Democracy Creates Stability in a Society

On the news there are great commotions about the elections in China and USA. These elections are a part of the practice of democracy, in which people vote to decide on who represents them. Democracy is the most common form of government used in countries around the world. However, does democracy create stability in a society?

But first, what is democracy?

Democracy is a system of government by which political sovereignty lies with the people, being exercised directly or through elected representatives in the Parliament.

Inherently, democracy would create stability in a society. Democracy leaves the power to decide in the hands of the people. Through voting, the people are able to effect change in society, allowing their needs to be fulfilled. This would create social stability in the society. But will this always be true?

I first came across democracy when I was in primary 2, when I questioned my mother if we needed to vote after seeing an advertisement about voting. She explained democracy briefly and that people under the age of 21 are not eligible to vote, and since our constituency was not being contested, so we did not need to vote.

Looking back, I ponder on these aspects about democracy in Singapore. Firstly, even now, I do not have the power to vote. While it may be because I am young and ignorant, it means that my interests, as well as that of the entire population of students and teenagers ineligible to vote, are not being directly represented in the elections. This means that our needs may be neglected, since we cannot vote and change who is in power. However, our interests are still being represented by our parents, as well as others in society, and our needs have not been neglected. Yet, if there were a group of people, who did not have power to vote and effect change, would their interests be cared for by the government? What about the minority, whose interests are overridden by the majority? Are their needs cared for? If the needs of these people are neglected, they may retaliate by staging uprisings, resulting in social and political instability.

Secondly, our constituency was not being contested. I believe that many would have experienced similar situations. This leads to us being unable to effect change, even if the government was not doing a good job in our constituency. One of the fundamentals of democracy is that the people may opt for change through voting to improve society and hence prevent social instability caused by protests and uprisings. Yet if the opposition is not strong enough, there would not be alternatives for the people to opt for, and they may choose to cause change through less orderly methods such as riots, causing social and political instability. Hence, there should be a fairly strong opposition, such that there is an alternative to the current situation, should it become unfavourable. Moreover, such opposition creates competition to motivate the ruling party to improve, leading to less social dissatisfaction and instability.

In conclusion, for democracy to create stability in society, there are certain pre-conditions that need to be fulfilled, such as just representation of the people’s interests and a suitably strong opposition and others. Fulfilling these conditions would allow democracy to create stability in society.