Major Traits of the Democratic System: A Comparative Analysis of Democratic and Non-Democratic Regimes
The following essay aims to outline the main characteristics of the democratic system in juxtaposition with the autocratic form of government as well as to point out several significant structural aspects of the former and their effects on the welfare of the state in terms of its economic and infrastructural development. Democracy as a form of government strives to maintain a balance between one’s freedom and equality and is therefore considered the more beneficial for the individual contemporary governing system in comparison with that of autocracy.
The central aim of democracy is directed towards an expansion of the personal rights of each member of society while preserving the option for political and legislative equality between all individuals. That being said, the most significant traits of democracy in terms of the well-being of the individual would appear to be those concerning one’s political and personal freedom, political equality and rule of law. These characteristics facilitate the functionality of this type of government by means of appealing to the electorate community as well as providing an efficient economic system, which in turn facilitates the development of state. In this context, property rights play a particularly important part in the successful execution of the democratic model as their expansion seeks to allow an opportunity for creation and production for the individual while at the same time limiting the various restrictions of economic competition that would hinder a person’s incentives. (North and Thomas 5) Thus the balance between freedom and equality can be achieved. In terms of law application, the effectiveness of the execution of legislative procedures varies depending on whether the system in question is a presidential democracy or a parliamentary democracy.
In comparison to autocratic governments the democratic one does not share some of the negative traits of said alternative regimes. For instance, traditional values such as unity, standardization and submission to a common restrictive ideology in the name of a common good more often that not results in a failed development of government as it harms the rights of the individual and impedes their opportunities for pursuit of personal and economic well-being; the ideological traits of such a government are clearly seen in the PBS documentary piece The Tank Man, an episode concerning the massacre. Another example of a failed government, as described by Jeffrey Herbst, is the state of government in Africa, in the case of which said failure is caused, among a number of flaws in the execution of law and expansion of economy, the lack of territorial competition, which is one of the requirements for achievement of economic and political prowess in Western countries. (Robinson 510) Of course, an acute comparison between political regimes in different countries cannot always be drawn as territorial, geographical, population and resource factors understandably make it difficult for the area of comparative politics to draw one-sided conclusions; however, the benefit of warfare on the welfare …
