Is liberal democracy the best system?

Authors Avatar by mingvandenberg (student)

Is liberal democracy the best system? Critically assess. 

There is no perfect way to organize societies because people are imperfect and therefore incapable of devising a system without flaws. Throughout history, governments of every sort have violated every imaginable human right. In light of such conditions, and with the knowledge that the individual is the building block of society, there is a strong argument to be made for liberal democracy being the best system.

To begin, the question of why one system is better than others can only be asked in a theoretical way. This is because defining something as best is entirely subjective depending upon the criteria of evaluation. For example, some might argue that North Korea’s military dictatorship is oppressive and that is a terrible system because it suppresses private enterprise and generally violates fundamental human rights of its people.  Defining the governance system as terrible is based upon the idea that much value should be placed on the ability of individuals to exercise extensive personal freedoms. Accepting this assumption, the reasons that liberal democracy is superior to alternate systems such as military dictatorships, absolute monarchies, and others, becomes more clear.

One key benefit of liberal democracies is that they acknowledge and act on the will of the majority while still protecting the rights of the minority. The distinction between a direct and a liberal democracy, is that in a direct democracy each citizen votes on every issue and in a liberal democracy the majority elects representatives to act on their behalf.

Join now!

Arguably, a direct democracy is more fair. While liberal democracies have been accused of being partisan to the interests of the bourgeoisie and ruling elite, direct democracies govern according to simple majority. For example, in Switzerland, by calling a federal referendum, a group of citizens may challenge a law that has been passed by Parliament. By gathering 50,000 signatures in protest within 100 days, a national vote can be called to decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law. Yet, Switzerland has a small population overall, and because it is technologically advanced, electronic voting can happen instantly. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay