In reality these two basic principles ‘Serve together as instruments for recognising or identifying what is democratic, and as critical standards for assessing how democratic existing arrangements may be.’ (Weir & Beetham 1997.)
Institutional Features of a Democratic Government
The features of a liberal democratic government are very important because they help us classify between the different types of governments in power around the world. Through my reading I think that it is fair to say that there are five essential features of a government if it is to call itself a liberal democratic government. These are as follows:
- ‘Representative institutions based on majority rule, through free elections and a choice of political parties.’ This clearly shows us that governments are chosen through the voice of the electorate, of which has become bigger since the reduction in voting age and the allowance of the women vote in the early 1900’s. This means that it is a government of the people because they have chosen due to their policies stated in pre-election time.
- ‘Limitations on the power of the government, implying a pluralistic society in which the state is not all-embracing and exists alongside other, sometimes competing interests.’ This implies that the governments can not just make decisions on legislature without the consent of the government or without the prospect of facing competition from pressure groups such as protectional groups like trade unions or promotional groups like the RSPCA.
- ‘Accountability of the government to the electorate.’ This feature tells us that the decisions made by the government should really be made in accordance to the policies stated in their manifestos, otherwise there could be a decrease in polls of support for the party so losing confidence of the nation that is governing.
- ‘Freedom of expression, assembly and the person, guaranteed by an independent judiciary.’ This enables Members of Parliament to try and create their own bills in accordance to their or constituencies beliefs. For example Mike Foster, of Worcester, trying to pass a bill to ban hunting. These bill though are pledged in Parliament, this is where it is decide whether or not the bill is passed.
- Finally, ‘A skilled and impartial permanent public service responsible to the government of the day and, through it, to the electorate.’ This include the fire service, the police force etc. This helps protect the electorate from the bad of the state and is designed to show no prejudice to the different range of citizens of the state.
(The features came from Derbyshire & Derbyshire, World Political Systems, 1993.)
Although the above are the key features of a liberal democracy there also however other things that the government must consider in order for it to see out its term of office successful. These involve things such as the government running ‘Regular elections that respect the principle of ‘one person, one vote; one vote, one value.’ Although similar to the above it is far more specific and related to the concept of the individuals’ freedom to decide and choose on whom manifesto he feels is the most suited to his/her ideas. It must also guarantee the aspect of ‘Civil rights and individual rights,’ this can include things such as freedom of speech on particular issues, for example the protest of students in London in November against the proposed introduction of top up fees to higher education, also the right to be innocent until you are proven guilty for a particular crime committed.
The Purported Benefits of a Liberal Democratic Government
A liberal democracy if worked well can have benefits to a number of parts to the state. This can include the citizens, the trade, international relations and most importantly an overall successfully run country.
- Many people have written in the past that democracy is the best way to run a country because it involves the people of the state to its near full capacity, or as Winston Churchill stated it ‘Is the least worst,’ way of which to run a country. It is clearly stated that it is the ‘Best form of government for governing a complex society with different and pluralistic interests’. (Jackson & Jackson, 1993).This is mainly due to the fact that it allows for the party with the majority of the vote to represent the citizens of the country without any issues about hierarchy and heir to positions which could cause civil conflict, as Aristotle put it, ‘An expert knows how top bake a cake, but the person who eats it is a better judge of how it tastes.’
- It is also said to be good because it ‘Incorporates desirable political values.’ This includes the use of the electorate to decide on who is the successor in government, and in certain cases can mean that when issue are split in parliament things can go to a referendum. In the future it is possible in the United Kingdom that the issue of whether or not to join the Euro will go to a referendum as in Sweden, where it was decided that it would not.
The Varieties of Liberal Democracy Around the World
In the last fifty years there has been a huge increase in states that have turned to democracy as a way in which their state should be ran. This has lead to three distinct types of democratic states being formed, these are established, transitional and façade.
Established
‘Only a few of the world states are democratic,’ these countries include the United States of America, Canada and Great Britain, these are countries of whom have managed to maintain democratic status over a substantial period of time. The reason why these countries have maintained democratic status is clear, they all have stable economic positions and have a high human rights percentage so the citizens are happy with the regime and do not feel it has to be changed.
Transitional
These countries tend to have a short life span as democracies or have only recently turned in to democracies from communism the two world wars. These countries include Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, the majority of these countries have formed in to democratic states due to the splitting up of the former Soviet Union. These countries are at the early stages so it extremely difficult to state whether or not these counries are successful democratic states or not. I believe that in the next fifty to a hundred years this question will be able to be answered. It is also hard to predict too due to the forever changing political environment.
Façade
These states are called facades because they do nothing more than portray an image that they are liberal democratic governments. ‘They may be military or dynastic regimes which provide the trappings of democracy in order to control their populations, or to achieve international respectability.’ (Jackson & Jackson, 1993). These countries are like Bolivia, Columbia and South Africa apartheid often in this category. So theoretically these are nothing more than wannabe democratic states and should not really be considered when discussing liberal democratic states.
Drawbacks of a Liberal Democratic Society
There are not any outstanding drawbacks that can be shown immediately but there are possible ones that the government could face if it were to slip in the decision process. Firstly if it were not to follow the ideas for a new government set out in its manifesto it could lead to rumblings from not only the opposition but from the electorate as well. It can also lead to international arguments to, shown only this year when Britain went to war allied with America against the will of France and Germany. This caused political conflict both on and off shore.
Conclusions
It is fair to say that after my readings that liberal democracy is an extremely important part of international society in terms of trade and international political agenda. I feel to that without a democratic society it would be extremely difficult for decisions to be implemented in states previously mentioned. It is also fair to suggest that in democratic states if the executive were to not listen to the electorate they would face political backlashes from interest groups concerned about particular issues that could harm their people or the aspect of which they are trying to defend. On the whole though through my reading the reference at the beginning of this report ‘Product of two concepts: the right to representative government and the right to enjoy individual freedom. The term liberal comes from the first concept and democracy from the second,’ (Derbyshire & Derbyshire) has proved to be perfectly suited to the idea of a liberal democratic society.
Bibliography
Andrew Heywood (2000) Key Concepts in Politics (Palgrave)
Andrew Heywood (2002) Politics 2nd (Palgrave)
Andrew Heywood (1997) Politics 1st (Palgrave)
Rod Hague & Martin Harrop (2001) Comparative Government and Politics (Palgrave)
Drucker, Dunleavy, Gamble & Peele (1986) Developments in British Politics (Macmillan)
Stuart Weir & David Beetham (2002) Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain (Routledge)
Derbyshire and Derbyshire (1993) World Political Systems
Jackson & Jackson (1993) Contemporary Government and Politics (Prentice-Hill)
