Chapter 7 Outcomes of Democracy Class x
Question
1. How can you say that democracies are based on political equality? (2015 OD)
Answer: Democracies are based on political equality as individuals have equal
weight in electing representatives.
Question
2. What is ‘transparency’ in a democracy? (2014 OD, 2015 OD)
Answer: Democracy
ensures that decision making will be based on norms and procedure. Every
citizen has the right and means to examine the process of decision making. This
is known as transparency.
Short Answer
Questions (SA) 3 Marks
Question
3. How do democratic governments ensure transparency? Explain any three points.
(2011 D) Answer:
Democracy
ensures that decision-making will be based on norms and procedures. So a
citizen, who wants to know if a decision was taken through the correct
procedures, can find out as democracy guarantees to the citizens the right and
the means to examine the process of decision-making. In a democracy people have
the right to choose their rulers and people will have control over them.
Whenever possible and necessary, citizens should be able to participate in
decision-making that affects them all. Thus it ensures transparency by
producing a government that is accountable to the citizens and is responsive to
their needs and expectations. It is right to expect democracy to produce a
government that follows procedures and is accountable to people. To do so, the
democratic government develops mechanisms for citizens—regular, free and fair
elections, open public debate on major policies and legislations and citizens’
right to information about the government and its functioning.
Question 4. What
are the differences between democracy and dictatorship in the decision making
process? (2012 OD)
Answer:
Democracy
Dictatorship (i) Based on the idea of deliberation and negotiation. Thus, the
necessary delay in implementation. (i) Do not have to bother about majorities
and/or public opinion, thus can be quick and efficient in decision-making. (ii)
Decisions are acceptable to people and are more effective. (ii) May take
decisions not accepted by the people. (iii) A citizen has the right and the
means to examine the process of decision-making. There is transparency. (iii)
Transparency is missing from a non-democratic form of government. There is no accountability
of the government to the people.
Question 5. “An ideal government would not
only keep itself away from corruption but also make fighting corruption and
black money a top priority”. Justify the statement. (2013 D)
Answer: The values
attached to the above statement signify the following practices and
institutions:
Regular
free and fair elections, open public debate on major policies and legislation
and citizens’ right to information about the government and its functions. An
ideal government in a democracy follows procedures and is accountable to the
people. A citizen has the right and the means to examine the process of
decision making. This is known as transparency. An ideal government is
attentive and responsive to the needs and expectations of the people and is
largely free of corruption as it is a legitimate government. It is peoples own
government.
Question 6. Explain the role of democratic governments in reducing
economic disparities. (2011 OD) Or, “Democracies do not appear to be very successful
in reducing economic inequalities”. Examine the statement with examples. (2013
OD)
Answer: Over the years, careful evidence has been gathered to see what the
relationship of democracy with economic growth and economic inequalities is.
It is
seen that on an average dictatorial regimes have had a slightly better record
of economic growth, i. e., 4.34%. But when we compare their record only in poor
countries (4.28%), there is no difference. There is enough evidence to show
that within democracies there can be very high degree of inequalities. In
countries like South Africa and Brazil, the top 20 per cent people take away
more than 60 per cent of the national income, leaving less than 3 per cent for
the bottom 20 per cent population. Perhaps more than development, it is
reasonable to expect democracies to reduce economic disparities. Democracies
are based on political equality, but despite equality in the political arena
there are growing economic inequalities. The poor constitute a large proportion
of our voters and no party would like to lose its votes. Yet democratically
elected governments do not appear to be keen to tackle the problem of poverty.
Democracies
are expected to produce good government, but there is no guarantee that they
would also produce development. As evidence shows, the economic development
depends on several factors, such as country’s size, global situation,
co-operation from other countries, economic priorities adopted by the country
etc.
Question
7. ‘Democracy is seen to be good in principle, but felt, to be not so good in
practice.’ Justify the statement with suitable arguments. (2014 D)
Answer: If
we look at some of the democratic policies being implemented in more than one
hundred countries of the world, democracy seems to be good. For example, having
a formal Constitution, holding regular elections, guaranteeing the citizens
certain rights, working for the welfare of the people, etc. make us advocate
that democracy is good. But if we look in terms of social situations, their
economic achievements and varied cultures, we find a very big difference in
most of the democracies. The vast economic disparities, social injustice based
on discrimination, standard of life, sex discrimination, etc. create many
doubts about the merits of democracy. Whenever some of our expectations are not
met, we start blaming the idea of democracy. Since democracy is a form of
government, it can only create conditions for achieving our goals if they are
reasonable.
Question
8. How is democracy accountable and responsive to the needs and expectations of
the citizens? Analyse. (2015 OD)
Answer: A democracy is concerned with ensuring
that people have the right to choose their rulers and have control over the
rulers:
Whenever
possible and necessary, citizens should be able to participate in
decision-making in a democracy. Democracy ensures that decision-making is based
on norms and procedures. A citizen has the right and the means to examine the
process of decision-making. Thus democracy entails transparency. For a
democracy to produce an accountable, responsive and legitimate government, it
must ensure the following: Regular, free and fair elections. Open public debate
on major policies and legislations. Citizens’ right to be informed about
government policies. A government free from corruption.
Question 9. “Democratic
government is legitimate government?” Support the statement with arguments.
(2016 D)
Answer: Democratic government is a legitimate government. It may be
slow, less efficient, not always very responsive or clean. But a democratic
government is peoples’ own government. That is why there is an overwhelming
support for the idea of democracy all over the world. People’s wish to be ruled
by representatives elected by them. As a democratic government is peoples’ own
government, they believe that democracy is suitable for their country as it is
a legitimate government. Democracy’s ability to generate its own support is
itself an outcome that cannot be ignored.
Question
10. “Democracy accommodates social diversities.” Support the statement with
examples. (2016 OD)
Answer: “Democracy accommodates social diversities” in the
following ways:
Democracies
develop a procedure to conduct their competition. This reduces the possibility
of these tensions becoming explosive or violent. No society can fully and
permanently resolve conflicts among different groups. But we can certainly
learn to respect these differences and can evolve mechanism to negotiate these
differences. Example, Belgium has successfully negotiated differences among
ethnic population. This reduces the possibility of tensions. Ability to handle
social differences, divisions and conflicts is thus a definite plus point of
democratic regimes.
Question 11. Analyse any three values that make democracy
better. (2017 D)
Answer: We feel that democracy is a better form of government
than any other form of government because:
Democracy
promotes equality among citizens. It enhances dignity of individual. It
promotes dignity of women and strengthens the claims of the disadvantaged. It
improves the quality of decision making. There is transparency in a democracy.
It provides methods to resolve conflicts. Democracy allows room to correct
mistakes. Question 12. On the basis of which values will it be a fair
expectation that democracy should produce a harmonious social life? Explain.
(2017 OD) Answer: No society can fully and permanently resolve conflicts among
different groups. But we can certainly learn to respect these differences and
evolve a mechanism to negotiate the differences. Belgium is an example of how
successfully differences were negotiated among ethnic groups. Therefore,
democracy is best suited to accommodate various social divisions as it usually
develops a procedure to conduct their competition. But the example of Sri Lanka
shows how distrust between two communities turned into widespread conflict.
Thus, a democracy must fulfil the following conditions and be based on these
values in order to achieve a harmonious social life—
Majority
and minority opinions are not permanent. Democracy is not simply rule by
majority opinion. The majority needs to work with minority so that government
may function to represent the general view. Rule by majority does not become
rule by majority community in terms of religion or race or linguistic groups,
etc. Democracy remains democracy so long as every citizen ha
Question
12. On the basis of which values will it be a fair expectation that democracy
should produce a harmonious social life? Explain. (2017 OD)
Answer: No society
can fully and permanently resolve conflicts among different groups. But we can
certainly learn to respect these differences and evolve a mechanism to
negotiate the differences. Belgium is an example of how successfully
differences were negotiated among ethnic groups. Therefore, democracy is best
suited to accommodate various social divisions as it usually develops a
procedure to conduct their competition. But the example of Sri Lanka shows how
distrust between two communities turned into widespread conflict. Thus, a
democracy must fulfil the following conditions and be based on these values in
order to achieve a harmonious social life—
Majority
and minority opinions are not permanent. Democracy is not simply rule by
majority opinion. The majority needs to work with minority so that government
may function to represent the general view. Rule by majority does not become
rule by majority community in terms of religion or race or linguistic groups,
etc. Democracy remains democracy so long as every citizen has a chance of being
in majority at some point of time. No individual should be debarred from
participating in a democracy on the basis of religion, caste, community, creed
and other such factors.
Question 13. Why do we feel that democracy is a better
form of government than any other form? Explain. 2015OD
Answer: Democracy is a
better form of government than any other form because:
It is
based on the idea of deliberation and negotiation. Thus the necessary delay in
implementation. Decisions are acceptable to people and are more effective. A
citizen has the right and the means to examine the process of decision-making.
There is transparency in a democracy. Democratic government is a legitimate
government, people’s own government. Ability to handle differences, decisions
and conflicts is a positive point of democratic regimes. Democracy has
strengthened the claims of the disadvantaged and discriminated castes for equal
status and equal opportunity.
Question 14. Why do we feel that democracy is a
better form of government than any other form of government? Explain. (2012 OD)
Or How do you feel that democracy is better than any other form of government?
Explain. (2013 OD) Or “Democracy is more effective than its other alternatives.”
Justify the statement. (2015 D)
Answer: We feel that democracy is a better form
of government than any other form of government because:
Democracy
promotes equality among citizens. It enhances dignity of individual. It
promotes dignity of women and strengthens the claims of the disadvantaged. It
improves the quality of decision making. There is transparency in a democracy.
It provides methods to resolve conflicts. Democracy allows room to correct
mistakes.
Question 15. How do democracies accommodate social diversity? Explain
with examples. (2011 OD, 2014 OD)
Or Explain the conditions in which
democracies are able to accommodate social diversities. (2012 D)
Or
“Democracies lead to peaceful and harmonious life among citizens”. Support the
statement with suitable examples. (2013 OD)
Answer: No society can fully and
permanently resolve conflicts among different groups. But we can certainly
learn to respect these differences and evolve a mechanism to negotiate the
differences. Belgium is an example of how successfully differences were
negotiated among ethnic groups. Therefore, democracy is best suited to
accommodate various social divisions as it usually develops a procedure to
conduct their competition. But the example of Sri Lanka shows how distrust
between two communities turned into widespread conflict, and thus a democracy
must fulfil the following two conditions in order to achieve a harmonious
social life:
Majority
and minority opinions are not permanent. Democracy is not simply rule by
majority opinion. The majority needs to work with minority so that government
may function to represent the general view. Rule by majority does not become
rule by majority community in terms of religion or race or linguistic groups,
etc. Democracy remains democracy so long as every citizen has a chance of being
in majority at some point of time. No individual should be debarred from
participating in a democracy on the basis of religion, caste, community, creed
and other such factors.
