Liberal Democracy is a particular form of democracy, which is based upon a set of fundamental assumptions about the individual, the state and the society. What are these basic assumptions and how far does liberal democracy succeed in its main aims?

Liberal Democracy was formulated in England, for which they exported this concept all over the world. The liberal democratic state has been prominent in some of these nations for well over a century, these prominent states, it must be noticed were populated wholly or largely from Britain such as North America, Australia and New Zealand. The primary aim of democracy is to have a government that is derived from public opinion and is accountable to it, basically it should at all times be representative of the population. The public must be able to voice their opinions freely, along with freedoms of assembly and associations, so that people can exchange their views and find a candidate to represent these ideas, respectively. The above points constitute the main principle of liberal democracy that the government is made up of representatives derived from public opinion, and for whom they are accountable to. Liberal Democracy makes many assumptions or ‘presuppositions’; the most important of these is being those of the individual, the state and the society.

The liberal democratic state believes that there is no ‘objective science of society or of morals’ (S E Finer). Individuals find their own truths of situations, where all consciences held are seen as equal in an ‘act of faith in the sight of God, man, or both’, this equality entails that each individual has the right put their own point of view. This is therefore the assumption of liberal democracy of the individual. The state, as is assumed by liberal democracy is that it is limited, that it operates in a world of ‘autonomous spontaneously self creating, voluntary associations’. Ideas of liberal democracy assume that the government operates at the pace of society, it is up to the state to prove whether it has the right to harness the activities of these associations. The assumption is not saying that it state should not interfere, it has a wide obligation to the public to provide the conditions of order and civil peace and defence, otherwise these autonomous voluntary associations could not exist. The governments’ authoritative power is therefore limited, due to the protection of the rights of the individual and of the private associations. Society is assumed by liberal democracy to follow the ideas of pluralism. Therefore the society is made up of the autonomous associations, for whom their members hold high regard toward the groups values and interests. The recognition of society as being pluralistic therefore brings forward the further assumption that government doesn’t rule in the interest of any one group, but in the common interest of all.

Liberal democracy has many aims, the most important of these centre on the government, society and the individual. But do the liberal democracies, of the western world succeed in these aims or do they fail, for example, do people gain their right to freedom of speech? Does society have the freedoms of associations and assembly? Are their certain voluntary associations that can manipulate the state and prevent decisions being taken from within it? If this is so then the liberal democratic state must be failing as it should set out to rule in the common interest of all, if one ...

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The main aim that the government is representative of the majority may be slightly flawed in the UK. The way the UK’s voting system operates is the first past the post approach, basically with this format the loosing political party may have had more votes than the winner but lost out as seats in parliament are given to winner of the constituencies. This means that the government, who has been voted in, does not represent the majority. Thus liberal democracy could be seen to be failing, as the elected legislature may not be derived from the majority of public opinion. It is difficult to see this happening, a political party gaining more votes than their opposition but still loosing. The alternative system to use would be that of proportional representation, which is used in the rest of Europe, this form of vote offers a government that is more representative of public opinion. This concept would further enhance the success of liberal democracy in its main aims.

Another main aim of the liberal democratic state is that of public opinion being freely expressed. There are many ways in which people can express their opinions within the western world, the ever-increasing accessibility to the media. Also by focussing on the idea of the liberal democratic state being pluralist, the associations supporting different interests give the individual the opportunity to support the group for whose values and interests they support. This is a great success of the liberal democratic state as the state, which is accountable to public opinion, can be more representative of this opinion due the ease at which they are freely expressed.

A point at which the aims of liberal democracy are when these interest groups or associations a can have an influence over the government by aggregating members power and setting up promotional demands so that they can influence the states legislation. This is a point at which the government needs to stand firm, as by making concessions for one group, may result in uproar from opposing groups. Also a president could be set, for example the viewpoint of groups that if they complain for long enough they will get what they want. The aims of liberal democracy constitute to it following the principles of classical pluralism, as to say that all the associations and interest groups within society act within a level playing field. I would argue however that it follows the ideas of elite pluralism’s, with which some interest groups are able to exert more power than others. This would therefore be seen as a failure of the liberal democratic system, but I would not consider it so, as surely it is inevitable in society that their will be elite groups with more influence than others?

Something that I believe is a success of the liberal democracies of the Western world is that they do not attempt to impose any kind of ideology, philosophy, and religion on society. This would be seen as the enforcement of liberal democratic ideas and the success of its aims, the individuals are free to make their own decisions, and that they have right to their own opinions and beliefs. This can then be linked to the aims of the liberal democratic state in terms of elections times, with the individuals at no time being coerced and overall the election corruption free. This is something that all established liberal democracies achieve and it is something the states should pride themselves on.

The liberal democracies of the western world, such as Great Britain, USA, Holland and Belgium are in my opinion very successful in achieving the main aims of this form of government. Their set ups are the envy of the developing world, for which many countries are trying to emulate. By focusing on these experimental Liberal Democracies it is possible to see why those in the western developed world are seen as a success. I refer to a recent article in the guardian in which it shows that the Muslim India is becoming the envy of East Asian community as it has managed to sustain a successful pluralist democracy for over 50 years. I believe that this shows that the democracy there is obviously a success and is envied due to the principles it promotes. This leads me on to a point that the successful established liberal democracies of the western world can promote its’ values into other states who perhaps don’t enjoy the same success.

Focussing now on liberal democracy in Britain, I believe that it is very successful in achieving the main aims of this particular form of government. I believe however that it falls back behind countries for the government being representative of public opinion from the point of view that it is operates the first past the post system as mentioned earlier. I believe the state is very successful in allowing the previously stated freedoms of individuals. From the assumption that the government is limited, I believe that it achieves great success in it’s role as a kind of broker between the different associations. The liberal Democratic government is something for which I believe all countries should aspire too. Countries such as Lebanon and Chile have shown that it can be very difficult to achieve success but ultimately if it succeeds in all its aims is surely the best form of government seen in the world today have however proved it.

Finer S E: Comparative Government

Elements in Political Science: Bealey F

Comparative Government: Finer S E