Relationship of State and Democracy
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Relationship of State and Democracy
A wide and varied definition of these two terms could very well put us to a certain position as springboard to a multi-faceted discussion as both approaches broader aspect of point to consider. My point of view is limited to the very basic and most essential meaning as my scope of understanding, being a student is specific.
A STATE as defined by the book of Dannug and Campanilla, is a community of persons, more or less numerous, occupying a definite territory, possessing an organized government, and enjoying independence from external control while DEMOCRACY as defined by the dictionary is, a free and equal right of every person to participate in a system of government, often practiced by electing representatives of the people by the majority of the people.
The state therefore has four necessary elements to consider, the people, territory, government and sovereignty. In the absence of any one of these, the state would not stand as state. The kind or color of the people, the size of territory, the form of government and kind of sovereignty may vary but state still exist as long as these elements are present. It portrays stability.
Democracy is temporary in nature. Ideally, the existence of which depends on the kind of system or form of government a state has. But at times, when even in the right form of government, when the will of the people is suppressed and the so- called freedom does not exist and equality is not savored in the right sense of the word, democracy is absent. There is freedom when majority of the people is free to act as he wishes for his own good and for the good of others; when he has acquired enough virtue or wisdom to be able to willingly to do as he ought to comply with moral law or live in accordance with an ideal befitting human nature; there is freedom because they are endowed by nature with the power of free choice- the power to decide for themselves what they shall do or become; and the political liberty possessed by citizen of a republic who, through the exercise of his suffrage, has a voice in making the laws under which he lives.
Freedom and democracy goes hand in hand. They are both necessary to attain an ideal government for a state to stand near perfection. It serves human advocacy “general welfare” -to think of the good of the community-not of its own special interest- and to be guided by men with sound knowledge and understanding of public affairs.
Government is one of the essential elements of state to survive. The state endures when the government established is stable and serving the will of majority of the people. The relationship is not on the mere presence of government to comply the elements necessary for a state to stand. Democracy rather stand to the quality of government established for a state to be truly called “STATE”, way beyond the technical or physical representation