A situation – going to a class movie from school/college. Each one wants to watch a different movie, but cannot go their way. They have to go together. There are 4 movie shows running in the town. So, all of them will cast one vote for their favourite movie to be watched. The movie which gets majority votes will be selected to watch. This is democracy or voice of the majority.
Meaning of Democracy?
Democracy derived from two Greek words: demos meaning the people, and kratien meaning to rule, literally means people’s rule. Abraham Lincoln’s (16th President of USA) famous definition of democracy as ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’ is very close to its literal meaning.
One of the important political right associated with democracy is ‘right to vote’ Every citizen of a country has the right to vote to elect their representative to govern their country.
International Day of Democracy
In a bid to promote and uphold the principles of democracy, in 2007 United Nations General Assembly resolved to observe September 15th as the International Day of Democracy.
Every year International Democracy Day has a theme. This year the theme is “Democracy under Strain: Solutions for a Changing World”.
The challenges members aim to address are:
- Economic and political inequalities.
- Make democracies more inclusive by bringing the young and marginalized into the political system
- Make democracies more innovative and responsive to emerging challenges such as migration and climate change.
With this year’s 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Day of Democracy is also an opportunity to highlight the values of freedom and respect for human rights as essential elements of democracy.
Multiculturalism norm of the day
In recent decades, multiculturalism has become an important principle of politics throughout the world. Majority of the countries have multicultural societies, that is people belonging to different culture, non-conventional intellectual perspectives and ethnic groups. It is important to respect every individuals right no matter which group they belong to. Especially so for the dominant cultural group in a country. They have to accommodate and respect, value freedom and rights of every cultural group (especially the minorities) and provide a sense of security and dignity.
If a country fails to cultivate the spirit of multiculturalism, the country will eventually disintegrate. To realise true ideal of democracy, it is important to give due recognition and protection to the cultural traits of diverse groups living together.
Vocabulary:
Multiculturalism: The presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society
Dominant: Having power and influence over others
