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Is real democracy a dream or does its best model exist in this troubled world? In reality democracy is a very fragile conception that few countries and governments have been able to maintain in its true form. In my opinion the best current model exists in Canada.

Some would say that the UK, with its role as the "mother" of all parliaments, is the main contender for a model democracy. To the extent that it has a freedom of voting and expression of opinion, this is true. However, from a political viewpoint this position has been sullied by recent events, such as the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales. In itself, there is nothing undemocratic about this move, but the condition that UK members of Parliament cannot vote on issues in Scotland, whilst they can on ours, in practice democratic principles are not being upheld. Similarly, in a situation where proportional representation does not exist, which leads to a government that only has 35% of the support, this means that the views of the majority are not being considered on many important matters, leading to decisions are being enforced by a minority. It also means that, in situations which by any other format would call for a referendum, the government can easily deny the voters the right to vote or have a say.

Others would promote the US as the best democratic model. Similar to the UK, on the surface there are reasons for favouring this choice. However, for reasons that are uniquely different from the UK, there are flaws in this system too. Democracy in the US is far too reliant upon the power of the dollar to take the crown of best democratic model.

In my view Canada offers the best current democratic model. It is historically less volatile than the US and the UK, and relies less on the financial influences that either of these democracies. It is also moving towards a position of proportional representation, where each and every vote counts, thus meaning that every person has a voice in the running of his or her country.

Learn more about this author, Paul Lines.
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