| Term Paper Title | Direct Democracy Vs Representative Democracy |
| # of Words | 907 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 3.63 |
Direct Democracy vs Representative Democracy
The term Democracy is derived from two Greek words, demos, meaning
people, and kratos, meaning rule. These two words form the word democracy which
means rule by the people. Aristotle, and other ancient Greek political
philosophers, used the phrase, `the governors are to be the governed', or as we
have come to know it, `rule and be ruled in turn'.
The two major types of democracy are Representative Democracy and Direct
Democracy. Clearly the arguments for and against each form of democracy are
plentiful. However, it is my belief that theoretically, Direct Democracy is the
superior form of political rule. Due to problems with in the direct democratic
system, its use as a practical form of government is not even thinkable.
Therefore, in order for any form of democracy to function, Representative
Democracy is the superior form of political rule.
Jean Jacques Rousseau is considered by many to be the `Grandfather' of
direct the democracy theory. Rousseau's ideal society would be where the
citizens were directly involved in the creation of the laws which are to govern
their lives. He maintained that, "all citizens should meet together and decide
what is best for the community and enact the appropriate laws. Any law which
was not directly created by the citizens is not valid, and if those laws are
imposed on people, that is equivalent to the people being enslaved.
The citizens of a society must both develop and obey `the supreme
decision of the general will', which is the society's determination of the
common good. It is not even thinkable that all citizens will agree on what good
is. Rousseau recognized this and accepted a term of majority rule. Those who
voted against a policy which is found to be the best for the general, must have
been thinking of personal gains, rather than the gains of the entire society.
The feature which distinguishes direct democracy from other forms of
government is the idea of agreement and the key to agreement is discussion. It
is impossible to reach an agreement without discussion, because it is not right
to think that everybody will have the same opinion on all matters. But, it is
very possible, that through discussion an agreement could be reached by all
members. Representation, on the other hand allows a select few to make
decisions in their own best interest, which is not necessarily the best interest
of the society.
However, direct democracy is not the perfect method to produce a union
of the community. For a direct democracy to work, face to face communication
between all members of the community is needed. The only way this is possible
is to meet in large groups. Due to the fear of high tension, many citizens
"will not participate in these large group meeting. So in order for these
fearful people to voice their opinions they m...Read entire document
|
|
|
