure everything virtuous-politically, socially and economically.  And even now if we ponder a little, democracy is full of dilemmas, incongruities, challenges and paradoxes.

Challenges

The primary issue is that its theory and practices are not significantly uniform or even consistent with one another. Some of the ideas associated with democracy like separation of the state and the Church (religion) and the separation & balance of the pillars of government are followed in very rarest of cases. The environment for the success of democracy rarely exists. The prerogatives needed for democracy to munificently vouchsafe its entire citizen needs are generally squandered. The prerogatives like liberal state expenditure behind education & health, a free and unbiased media, strong judiciary with a straight spine, proper ombudsman authority are generally not present in a particular state which aspires to be identified as democracies. But there are pleasant exceptions to such cases like the North-West European countries, New Zealand and others. It is the duty of the state to ensure the fulfillment of the requirements of democracy if it is to triumph. Democracy presumes all of its citizens to be good, rational, thinking beings, who are competent of self-discipline, assumptions that are frequently belied in reality. So the freedom in true sense is more often than not, absent and if at all it is present it is put to wrong use through anarchy. Recent cascading of the protests under the umbrella of ‘Black lives matter’ movement in the USA in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd was on the path of becoming a full-fledged anarchy. But that did not happen because of responsible action taken by the police to ameliorate the bruised feelings of the American citizens of colour, by apologizing and showing solidarity with the protests on moral grounds. This shows why USA is a matured democracy.

The idea of democracy prides itself on the freedom it gives to dissent. Nevertheless, this dissent can be taken too far as we discussed above, even to the magnitude of manifesting catastrophe to the unity of the country and its social fabric. And then a democratic setup faces the dilemma of how to deal with it; whether it feels obligated to use force or not is guided by the ‘on the ground scenario’ and the maturity of the society. In the recent case of the Belarus protests we saw that the country which fancies itself as a democracy used almost all means to suppress the protests against Lukashenko. Democracy’s hands are tied, for it cannot use too much of force. If it does, it would be no more a democracy but a totalitarian or a dictatorial type of state. An example in this case would be Democratic peoples’ Republic of Korea-the hermitic nation of North Korea which has no features of democracy except in its name. In its election, the country provides only one option on the ballot box, that of its dictator Kim Jong Un. That’s the irony of democracy in North Korea. But if a state lets dissent go unconstrained, then that would be a chaos. Examples, in this case, would be Iraq and Libya where the dissent literally tore apart the countries and they became the hotbeds for ISIS.

Autonomy and desire for separatism:

A flexible order gives rudimentary autonomy to the nationalist setup and its institutions. Yet many times flexibility in order makes cohesive living strenuous. One is inept to envisage how autarchy graduates into secessionist desires. Pressure groups, subgroups, and even the smallest groups begin to seek freedom. Such small scale establishments may be discreet and unviable politically and may soon give birth to mutiny and chaotic conditions. This has been well observed in the case of the erstwhile the Soviet Union and its satellite states.

Democracy bestows certain advantages and rights on the people. Nonetheless, these rights and virtues are often mistreated in the name of combating and countering oppression. A demented insistence on one’s prerogative without a corresponding awareness of one’s duties leads to misconduct and disarray and in a larger context, it undermines the democratic system.

Liberty & Equality

The terms Liberty and equality are fundamental to democracy, the two of them are inherent features of democracy. They are concepts which are intertwined to one another. Liberty authorises a person to expand his or her individuality, evolve mentally, and acquire what he or she deserves to one’s maximum potential. It allows one to be reconciled with equality, which by its essence puts a check on such discrete aspirations for the well-being of a group. Equality allows the people to give space to one another in a state under the conditions of liberty. Democracies resort to positive discrimination and brush aside monopolistic social concerns.  There is a certitude that for the results of liberty and equality to be successful there are certain pre-requisites.  Individuals have to possess forbearance and sink in that freedom is unbridled nevertheless dependent on not being a menace to another individual’s well-being.

Demands of Democracy

Democracy assumes civic capacities on the part of its citizens as pointed by the Irish Jurist and Liberal politician J.Bryce. Its potential benefits entail intellectual, self-restraint and moral sense. The citizens must be able to fathom the interest of the community, to lessen their own and truly enjoy the benefits of democracy. Democracy is established on defined theoretical values but human imperfection nips it in the bud from flowering in practice.

Rule of Democracy an Idea and a hope

Sir Henry Maine, a comparative jurist and historian had opined that democracy can never represent the rule of many since people barely accept the opinions of their representatives.  Parliament is seldom “a mirror of the nation”.

As Voltaire had stated equality is a myth-“it is as impossible for men to be equal as it is impossible for two professors of theology not to be envious of each other”.

Democracy holds within it the seeds of dissolution and decay. It treads a tortuous path of bargain of life and progress with chaos and disarray. It is indeed viable that it may lead to the despotism of a collective mediocrity.

Given the nature of philosophy of democracy, we can infer that there is something erroneous, a lacunae in the society or a nation that claims to be democratic, nevertheless in which disagreement amongst the citizenry is conspicuous by its absence. A successful democracy manifests as a pacification of opposites. If this harmony is not attained or is not kept alive, democracy will continue to appear as a bundle of paradoxes.

The author is a member of Amity centre of Happiness. Editor Opinion, Biswarup Mukhopadhyay has given important inputs for the article.