Advantages or Merits and Disadvantages or Demerits of Democracy by Andrew Oforma Eze

                Merits or Advantages of Democracy
     Democracy as a form of government has some invaluable merits that are rarely find in other forms of government. That is why democracy has remained the best form of government and that is why it flourishes in different parts of the world. Some describe it as the best thing that can happen to humanity. While some scholars and philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and other autocratic rulers described democracy as bad and corrupt form of government. They argued vehemently and logically that democracy is not the best form of government due to its numerous demerits or shortcomings which need not to be practiced.
Some of the Advantages of Democracy are:
1.Democracy encourages equality in society
2.It guarantees accountability among rulers and ruled
3.It also guarantees and provides for the common welfare of the citizens.
4.It is based on consensus and people’s consent
5.It ensures that the fundamental human rights of citizens are protected.
6.It is also anchored on the majority rule.
    
Demerits or Disadvantages of Democracy
     Despite the numerous advantages of democracy as a form of government, it also has some dark sides (demerits). According to Appadorai (1968:141) democracy has some the following disadvantages
1.The Rule of Ignorance: In practice democracy is rule of ignorance. This is because it pays more attention to the quantity (number) more than the quality (virtue).
2.Votes are counted, not weighed.
3.False assumption: Democracy in theory states that all men are born equal and therefore have equal rights. And in practice and in reality this is a naked false assumption, because men cannot and will never be equal forever on earth no matter the kind of government they operate. The assumption of equality is also against the law of nature. Since nothing on earth is equal like the tree of the same species, animal of the same kingdom etc., why should man, who is a wicked and envious being be equal? This shows that some of the principles of democracy are based on false assumption and utopianism.
4.Democracy encourages capitalistic tendency in a state. Capitalism as a mode of production is based on competition and exploitation of the poor by the rich.
5.Excess due process: Democracy delays government activities that may need urgent action due to its rigorous principles which imply that the people must be consulted.
6.It causes mobocratic and anarchical tendency: According to Aristotle, democracy causes instability in polity. This is due to excess freedom coupled with full fledged fundamental rights which empower the citizens to challenge the state on many issues. It is also obvious that excess freedom may lead to mobocratic rule and if not checked to anarchical rule.
7.Majority rule: This is also an advantage and disadvantage of democracy. It depends on the perspective via which one is analyzing it. Majority rule is a demerit of democracy due to the fact that majority rule is nobody’s rule. Benito Mussolini contends that the majority is not necessarily more reasonable than the minority. There is no way the downtrodden and headless crowd (democrats) will make a stable society.
DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT
      According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics, the term democratic deficit “denotes a perceived deficiency in the way a particular political arrangement works in practice against a benchmark as to how it is supposed to work in theory”.  This occurs when institution or organization or governments failed to live up to expectation in their administrations or in the management of the state.