Blog 2: Essay on Democracy

Today, many nation states institutionalize democracy as their political systems. Even though democracy is not perfect (no practical political system is), there is still a significant majority of democratic nations. It is mostly because democracy creates stability, to some extent, in a society. Stability, in this context, means that the country is in a state of equilibrium, with no major problems or upheavals. In my essay, I will concentrate on how democracy creates economic stability.

When a government is elected by free votes, it is usually made up of individuals and candidates that are morally just and upright. These individuals would serve the country’s interests with the best of their efforts. As such, they would do their best to make sure that the country is free from economic examples. For example, there would be no corruption. Revenue collected would be spent fairly and appropriately, resulting in proper development of the country. Inflation, largely caused by the inadequate planning of government expenses, will also be far less rampant if the elected government is morally upright.

Let me take the example of Singapore. Although Singapore is not a purist form of democracy, it is nonetheless still a democracy. Our government, being freely elected by the people, is morally virtuous and is able to make correct choices to concentrate development on – resulting in economic stability. As such, no sector in Singapore is neglected. This stability ensures that foreign traders and investors are willing to do business and make investments in our country, resulting in a more stable economy and thus more stable country.

However, it may be argued that democracy does not create economic stability because of the fact that governments may not be voted in wisely. After all, even though voting is free, citizens might have a vested interest in voting for a particular party. Or, these citizens might just be plain ignorant about the voting process. The main point is, there are possible flaws in the voting system, resulting in the possible election of unsuitable candidates.

However, there is a very significant point to counter this rebuttal. Most democracies have checks-and-balances to counter this possible disability in the system. For example, there is a minimum age for voting in most democracies. This prevents young people with immature ideas about state and society from affecting the voting process. Literary rates are usually high in nation states with democracies. To quote a few examples, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Denmark and New Zealand all have literacy rates of 99%. Even Singapore has a literacy rate of 92.5%. As such, a vast majority of people have the ability to think and seek to achieve the best for themselves, and thus vote the people they think are morally just and upright into office.

In conclusion, although there are factors that suggest that democracy might be flawed and thus affect economic stability in a country, there are checks and balances in place to ensure that the democratic process is fair, and thus, economic stability in a society can be created by democracy.

(512 words)