Sunday, February 22, 2015

The Differentiating Factor, Constitutional Republic Vs Democracy

By Olivia Cross


The use of democracy and republic interchangeably is innocently erroneous because there exist major differences. This makes the constitutional republic vs democracy debate a very crucial platform for clarifying issues. The rights of citizens in republics are safeguarded and cannot be taken away by the government. On the other hand, democracies disregard the rights of minority.

The two systems or forms of government are differentiated by the limits placed by the law on the government. While both are ruled by a majority, the rights of the minority are protected in one case as opposed to the other. It is the citizens who vote in governments and politicians as their representatives.

Absolute power is held by the government in democracies. They determine the rights that will be accorded to individuals and can change the constitution to suit their wishes. This leaves the minority in the country vulnerable until a certain point where they form the government as the majority or join the majority group in a coalition.

Republics provide safeguards that restrain majority governments from oppressing the minority. This means that citizens have inalienable rights that cannot be taken away whether they are a majority or minority. This is a differentiating factor when one seeks to understand how democracies differ from republics. Democracies expose the minority to a greater extent.

The majority is omnipotent in democracies which allows them to exercise absolute power at the expense of minority. This bully attitude continues until the situation changes in favor of minority. Republics have restrictions aimed at restricting the oppressive tendencies of majority governments. The process of altering inalienable rights is constitutionally defined and must involve the masses.

Sovereignty guaranteed in the charter or constitution is a point of discussion when making comparisons between the two governments. In a democracy, sovereignty is held by the entire population as a group. This means that the majority group determines what the entire population is entitled to. This form of government is said to have its origin in Classic Athens.

The system used by republics is different because sovereignty belongs to the individual. These rights are safeguarded and cannot be tampered with even by a majority government. This system first emerged in Classical Rome and has three characteristic arms of government. It is the system used in USA.

There is confusion between direct and representative democracy. The two forms are distinguished by elections where the representative system allows the citizens to elect individuals into a body that advocates for their interests. The vote, opinion and voice of their representative are taken as the wish of his electorates.

Direct democracies operate in a different way. Each individual has a say in decision making on issues. This means that the masses make laws and determine government policies directly. A perfect example of this way of doing things is by voting or participating in referendums.

The USA is a republic based on the fact that it is governed by the rule of law. The existence of written law and the constitution means that representatives are bound by these statutes. This is the trend in most nations though there exist variations based on traditions and the processes of nation formation. The limits that exist to protect minorities from being muscled by the government signal a mixture of governance systems.




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