by Patrick Dansie

Created on: January 26, 2010

Democracy is the best form of government for any government in any part of the world. Democracy, especially in the liberal tradition has proven itself to be the most stable political system for a state in the modern world. Democracy has always been with us throughout human history in some shape or form, from ancient Athens through the enlightenment and into modernity. It has shown itself capable of both outlasting and defeating its rivals as shown in the 20th century.

Democratic traditions have always had its critics from Plato to Hobbes to Lenin, yet through these criticisms democracy has evolved and adapted. Developing new institutions and political machinery to overcome its deficiencies and become stronger. It is this ability for democracy to develop and adapt that makes it the best form of government for any country, as it can take on elements of already existing historical and cultural structures, maintaining them within the democratic system. The British democratic tradition, arguably the most stable contains within it remnants of historical political structures, the Lords and Monarchy, and has democratised them, using them as a base to provide political stability.

On the other hand the democracy of the USA draws its strength from its freshness of liberal democratic ideology. The founding fathers took new concepts of the time such as secularism and new interpretations of ideas of freedom and incorporated them into the constitution of the USA. This provided the symbolic break needed for the new world to emerge from the shadow of the old.

Democracy is the only political system to gain a balance between the rights and freedoms of the individual with those of societies at large. Under a democratic system the human rights of citizens are almost always protected and the rule of law held sacred. This balance between individual and society is flexible, as seen by the contrast in mentality between for example the USA and Sweden. In the USA a minimalist state is preferred, hence opposition to Nationalized Health, whereas Sweden has a broad state, providing high levels of state support for its citizens.

Democracy is by far the best political system in terms of economic development, as clearly seen by the contrast in the economic histories of democratic states and authoritarian or communist states. In democratic states the price mechanism operates at its best preventing inefficiencies such as that occurred in the USSR. Although authoritarian regimes often can achieve

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