Winston Churchill famously said that “democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others have been tried.” From such a statement, we would be given a fairly negative impression of democracy. But, what exactly, is democracy, and given the apparent failings of all the other political philosophies and forms of government, can democracy truly create stability in a country?

In my opinion, I feel that democracy truly is able to create stability to some extent. However, let us define some key concepts first. Firstly, a democracy, will be defined as a philosophy of government, in which the citizens are invested with sovereign power, and such power is exercised either directly or indirectly through a system of representation. Next, for the purposes of this essay, we will narrow down the types of stability to just political and social stability, and we will take a look at how democracy can create such forms of stability.

Firstly, it can be easily seen throughout the world, that democracy is quite capable of creating political stability. Democracy, because of its nature, allows the majority to pick and choose their party, in representative politics, and also allows the citizens to influence the decisions made about the country. Having such liberties and freedom to vote for the representative who will best embody their interests, or having the power vested in them to make changes that will benefit themselves, or at least, the majority, will generally create stability. This will minimize unhappiness among the population at large as the people will be able to decide what suits them best. Furthermore, democracies do facilitate discussion and debate among people or their representatives, and is open to criticism. The provision of such civil freedom and liberties, as well as providing contrasting viewpoints and allowing for political opposition, do contribute to political stability. Democracy creates avenues for people to air their opinions and to act on what they believe, and does not suppress opinions on certain matters of governance, and thus helps generate stability.

Next, social stability can be created by the use of democracy as a philosophy of government. Democracy can allow citizens political freedom, and at the same time, allow them to shape their own lives and participate in the decision-making process. Democracy is one of the few and only philosophies that afford people such liberties and freedom. As a result, there would be much less oppression and unhappiness in general, and unrest would be minimal. Looking at the issue from another point of view, citizens have the right to choose their government or their representatives, and it if the government wishes to retain power, it will have to provide what the general population wants and needs, and agree with the general populace’s ideas and wants. The government has to initiate schemes and ensure that the people are happy, and has to ensure that the economy is stable and that there is minimal unrest in the country, and hence there will be social stability of a sort.

Furthermore, democratic methods of governance can also perpetuate a positive cycle of improvement. People who have such civil liberties and political freedom as democracy affords will be better able and encouraged to press for the improvement of their opportunities, socially, economically et cetera. The space provided for dissent and opposition, as well as debate will also provide new ways for expressing opinion and provide a counterbalance and contrasting viewpoint.

Many democratic countries are counted as countries with advanced human development. It can also be seen that democracy is able to create political and social stability in a number of ways. However, such advanced human development also requires several key institutions for democratic governing, such as an independent electoral system and a good system of representation, which still remains a key challenge for many countries, such as certain African countries. There is also the problem of the “tyranny of the majority”, which is when the majority, possibly and ethnic or religious majority, oppresses a minority group through use of democracy, by choosing a more advantageous position for themselves. An example of this would be the Irish conflict. Most governments have tried to tackle this problem by also taking into account minority rights, and protecting them constitutionally.

Democracy is indeed quite capable of ensuring political and social stability in a given country, and to improve our human living conditions, we should all look to the institutions of our state, in order to bring the benefits that democracy offers to our homeland.