“Democracy creates stability in a society.”

Democracy is defined as a system of government where political sovereignty is retained by people. Stability in society refers to a period where the country is making affirmative progress with no disruption economically, socially nor politically.

I agree that democracy creates stability in a society to a large extent.

Firstly, democracy maintains peace in the society during a shift of political power. Flipping through the book of history, you can almost never fail to notice the shed of blood and loss of lives whenever there is a change of government. For example, in the ancient China, K’ublai Khan overthrew the last emperor of the Song Dynasty by war and started the Yuan Dynasty, sacrificing countless number of lives. However, looking at a democratic society, you will find circumstances much more rejoicing as governments are decided by votes. In America’s 2004 Presidential Candidacy, George W Bush from Republican Party became the US president after winning the election. The event was peaceful and outcome well respected by the people, therefore, it is obvious that democracy can indeed reduce conflicts caused by shift of political power in society.

Furthermore, democracy helps create a capable government. It is because democracy offers the people political choices and the government is directly answerable to the people, a party must maintain a good self-conduct and stay efficient in maintaining the country, otherwise people will lose faith in them and change their votes in the next election. This is well reflected in Taiwan, when the Progressive Democratic Party, after many reports of its corruption, was voted down by the Taiwanese in the 2008 Presidential Election. Therefore, democracy effectively supervises the government with the help of the public, shaping a transparent and capable government that has the ability, the will to implement policies which will make the country prosperous and secure, and the society stable in every area.

On the other hand, when democracy is widely accepted as the “rule of majority”, it is also known as the “tyranny of majority”. This is because in a democratic society, it is the majority’s say counts, the majority’s decision implemented and the majority’s power exercised by the majority, neglecting the minority. This is when the minority becomes provoked and triggered to a riot which brought chaos to society. Such as in Sri Lanka, the LTTE resorts to means of violence to retaliate against Sinhalese government after feeling the Tamils are discriminated.

However, in my opinion, this happens when the society is not “mature” enough, when people take racial issue more heavily than the overall development of the society. In democracy, a wise citizenry who recognizes the greater importance of social and economic progress is required to cast an intelligent vote, so that societal stability can be maintained. For example, in Singapore, PAP is always victorious in election is because the people understand that PAP is reliable in maintaining a good development in the country,

In conclusion, as democracy stresses the consensus of the governed, a decision is made through agreement and everyone’s opinion is respected to the maximum, or in another word, equality is upheld. Conflicts will be reduced, and stability in society will be created and maintained. In fact, most of the world’s most developed countries today are democratic, such as US, Singapore, Korea, and Britain. This high level of development would be wishful without the stability in society, economy and politics, and this, is indeed the contribution of democracy.

Therefore, I agree with the statement to a large extent.