Why is Democracy Good? Ask Yourself These Two Questions.
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Why is Democracy Good? Ask Yourself These Two Questions.
Taking democracy for granted means we struggle to answer a simple question.
I’m not sure anyone’s done it exactly this way before before but maybe they should: Gather a group of 10 people in a room and without any warning or advance prompt, ask them two questions.
Why do you think democracy is good?
What do you think democracy is for?
Then with a different group of ten people, reverse the order of the two questions.
First of all, for most people, these will surprisingly challenging questions, because there are an endless number of ways to answer them. Which answer would you choose? I’m not even sure how I would answer them (without preparation) and I literally wrote a book about this. It depends on the day, it depends who I’m speaking to, and it depends whether the most recent democracy-related news was positive or negative. Today, luckily for you, I’m feeling more optimistic than usual about democracy.
What’s interesting about these two questions in tandem is that they relate to each other, but they’re asking two very different things (or are they?). If democracy is “good,” is it good because of what it causes or allows, or is democracy good for some sort of spiritual reason, which has nothing to do with its outcomes. For example, you could say that democracy is good because it brings us closer to how God created us, therefore aligning us with our innate disposition—what Muslims refer to as the fitra. But that, by itself, would tell us little about what democracy is for.
Or you could answer the first question more pragmatically, and simply say that democracy is good because it allows us choose our leaders. But this wouldn’t necessarily get us very far, because the easy retort would simply be, why do you think it is good that we choose our leaders? And so on.
Why is Democracy Good? Ask Yourself These Two Questions.
My answers informed by your latest book:
* Human conflict is inherent in our being
* democracy gives us a way to adjudicate those conflicts without violence
* therefore democracy is good because it is less violent, and less violent is Good
My answer is difficult and like yours subject to the conditions in which I am situated. Indeed, it can even vary depending on my mood, If i'm feeling sad and depressed I will come up with more challenges for democracy than if I am feeling more optimistic. I think democracy is the best system enabling diversity of opinion, expression, and ideology but I don't necessarily think this ceases conflict.
There are good reasons to suggest on its own and without sufficient institutional mechanisms democracy provides a dangerous breeding ground for more problems. But if we relied upon an authoritarian solution there just as much if not a greater chance of these same problems emerging. Paradoxically, I see this as small 'd' democracy and authoritarianism's problems. I think the answer is some sort of democracy with institutional capacities guiding its role.
Albeit this is just my formulation atm and may change soon.