Democracy has been defined differently by different people. According to the great Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, democracy is monocracy or the rale of the crowd. ‘Demos’ means crowd. ‘Cracy’ is from the Greek work ‘Karts’ or ‘Kratia’ which means power. These Greek philosophers had a very poor opinion about democracy. They considered it as a weak type of government. They thought such a government created instability and chaos. Plato was of the view that a country should be ruled only by philosopher- kings, the men of learning.
However, in the modern age, democracy has come to be regarded as the best possible form of government. Different writers have defined it differently. According to Prof. Seeley, it is a government in which everyone has a share. Bryce defined democracy as that form of Government in which the ruling power of the State is largely vested in the members of the community as a whole. The most comprehensive definition of democracy was that given by Abraham Lincoln. According to him, it is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Thus, in a democratic system of government, it is the people who are supreme and sovereign. They are free to elect a government of their own choice.
There are two types of democracy-direct and indirect. In a direct democracy, people can elect their rulers and dismiss them. It is the people who make the laws and change them if and when necessary. However, in an indirect democracy, people elect their representatives to the Legislature which alone is empowered to make laws for the people. These representatives, in turn, choose the President, the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to run the administration of the country. An indirect democracy is also called a representative democracy.
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Direct democracy was possible only in the past in the City-States whose population was small. This type of democracy is prevalent only in a few cantons of Switzerland where the people have the right to elect their representatives and recall them, if necessary. Nowadays, there is a representative or indirect form of democracy. U.S.A., U.K. and India have indirect democracy in their countries.
The experiment of democracy has met with success in some countries like U.S.A., U.K., France, Canada, Switzerland, etc. In U.K., democracy has achieved tremendous success. In fact, U.K. is the mother of parliamentary democracy.
There are, however, some countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America where democracy has proved to be a flop. Except in a few countries like India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Israel, it has virtually failed in the whole of Asia and Africa.
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As a matter of fact, the success of democracy depends on the fulfillment of certain conditions. These conditions are: high rate of literacy, well-organised political parties, freedom of the press, economic equality, social justice, enlightened public opinion, loyalty to the country, etc. These conditions are available to a great extent in some countries of Europe and in the U.S.A. Therefore, democracy has proved to be a great success in these countries. By and large, democracy has failed or met with only a limited success in countries where these preconditions are not present in ample measure.
India is the largest democracy in the world. It is surrounded by neighbours like Pakistan and Bangladesh which have also become democratic countries.
Fortunately, the experiment of democracy has been going on in our country for the last 56 years and the results achieved so far have been encouraging. It is under the democratic form of Government that India has been able to become one of the ten highly industrialised and scientifically-advanced countries of the world. It has achieved self-sufficiency in foodgrains as a result of the Green Revolution. Anti-poverty programmes have started making some headway. The percentage of people living below the poverty line in the country has come down to 26.10 now. Scientific progress also has been significant.
If the future of democracy is still bright in our country, the credit goes to our great national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawahar Lai Nehru, Lai Bahadur Shastri, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, and scores of other national and regional leaders, who have worked hard to make democracy a grand success in India. Of course, the credit also goes to the sagacious people of India who believe firmly in the democratic traditions and peaceful transition of Government.
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Democracy in India has been successful because whenever a government fails to come up to the expectations of people, they vote for a change. The Indian people are conscious about their rights and it is this sense of awareness which is the spirit of democracy. This is quite clear from the fact that thirteen General Elections have already taken place in India peacefully during the last 56 years. So democracy has not failed in India; it has proved to be a grand success despite the high degree of illiteracy existing in India.