The journey we have begun: How democracy could bear fruit for all?

Yıl 2024, , 35 - 42, 31.03.2024

Harun Abubakar Siddique

https://doi.org/10.24289/ijsser.1411758

Öz

This article delves into the fundamental questions of whether democracy, when left unchecked, can provide the best form of governance and whether a minority can exploit it to suppress the rights and freedoms of others. By examining these questions in detail, the article offers insights into refining democratic systems of governance, which prioritize the wide participation of the populace instead of allowing a select few to dictate the nation's affairs. Drawing from practical examples involving racial and ethnic diversity, such as the United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Ethiopia, the paper argues that democracy can be co-opted by a particular race or ethnicity to advance its interests, often at the expense of marginalized groups. Addressing this issue practically is more feasible than resolving it theoretically, as theoretical approaches tend to overlook the complexities of race and ethnicity in democratic systems.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Democracy, Ethnicity, State of nature, People and government

Kaynakça

• Abubakar Siddique, H. (2023). Contours Of African Democracy: A Narrative Of Tailoring Governance To Local Realities– A Ghanaian Odyssey. Akdeniz Havzası Ve Afrika Medeniyetleri Dergisi, 5(2), 5-28. https://doi.org/10.54132/akaf.1376487
• Ballacci, G. (2019). Deliberative Agonism and Agonistic Deliberation in Hannah Arendt. Theoria, 66 (161), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3167/th.2019.6616101
• Ercan, S. A. (2014). Deliberative democracy. In D. Phillips (Ed.), Encyclopedia of educational theory and Philosophy (pp. 214-216). SAGE Publications.
• Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan. Penguin Books.
• Landemore, H. (2017). Deliberative Democracy as Open, Not (Just) Representative Democracy. Daedalus, 146(3), 51-63. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00446
• Locke, J. (1690). Two Treatises of Government. Awnsham Churchill.
• Mao Tse-tung. (1976). In S. R. Schram (Ed.), Mao Tse-tung Unrehearsed, Talks and Letters: I956-I97I (pp. 277-278). Penguin Books. (Original work cited in Miliband, R. (1977). Marxism, and Politics. Oxford University Press, pp. 149-150).
• Mouffe, C. (2000). Deliberative democracy or agonistic pluralism. Institut für Höhere Studien.
• Rousseau, J.-J. (1762). The Social Contract, or principles of political right (G. D. H. Cole, Trans.). Penguin Books.
• Rousseau, J.-J. (1999). A Discourse on Political Economy (C. Betts, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
• Ryan, W. (2023, June 23). French Football Federation 'sends email to referees BANNING interruptions in games for Muslim players to break their fast during Ramadan' in stark contrast to the Premier League who are allowing matches to be temporarily stopped. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11927503/French-Football-Federation-sends-email-banning-interruptions-games-Muslim-players-eat.html
• Schwartz, L. G., & Jaquelyn, J. L. (2020). Mapping fatal police violence across U.S. metropolitan areas: Overall rates and racial/ethnic inequities, 2013-2017. PLoS ONE, 15(6), e0229686. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229686
• Sen, A. (1981). Poverty and famines: An essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford University Press.
• Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford University Press.
• Siddique, H. A. (2022). The Lebanon crisis from an international political economy perspective. Review of Socio-Economic Perspectives, 7(1), 15-22.
• Tocqueville, A. (2000). Democracy in America (G. Lawrence, Ed.; J. P. Mayer, Trans.). Yale University Press. (Original work published 1835-1840)
• United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2019). World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/423). Retrieved from https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_10KeyFindings.pdf
• Vikram, D. (2023, February 19). Black people seven times more likely to die after police restraint in Britain, figures show. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/19/black-people-seven-times-more-likely-to-die-after-police-restraint-in-britain-figures-show
• Wenman, M. (2013). Agonistic Democracy: Constituent Power in the Era of Globalisation. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511777158