What are the merits of democracy?
141832
By itself none.  When combined with freedom of speech, and freedom to form an opposition you have an accountable government.  Of course a dictator/king/etc could be better if they truly acted in the best interests of the people, because sometimes that is different than the will of the people.  But history has shown they haven't often looked after much more than themselves, which is worse than the will of the people.\n\nDemocracy's biggest problem is patience.
804876
Democracy:  Everyone votes for everything.\n\nRepublic:  Voters choose representatives to vote on issues.
46752
Good point :)\n\nOf course, by "democracy" we usually mean "freedom to vote for the leaders we like". And oh look, Condi Rice cut off aid to the Palestinian government.
109704
To control the world thru "democracy"
486475
If the truth be told - there is no such thing as 'democracy' for all, and there never will be.\nSociety needs rules, the moment you have rules, you interfere with someones freedom - that is not democratic.
396719
You say American democratic, but the US system is not a democracy, but a representative republic.\n\nThe disadvantage of a democracy is that a marginal majority, through its vote can control everything in the country, and that the system is itself clumsy in that all the eligible people will vote on every issue, which is time consuming and open to great corruption.\n\nThe advantage of the representative republic is that representation can, and has, been established so that the minorities of the public and of the states are not disenfranchised, not removed from participation in the decision making processes. The smaller states (in population) have a say in government and laws through principally the US Senate, where every state gets 2 votes regardless of its population. That prevents the 10 most populous states of California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, and Georgia, which are decidedly more eastern (2 exceptions) from deciding all of the laws for all the 50 states. Those 10 states, with 1/2 the population would be able to by voting together over ride the vote of the other 40 states if we had a democracy and not a republic. So unless you want the complete control of this country to fall into the hands of a few states, you had better not vote for equal counting in presidential elections, nor in congressional representation.\n\nThere is actually less corruption in representative government than in totalitarian government, because there are more people that a corrupter must pay-off in a representative. If you don't understand or believe that, witness the state of things in the former Soviet Union where the government was "representative" in name only, with all candidates selected by the Communist Party, a group of fat cats who acted together as a governing unit.
190518
Democracy is better in any form or shape and like two sides of a coin has its goods and bad...............but you gotto believe in it, the fundamentals of democracy that is right to the people ..............\n\nand isnt corruption also there in any form of government.........think abt it ....
507138
in general no democracy has ever lasted very long,  America was formed to be a republic, where the need of the government and all people held an importance.\n\nNow that America is switching thier government to a more pure democractic system,  This normally allows for corruption and control by fringe groups ( which we see happening)  It weakens a nation to such a point that there is either a military or civil revolt or the country is taken over by another nation.
151854
In theory, a democracy is probably the best forms of government - a government of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, our current form of government has strayed from these ideals. It's all about the money now. The haves and the have-nots. If 2 letters arrived at the DNC or RNC, one with a campaign contribution of $1000 and one with $10, which would get more attention? Democracy is not dead yet, but she's reeling from the punches.
964857
Well, for one thing, it beat the heck out of living in a state of fear over one's own government.  Beyond that, economic freedom let at least some people escape poverty, and democracies do seem both internally more stable and less warlike than more repressive forms of government (According to some historians, no constitutional democracy has ever attacked another one; this is refered to as "democratic peace.")
200827
This looks REMARKABLY like a homework question.  You really should do a bit of research on this so that you can LEARN the answers.  You need to access some political science journals and I would encourage you to read Robert Dahl (who writes EXTENSIVELY on the subject of emerging democracy) as well as doing a bit of research on TRANSITIONING democratic regimes.....I can steer you but i will NOT give you the answer. ;o)
760455
You can not impose democracy by gun, simple as that. Democracy comes from within.
566841
Democracy is people's government.
480023
Any type of government is a game for politicians, no matter how you look at it. And not all of us think democracy is good, I don't. After all, it got George Bush elected. Besides, democracy is basically one of the easiest games for liars, and we certainly have a lot of them in this society. We Americans tend to push our views on other people, we're like the big bullies of the playground. We refuse to see other societies views. Sometimes what seems the best isn't.
723952
§Democratization is the process by which a country becomes a democracy.\n§Consolidation is successful democratization.\n§Sodaro offers hypotheses about conditions for successful democratization. \n\nDemocracy is a choice. That could be because of economics, freedom, prestige, morality, blind acceptance of inherited principles. Critical mass of people must perceive democracy to be somehow “in their interest.”
1130802
there is this "idea" that democracy is good and other types of government are bad and/or evil.  no one system of government is inherently good or evil, but that just not how it is viewed.  i'm a little more curious as to why america thinks it can "teach" democracy with bombs and force....but then historically what we see more of is the idea that america teaches a system of rule that supports the US is more what it means, be it a democracy or dictator.
603111
many people argue that there really is no such thing as a true democracy.\nEven in the greatest democracies we still elect leaders who may or may not really represent the voice of the people.\nPerhaps a true democracy would operate something like American Idol, where we pick up a phone and text our votes on every issue that comes up.\nThere's a thought!