Majority of the citizens of developing nations are illiterates and even amongst the ranks of the literates, the acquisition of the knowledge of the concept of democracy is informal. We can hardly expect everybody to have degrees in Political Science and so many of us have learned about democracy in passing, either during our early school age from parents and teachers or from sources like newspaper articles, television or radio broadcasts, informal discussions and debates with peers and friends or even from propaganda materials of Governments and International organisations. The idea of democracy has been passed down from generation to generation in this manner since the time of the early Greek Scholars and today it is no surprise that we are remote from the original concepts of the founding fathers and have inherited, unconsciously, the prejudices of the western world in the applications to our contemporary societies. We are constantly bombarded by donors and other powerful western forces to adopt the principles of democracy, which we do without thinking twice, because of poverty. Consequently , because our conception of democracy is uninformed ,we fail to see that these principles rest on presuppositions and concealed premises which require a thorough philosophical understanding and that even the so called champions of democracy are themselves undemocratic. Even though democracy is perhaps the most potent instrument of development so far devised by man, it can, and has had , both good and adverse results when applied to different societies in different situations. What is needed therefore is an informed reflective awareness of the tenets of democracy and their relevance to the needs of each society today. Democracy cannot be and must not be a turnkey project.
This and subsequent articles therefore are designed to fill in the gaps in the knowledge of the average citizen, for when all citizens are enlightened then the task of good governance becomes simple and everyone benefits. To achieve this I will attempt to answer a few pertinent questions on the definition, types and criticisms of democracies, purposes, justification, historical developments , the role of citizens and the legislature in a democracy, the conflict between majority and minority interests and the limits of democratic authority. This particular article will focus on the definition of democracy.
What then ,is the meaning of democracy. The term “democracy” in its general sense ,refers to a method of collective decision making by any group which is characterized by some type of equality among the members of the society and who engage freely in a process of reasoned discussion and deliberation to achieve this. This definition applies to any set of people with a common interest , be they families ,clubs ,companies, industries, tribes ,nations, international organisations and alliances of states. However the most common usage of this term applies to nations and states where democracy is a method of giving all eligible citizens a fair share in the political decision making.
Some aspects of this definition are worth noting for they are the foundations of conflicting views. Firstly, democracy concerns collective decision making, by which is meant that decisions are binding on all the members of the group. Secondly, decisions are made through reasoned discussions which are objective and which consider the interest of the whole group as one unit. Thirdly, membership criteria must be clearly stated and members must engage freely in decision making without coercion. Fourthly, the kind of equality required must be established beforehand. Finally the definition does not suggest how collective decision is to be arrived at. It could be through direct participation of all members in discussions or it could be through representation and if so how representation is to be achieved is not predetermined.
When applied to States, two conflicting views of democracy arise as to what to place emphasis on. Either emphasis should be placed on all eligible citizens to participate in government or on the need for decisions to reflect the true aspirations of the people whether they are ignorant or not.
This and other questions will be the topics of subsequent articles.
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