Outcomes of Democracy Class 10 Notes Political Science Chapter 7 | VIVEK

OUTCOMES OF DEMOCRACY

HOW DO WE ASSESS DEMOCRACY’S OUTCOMES?

1.      Democratic government is considered better than any other form of government. Discuss.

Ans. Democracy is better than any other form of govt. because:

i.                  It promotes equality among citizens.

ii.                It enhances the dignity of the individual.

iii.               It improves the quality of decision.

iv.               It provides a method of to resolve conflicts.

v.                It allows room to correct mistakes.

 

2.      What are the common features of all democracy?

Ans. Common features of democracy are:

i.                  They have formal constitutions.

ii.                They hold elections in regular intervals.

iii.               They have parties.

iv.               They have guarantee rights of citizens.

 

ACCOUNTABLE, RESPONSIVE AND LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT

 

3.      How does democracy produce an accountable, responsive and legitimate government?

Ans. ACCOUNTABLE GOVT.

i.                  Democracy produces an accountable government as people have the rights to elect their rulers and also have control over them.

ii.                Whenever possible and necessary citizens can participate in the decision-making process.

iii.               It produces a government that is accountable to the citizens and responsive to the needs and expectations of the citizens.

RESPONSIVE GOVT.

i.                  Democracy is based on the idea of deliberation and negotiations as it ensures that decision-making in based on norms and procedures and allows the people to examine its process. This is known as transparency.

ii.                It promotes the formulation of public opinion and take care of the needs and expectations of the people.

iii.               It develops a mechanism for citizens to hold the government accountable and take part in decision making.

LEGITIMATE GOVT.

i.                  Democracy is a legitimate government as it is peoples’ own government.

ii.                People wish to be ruled by representatives elected by them.

iii.               Setting up following practices and institutions – regular & fair elections, open public debate on major policies and legislations and citizen’s right to information about functioning of the government.

 

4.      4. How do we access democratic outcomes?

Ans. We can access democratic outcomes by

i.                  Democracy’s ability to generate its own support is itself an outcome that cannot be ignored.

ii.                It helps for the economic growth and development of the country.

iii.               It reduces inequality and poverty and also provided equal opportunity.

iv.               The outcomes of democracy can be assessed by its quality of the government.

v.                It accommodates social diversity.

vi.               It also produces an accountable, responsive and legitimate government.

vii.              It leads to a peaceful and harmonious life among citizens.

 

5.      “There is an overwhelming support for the idea of democracy all over the world.” Support the statement.

Ans.

i.                  Democracy can address all socio-economic and political problems.

ii.                In democracy, there are regular and free elections and there is always a scope for open public debate.

iii.               People wish to be ruled by representatives elected by them as it is people’s own government where rulers are elected by the people.

iv.               In a democracy, people have the right to choose their rulers as well as have control over them.

v.                Whenever possible and necessary citizens can participate in the decision-making process

iv.               Whenever possible and necessary citizens can participate in the decision-making process.

 

6.      “Some people think that democracy is a less effective government.” Analyse the statement.

OR          “Democracy is seem to be good in principle, but not so good in practice.” Explain the statement.

Ans. Some people think that democracy produces a less effective government because -

i.                  Democracies often frustrate the needs of the people and often ignore the demands of majority of a population.

ii.                Most democracies fall short of elections that provide a fair chance to everyone and in subjecting every decision to public debate.

iii.               Democratic governments do not have a very good record when it comes to sharing of information with citizens.

iv.               The routine tales of corruption are enough to convince us that democracy is not free of corruption.

v.                Democratically elected governments do not appear to address the question of poverty as expected by the citizens.

vi.               Democracy is unable to achieve higher economic development.

 

7.      What are the practices and institutions adopted to measure democratic outcomes?

Ans.

i.                  It adopted regular, free and fair elections.

ii.                It adopted citizens’ right to information about the government and its functioning.

iii.               The actual performance of democracies shows a mixed record on this.

iv.               Democracies have had greater success in setting up conditions for open public debate.

v.                Most democracies fall short of elections that provide a fair chance to everyone and in subjecting every decision to public debate.

 

8.      What are the merits and demerits of democracy?

Ans. Merits

i.                  Democracy provides equality and equal opportunities to all.

ii.                It provides political, social and economic equalities to all.

iii.               It also provides basic freedom to individuals such as freedom of speech, expression and thought.

iv.               It takes equality of decision making which are acceptable by all.

v.                It not only enhances the dignity of the citizens but also resolves conflict.

Demerits

i.                  In democracy, the decisions are always delay.

ii.                It is sometimes not based on transparency.

iii.               It is not a stable form of government and there is always uncertainty regarding its functions.

iv.               In democracy sometimes money and muscle power are being used.

v.                Sometimes democracy is viewed as government ruled by ignorance.

 

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

 

9.      “Democracies have had greater success in setting regular free and fair elections.” Analyse the statement

Ans.

i.                  Every document holds elections and it has different political parties and it guarantees rights of citizens.

ii.                In democracy people have the right to choose their rulers and also have control over them.

iii.               Whenever possible and necessary, citizens should be able to participate in the decision-making that affects them all.

iv.               Democracy should practice regular free and fair elections that differentiates democracy form the non-democratic regimes.

 

REDUCTION OF INEQUALITY AND POVERTY

 

10.   “In actual life, democracies do not appear to be very successful in reducing economic inequalities.” Explain the statement with examples.

Ans.

i.                  In democracy a small number of ultra-rich enjoy a highly disproportionate share of wealth and income.

ii.                The poor people have a very little chance to depend upon this economic development as their incomes has been declining.

iii.               In our country, the poor constitute a large proportion of the voters and no party would want to lose its voters and in democratic government the leaders have not tried to abolish complete poverty from our country.

iv.               Most of the people do not get employment opportunities which further leads to economic inequality.

v.                Sometimes the poor also find it difficult to meet their basic needs.

 

11.   “Democracy appears to be very successful in promoting political equalities.” Explain.

Ans.

i.                  Democracy ensures rights to the citizens to choose their leaders and take part in the decision-making process,

ii.                It promotes regular free & fair elections.

iii.               All the citizens have been given the right to contest elections and cast their votes without any discrimination.

iv.               It ensures equal opportunity to hold political offices and generate its own political support for itself.

v.                Democracy ensures a responsive government to needs & expectations of all citizens.

 

ACCOMMODATION OF SOCIAL DIVERSITY

12.   “Democracy lead to peaceful and harmonious life among citizens.” Justify the statement.

OR     Explain how do democracies accommodate social diversity?

Ans.

i.                  Democracy develops a procedure to conduct the competitions which reduces the possibility of tensions becoming violent.

ii.                Democracy tries to handle social differences, divisions and conflicts. Non-democratic regimes often neglect these problems and tries to suppress internal social differences.

iii.               Democracy is not simply rule by majority opinion. Majority and minority opinions are not permanent things. The majority needs to work with the minority which is performed in democracy.

iv.               In democracy every citizen has the freedom in terms of religion or race or linguistic group. Here rule by majority does not become the rule by majority community.

v.                In democracy every citizen has a chance of being in majority at some point of time. Nobody can be barred from being in majority on the basis of birth in democracy.

 

DIGNITY AND FREEDOM OF THE CITIZENS

 

13.   “Democracy stands much superior in promoting freedom and dignity of the individual.” Explain.

Ans.

i.                  Often conflicts arise among individuals because some feel that they are not treated with due respect.

ii.                The passion for respect and freedom are the basis of democracy.

iii.               Democracies throughout the world have recognised this, at least in principle.

iv.               It enhances the dignity of individual by providing them equal treatment and equal opportunity irrespective of any caste, creed, religion, etc.

v.                It protects the rights of individuals and also provides them opportunity to hold political offices.

Ø  For example, if we take the matter of dignity of women, we found that their long struggle for demanding equal rights and equal treatment has been respected today by democracy.

 

14.   “The people’s complaint is itself a testimony to the success of democracy.” Justify the statement.

Ans. The fact that people are complaining is itself a testimony to the success of democracy because-

i.                  As people get some benefits of democracy, they ask for more and want to make democracy even better.

ii.                When we ask people about the way democracy functions, they will always come up with more expectations, and many complaints.

iii.               It shows that people have developed awareness and the ability to expect and to look critically at power holders.

iv.               A public expression of dissatisfaction with democracy shows the success of democratic project.

v.                It transforms people from the status of a subject into that of a citizen.