Democracy Creates Stability in Society

Democracy can be described as a form of government that is elected by the people. There are two main ideas contributing to democracy, liberty and equality. Liberty is the concept of having the ability to act according to one’s own will. Equality is where everyone has rights. 

            In Singapore, democracy plays an important role in upholding stability in our society. Being a multi-racial society, democracy is very important so that everyone has equal rights, regardless of race, language or religion. If we did not practice democracy, and we were to a communist state, there would be tension between the races as our leader might probably only side with his race and/or religion, causing social inequality. Such a society would never be able to achieve stability, instead only resulting in other races being unsatisfied with that leader. This could result in dangerous revolts, such as riots and other violents displays. Our society would then be in chaos. 

            However, democracy can also result in the majority always having the upper hand over the minority, as the majority would always win in elections. In the USA, the supposed "Land of the free", there was the discrimination of the African-Americans. The whites in the USA outnumbered the blacks, hence policies favouring whites would naturally go through via the "majority wins" principle. It can thus be seen that democracy would naturally favour the majority, and this would result in instability instead. In such a case, the two main ideas of democracy, liberty and democracy are what protects the minority, allowing the minority to speak up for themselves, if the government were to put the minority down, it can be said that they are not following the concept of democracy anymore. The USA was thus seen to be hypocrites, not upholding the ideas of democracy, this in turn brought about a change, most evidently in the laws, minimizing discrimination in the USA to what is has become in this day and age. 

I feel that in order for democracy to be effective in a society, we need the following: 

Acceptance - If the people all from various roots are willing to accept each others' cultures and background as well as skin colour, it is possible to work harmoniously to build a stable society which can be very successful.

Cooperation - Working together is important for anything to succeed. A simple example would be our group projects. We all have to do our part for the project to be as good as it can be, the same goes for a society, everyone has a part to play in making it a stable, with a good economy and good living conditions.

Government - Having a government that is unbiased, and uncorrupted is very important for a society. If a government were to be corrupted, the rich would be able to pay their way out of sticky situations while the poor would probably suffer greatly as a result of the injustice that such a government can cause.

Law – Even though democracy works towards liberty, there is a limit as to how much liberty is allowed before crossing the line. Liberty without law would only result in crime being abundant, and this would lead to social instability. Thus it is important for there to be laws in our society to prevent such things from happening and to deter the people from committing such atrocities. 

            I can thus conclude that democracy does create stability, but only with the help of the above-mentioned factors, and can be considered a good form of government.