Democracy is the least bad way of organising a society. It is far from an ideal system but history shows it generally produces peaceful countries that transfer power from one government to another in an efficient and orderly way. It also gives the people elected the authourity of the people to govern on behalf of the people, which is why dictatorships continue to have "show" elections, even though the result is preordained. However for democratic process to work its underlying principals have to be met. When these are not met, bad results do occur. The principals are
a) the military forces accept democracy.
Democracy only works if participants give up violence and military force. If one side takes up arms to seize power, then the other opposition is forced to do the same and civil war breaks out. The ensuing death and destruction wrecks the country. Therefore the military and their Generals must not get involved in politics
b) There is freedom of speech and respectful debate.
It should be remembered that generally people want the same things and political debate is about the best way to achieve those things and what are the priorities. Therefore all sides should recognise the right of alternative views to be raised and respectfully debated. Obviously their will never be agreement, but if one side is censored by the other the best policy can never be achieved, and minorities views debated.
c) There is a free press with investigative journalism.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Someone has to pay attention to what elected people are up to. This can only happen if information is easy to obtain and journalists able to report on what they discover.
d) The judiciary is independent and effective.
The lay should be applied equally to everyone as no one is more important than the law. This means the judges need to be unbiased and independent of politicians. Also the legal system needs to be able of reach timely rulings that are then implemented so they cannot be ignored.
e) The law is respected by those in power and not changed to benefit one side or the other.
All must accept the law and constitution and law makers should not alter it for their own good.
f) The electorate needs to be able to have access to unbiased information and has a duty to keep them selves well informed of the issues of the day and the politicians proposals.
g) Those who want to be elected are competent, honest, moral and willing to serve in the public interest not their own.
h) Money does not mean only the rich can run for office or stand a chance of winning.
i) Electorate are not greedy and just keep on demanding more and more free handouts.
j) Electorate accept that they are responsible for the state of their society as well as their Government.
All have to work to make their society a better place. Blaming others or the Government whilst doing nothing results in stagnancy.
k) Those in Power make decisions that are sound in the short and long term.
Terms of office will be a 4 or five years, but some policies need longer to achieve results. Therefore those elected shouldn't think just about the period until the next election.
l) Politicians and the electorate know how and when to compromise in order to reach a better outcome for all.
m) Counting of votes is transparent and results respected.
n) The electorate needs to be well educated as how society and their economies functions and be able to reason what the likely outcome of proposed policy will be.
o) The electorate need to trust that the politicians will do what they say, and politicians need to have the integrity and honesty to do what they say when elected.
p) Everyone has a right to a secret vote.
I almost forgot this one,. but debate continues as to whether prisoners, nationals who live abroad, people with no photo id, people under age, etc etc should have a right to vote. The voting process should also be private to avoid coercion or voting under duress. Some question if postal voters are free and fair.
