Effectively Explaining Democracy through the Participatory Model
Introduction
Contemporary American society constitutes the epitome of democracy so that the role of the United States as leader in the democratization of the rest of the world has increased with the shift of totalitarian and communist governments towards democracy (2006). The Soviet Union comprising the nemesis of the United States during the cold war eventually shifted from its 75 years of communist governance to democracy resulting to the breakdown of the union into different democratic states comprising most of Eastern Europe. South American totalitarian states have also embraced democracy and even African states have hitched in the democratic bandwagon. Most recently, China has also opened its doors to the rest of the world and despite the retention of a semblance of the communist governance the country is experiencing channels for expressing freedoms unheard of during the strict communist rule. Western democracies such as the United States have become leaders in the democratic international arena.
The democratization of the rest of the world has proven that the concept of democracy is not just a western idea but it can also find application or replication in non-western states. In a world characterized by democratic governments and societies across the different regions and industrial spheres, it can be said that democratic institutions may legitimately claim the ability to address the universal human aspirations to achieve freedom and self-governance.
In the context of the dominance of democratic infrastructures, it befits the situation to take one step back and look into the conceptualization or definition of democracy and its manifestations and implications to individual members of society.
Defining Democracy
Common conceptions of the enjoyment of democracy is individual pursuit of freedom or the freedom of individuals to achieve their personal objectives such as obtaining a college degree, getting a high-paying job, buying a house and car, paying for the education of the children, saving for retirement, and other cyclical accomplishments of human needs and wants. While the freedom to achieve personal needs and wants comprise an important aspect of democracy from the perspective of individuals, the manifestations of democracy that have significant implications transcends these personal gains. This is because an inevitable requisite to the enjoyment of these personal gains is the participation and contribution of every individual towards the sustenance of the democratic life of the society. Without the participation of individuals in democratic exercises such as elections, open letters to government officials, protests, and community meetings, democracy would not work. The lack of collective or cohesive checks on the part of the people made up of communities and interest sectors would sow abuse or neglect on the part of the government expressed in corruption and the inability to support the development of society. It is only through the individual contributions of citizens that the democratic society can flourish.
Despite the idyllic promises of democracy, it has not been spared from imperfections in the actual practice of its principles due to the frailty of human reasoning. In this context, overcoming these infirmities to achieve the optimum benefits of democracy involves small individual actions, which when considered on the aggregate comprise a large change-influencing force needed in directing and re-directing society towards the maintenance of freedom (2004).
Defining Democracy through the Participatory Model
The conceptualization of democracy capturing the social reality that this is built and sustained by the contributions of individual members of society as propounded by (2004) is encompassed by the participatory model. This model explains democracy in the context of the importance of individual action towards the sustenance of democracy by encompassing and integrating the two important elements of democracy, which are individual freedom and individual participation in democratic exercises ( 2006).
The exercise of individual freedom refers to the freedom of individuals to act in order to provide for their basic needs and even to achieve their wants. Democracy where individual freedoms are exercised envisions a society where every person utilizes available means in order to obtain food, clothing, shelter and other fundamental needs and after achieving all these needs seeks to obtain wants. Every person has the freedom to obtain needs and wants. ( 2006)
Individual participation in democratic exercises pertains to the active role of individual members of society in collective decision-making in order to participate in policy formulation and decision-making on matter directly affecting individuals and the society in general. Through participation, the necessity of having checks is achieved because every citizen can monitor the implementation of policies through the comparison of the programs decided through collective action and the actual programs being implemented by community and government leaders. The existence of checks prevents abuse and neglect by the people in power or the government authorities are prevented resulting to the maintenance of individual freedoms. This is based on the premise that abuse of power due to lack of checks hampers the exercise of individual freedom. (2006)
The participatory model then combines the two elements to derive a comprehensive definition of democracy, a system that respects individual freedoms but obliges individuals to participate in democratic processes in order to maintain their individual freedom through the practices of checks to ensure that freedoms are protected against possible abuse of power by certain sectors and the government ( 2006). According to the participatory model, participation in collective processes comprises a requisite of individual freedom. (2004) mentions Sukkot as an expression on individual freedom. This Jewish tradition that happens in the first week of October celebrates harvest as a reminder of the four decades that the Israelites wandered through the desert living in temporary shelters called sukkah. The participatory model reminds us that individual Jews only gain the freedom to exercise this tradition if they continuously participate in democratic processes to ensure that non-Jewish groups respect their freedom and not supplant this with their beliefs and practices. (2004) also mentions drawing hope from generations since succeeding generations are expected to contribute to the proliferation and improvement of society. Again, without individual participation to maintain individual freedoms, future generations would not be able to assert change and improve humanity.
The participatory model explains democracy in the context of Sukkot and drawing hope from generations by reminding people of the need to be vigilant in guarding individual freedoms and this is best achieved through participation in collective action such as community and representative based policy formation and decision-making. Collective checks prevent abuse of power and neglect of responsibilities that defeat the exercise of individual freedoms.
Participatory model better explains democracy in the context of the examples of freedoms previously discussed relative to the pluralist model. The pluralist model provides that people are drawn towards the formation of interest groups based on religious, cultural or economic lines. Interests may clash so that there is need to establish a government that operates through the balancing of competing interests. In terms of governance, the pluralist model provides for a decentralized organizational structure that offers interest groups with access to public officials to raise their interests and views. Although the exercise of the Sukkot tradition is in the interest of the Jewish interest group, this is foremost an individual freedom and secondarily a collective tradition. Without the protection of individual freedom, individual Jews cannot come together for collective celebration of the tradition. In the case of drawing hope from generations, again this is a collective interest but it constitutes a universal interest dependent upon the ability of individuals to engage in familial relations in order to sire and hone the future generation as contributors to the betterment of society.
Conclusion
Determining the model that best defines democracy in the context of the social reality of the freedoms of the celebration of Sukkot and the universal practice of drawing hope from generations involves the consideration of the model that best captures these freedoms. The participatory model best encompasses these freedoms by recognizing these as primarily individual freedoms but reminding people that participation in collective exercises is a requisite to the enjoyment of these individual freedoms. The pluralist model is focused on interest groups so that it does not completely explain the dynamics of these individual freedoms.
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