Can Democracy Work in All Cultures and Societies

People all around the world have known democracy for many years ago. Hence, democracy might be a familiar word to most people all around the world. It is derived from the Greek, which consists of ( demos:peoples ) and ( kratos:rule;strength ). Based on the dictionary, democracy is government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. Meanwhile, Abraham Lincoln gave definition; democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, we can assume that people play an important role in the development of democracy which it depends on how they apply democracy in their life. Democracy is closely related with freedom, but both of them are not synonymous. Democracy is a set of ideas and principles about freedom. In short, democracy is the institutionalization of freedom.

Democracy can be devided into two basic categories, which are direct democracy and representative democracy. In a direct democracy, all citizens can participate in making public decisions directly without the intermediary of the elected or appointed officials. Direct democracy is usually be held in a certain place such as city hall. Nowadays, the most common form of democracy is representative democracy, which citizens elect officials to represent their aspiration. The elected officials make political decisions, formulate laws, and administer programs for the public good. At first, representative democracy was an alternative way. Since the number of citizens increased rapidly, therefore, it is impossible for them gather in a certain place.

There are three principles that any form of democracy includes. The first principle is that all members of the society have equal rights, both individual and social rights. The second is that all members can enjoy recognized freedoms and liberties universally. And the last one is majority rule and minority rights. Meaning that in democracy system, citizens freely make political decisions by majority rule. Meanwhile, majority rule must be coupled with guarantees of individual human rights. That, in turn, serve to protect the rights of minorities whether ethnic, religious, or political rights. Furthermore, minorities need to trust the government to protect their rights and safety. In democracy, there are many and various institutions, political parties, organizations and associations. This diversity is called pluralism.

Democracy has prime functions, which are to protect basic human rights such as freedom of speech and religion; the right to equal protection before the law; and the opportunity to organize and participate fully in the political, economic and cultural life or society. As a social system, which it plays an important role in people’s rights, democracy has minimum requirement that these necessary conditions are needed for democracy to be applied in a certain society. Which are a strong concern for the mass of people, high social mobility, respect for the individual personality, belief in rationality and then equality of opportunity.

Based on those requirements, we can assume that there is a certain society and culture which democracy couldn’t work. However, this kind of society or culture can not fulfill democracy’s minimum requirements. An example of this society is called “high-violence society”. It is a society where many people tend to use violence to solves disputes. Saying that a “high-violence society” can not support democracy, it doesn’t mean that a democracy requires perfect domestic peace. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit”.

History has recorded that “high-violence society” had taken place. During Hittler’s dictatorship in Germany, in 1933. At that time, plenty of internal disturbances occurred rapidly. Hittler was a deviant from elite culture, a leader who combined ideology and violence. He had succeded spreading Nazism by organizing a big number of thugs to intimidate other participants. Another example was Mussolini’s dictatorship in Italy, in 1922. the pattern was similar to Hittler. He organized violence to spread his power. Most Italians did not realize they were turning government into a committed thug. In these kind of conditions, democracy’s minimum requirements could not be fulfilled. There was no appreciation for individual rights or collective rights. And also there were no equality of opportunity because all of them centralized in one person. People could not determine what they wanted.

To summarize, democracy as a social system, its has minimum requirements to be fulfilled in order to apply democracy in a certain culture or society. A “high-violence society” can not fulfil these kind of requirement. So, democracy can not work in this culture or society.