Democracy V/s Dictatorship Essay

Outline: 1. Government is the indispensable necessity of any country. 2. What is democracy? 3. Democracy is considered the best form of government. 4. Democracy is distorted in the third world countries. 5. Democracy has a large many advantages. 6. Democracy is not devoid of disadvantages. 7. There are certain requisites for successful democracy. 8. What is dictatorship? 9. Dictatorship is always full of many demerits. 10. Islamic concept of democracy is different from modern concept of democracy. 11. Pakistan shows a gloomy and painful picture of deteriorated and decayed democracy. 12. Conclusion: ↠ Main is a social animal. He can’t live alone away from his fellow human beings. Therefore, he forms societies and countries. No country can run its affairs smoothly without a government. Surely, government is the indispensable requirement of any country. ↠ Democracy is a form of government. Its literal meaning is ‘power of the people’. According to Abraham Lincoln, â€Å"Democracy is the government of the people, by the people for the people†. It means that in a democratic country, people are the real masters. The government has complete trust and confidence of masses. ↠ Democracy is considered the best form of government. It has both merits and demerits, but its grandeur can’t be denied. Islam also appreciates a democratic government. It favours unanimous decisions. The Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) laid great stress on mutual consultation on all essential matters. Surely, democracy is a civilized form of government. It exists in advanced countries of the world like America, England, France, Canada etc. ↠ Democracy follows its own mechanism. In a democratic country, there are many political parties. They take part in the election. The party that wins by the majority vote forms the government. The rest of the parties sit in the opposition benches. In the assembly, important issues are discussed and debated by both the ruling party and the opposition party. ↠ Democracy is distorted in the third world countries. Politicians always try to befool and hoodwink the people. The gain power for their own interests. Under the cover of democracy, they hold a totalitarian rule. In these poor and backward countries, the definition of democracy is somewhat like this â€Å" Government off the people, buy the people, far the people† ↠ Real Democracy has many advantages. i. In a democratic country, people take part actively in the affairs of the government. They elect the members of the parliament. Their representatives in the parliament reflect their will. ii. People can keep an eye on the performance of the elected members. The prime minister and the cabinet are answerable to the parliament. People can change a ruler through unanimous vote. iii. All people enjoy respect, importance equality of rights and justice irrespective of their colour, caste, creed or social status. iv. People enjoy freedom of thought, action, expression and publication. They can both criticize and give suggestions to the government. v. The press and the electronic media can discuss and debate the policies and decisions of the government vi. Intelligentsia, different organizations and opposition parties may hold public gatherings. They can use the services of radio, televisions and newspapers to convey their views to the government and public. vii. All decisions are made after mutual consultation and discussion. viii. Democracy allows variety of opinion to flourish. ix. Democracy cares for the needs and wishes of public. It tries to satisfy them and raise their standard of living. It works for their welfare. Thus, it proves a stable form of government and reduces the chances of revolt. ↠ Democracy is not devoid of disadvantages and shortcomings. i. Democracy generates party system. Candidates have to side with their own party even if its decisions are wrong. They can’t openly oppose its wrong policies. ii. Democracy may prove tyranny of the majority. In democracy, all decisions are made by majority raise. Therefore, it is merely the counting of head, not the weighing of wisdom. It attaches importance to quantity, not to quality. iii. Democracy fails at the time of national emergencies. It is a slow form of government. All issues have to be debated in the assembly. It takes a long time to arrive at any decision. Thus many urgent problems remain unsolved. ↠ There are certain requisites for the successful functioning of democracy. Firstly people should be educated. They should be able to use their vote wisely. They should elect honest, sincere and efficient representatives. Secondly, people should be prosperous so that political parties may not buy them or force them to vote for them. Thirdly, there should be social justice in society. There should not be the hateful concept of high and low in society. ↠ Unlike democracy, dictatorship is a form of government in which one man or one party rules the country. It is simply the anti-thesis of democracy. The entire power rests with a single man. It is, therefore, a one man show. There is no opposition party in dictatorship. Usually high military officers or magnates in the county can take the control of the government by dint of force, ↠ Dictatorship is always full of many demerits. It just steamrolls public opinion. It puts many restrictions on them. They do not enjoy the freedom of thought, action, expression and publication. They have to adore a single man and bow to his fair or foul policies. The print and electronic media have to conceal facts. They have to sing praises for the absolute ruler. Then it is very difficult to change a dictatorial government. History tells that some dictators continued their unfair rule to their death. Dictatorship exists in the communist countries like Russia, china, and East Germany. But dictatorship may also prove fruitful if the ruler considers himself accountable to people and God for his actions. ↠ Islamic concept of democracy is different form modern concept. Islam favours the concept of restricted or controlled democracy, which is the true democracy. It gives value to the opinions of the people is they are in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). In Islamic democracy, absolute authority lies with God. Islamic laws have to be enforced. There is no party system. Quality, not quality, is valued. Rulers are servants to masses and are accountable to God for each deed. ↠ Unfortunately, Pakistan shows a gloomy and painful picture of deteriorated and decayed democracy. It was won in the name of Islam. The Quaid-e-Azam wanted to make it a democratic country. But now, it is in the cruel clutches of plutocracy only. Most of our politicians are feudal lords, industrialists and other magnates. They attain power for their vested interests. They feather their own nest and care least for the masses. They exploit the poor and backward people for their own benefits. How painful it is that our intellectuals, scholars, teachers and able patriots are always kept out of the political arena. Our masses are mostly the dumb spectators of the political scenario. Our elections are never fair and transparent. They are full of corruption. The scenes of rigging, conspiracies and miscompilation of results are quite common. Voters are bribed. Ballot boxes are broken in riots. Candidates of the rival party are kidnapped. Our elections are merely a farce. The behaviour of our politicians has always been eccentric and ridiculous. Under a military government, they cry for the restoration of democracy. But, in case of a democratic government, the opposition leaders try their best to dissolve it. This behavior of our politicians pares way for army chiefs to step in. Resultantly, military coups take place quite frequently. We can say that democracy in Pakistan is merely fake, distorted, beslimed and decayed. ↠ To conclude, it must be emphasized that if we let democracy sparkles in its true colours, it will prove an ideal form of government. It is surely democracy that can put our country in the glorious rank of advanced and civilized countries of the world.