BAL BHARATI PUBLIC SCHOOL

PITAMPURA, DELHI 110034

Class-IX (2013-2014) TERM I (NOTES) UNIT TEST I

WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? WHY DEMOCRACY?

Ques 1) What is democracy? Mention the features of democracy. Ans 1) Democracy is a form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people. Democracy is a form of government in which:i. Rulers elected by people take all major decisions. ii. Elections offer a choice and fair opportunity to the people to change the current rulers. iii. This choice and opportunity is available to all the people on an equal basis. iv. The exercise of this choice leads to a government limited by basic rules of the constitution and citizens rights. Ques 2) Democracy is the ideal form of government. Give arguments against the statement. Ans 2) i. Leaders keep changing in a democracy. This leads to instability. ii. Democracy is all about political competition and power play. There is no scope for morality. iii. So many people have to be consulted in a democracy that leads to delays. iv. Elected leaders dont know the best interest of people. It leads to bad decision. v. Democracy leads to corruption for it is based on electoral competition. vi. Ordinary people dont what is good for them they should not decide anything. Ques 3) What are the merits of democracy? Ans 3) i. A democratic government is a better government because it is a more accountable form of government. ii. Democracy improves the quality of decision making.

iii. iv. v.

Democracy provides a method to deal with differences and conflicts. Democracy enhances the dignity of citizen. Democracy is better than other forms of government because it allows to correct its own mistakes.

Ques 4) What is representative democracy? Ans 4) In the countries we call democracy, all the people dont rule. A majority is allowed to take decisions on behave of people. Even the majority doesnt rule directly. The majority of people rule through their elected representatives. This is called representative democracy. Ques 5) how do we distinguish democracy from other forms of government like monarchy and dictatorship? Ans 5) Other forms of government like monarchy, dictatorship or one party rule do not require all citizens to part in politics. In fact most non democratic government would like citizens not to take part in politics. But democracy depends on active political participation by all the citizens. That is why a study of democracy must focus on democratic politics. Ques 6) Why should Pakistan government under General Musharraf not be called a democracy? Ans 6) i. In Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf tied a military coup in October 1999. He overthrew a democratically elected government and declared as Chief Executive of country. ii. He changed his designation to President later and in 2002 held a referendum that granted him a 5 year extension. iii. Pakistan media, human rights organizations and democracy activists said that the referendum was based on malpractices and fraud. iv. In August 2002 he issued a Legal Framework order amending the constitution of Pakistan. Now the president could dismiss the national / provincial assemblies. v. The work of civilian cabinet is supervised by a National Security Council dominated by military. After the law was passed, elections were held to the assemblies. vi. Thus there were elections elected representatives had some power but the final power was with the military and General Musharraf himself. CONCLUSION- People may have elected representatives to national and provincial assemblies but those elected representatives are not really the rulers. The final power is with Army officials and General Musharraf who

are not elected by people. Therefore, Pakistan couldnt be called a democracy. Ques 7) With the help of Zimbabwe, show that popular approval of rulers is necessary in a democracy, but it is not sufficient. Ans 7) i. Zimbabwe attained independence white minority ru.0le in 1980. Since then the country has been ruled by ZANU-PF, the party that led the freedom struggle, by its leader Robert Mugave. ii. Elections have been held regulatory and always won by ZANU-PF. iii. President Mugave is popular but also uses unfair practices in elections. Over the years this government has changed the constitution several times to increase his powers and less accountable. iv. Opposition party workers are harassed and their meeting disrupted. Public protests and demonstration against the government are illegal. There is a law that limits the right to criticize the president. v. Television and radio are controlled by the government and give only the ruling partys vision. There are independent newspapers but government harasses journalists who go against it. vi. The government has ignored some court judgments that went against it and has pressurized judges. CONLUSION- Therefore, popular approval of rulers is necessary in a democracy but is not sufficient. Ques 8) Explain with the help of Fiji, Estonia and Saudi Arabia that one person, one vote and one value is the basic feature of democracy. Ans 8) i. In Saudi Arabia women dont have right to vote. ii. Estonia has made its citizenship rules in such a way that the people belonging to Russian minority find it difficult to get right to vote. iii. In Fiji, the electoral system is such that the vote of an indigenous Fiji has more value than that of Indian Fijian. CONCLUSION- Democracy is base on a fundamental principle of political equality. Therefore, in a democracy each adult citizen must have one vote and each vote must have one value. Ques 9) Explain with help of example of any country of the world free and fair elections are a part and is must for democracy. Ans 9) Let us take the example of China:

In China elections are regularly held after every 5 years for electing the countrys parliament called Quanguo Renmin Daibrao Dahui. ii. The National Peoples Congress has the power to appoint the president of country. iii. Some of the members are elected by Army. Before contesting elections, candidates need approval of Chinese Communist Party. iv. Only those who are members of this party or of smaller allied parties were allowed to contest elections 2002-2003. v. The government is always formed by the Communist Party. CONCLUSION-Therefore, China cant be considered a democracy as a democracy must be based on free and fair elections those currently in power has a fair chance of losing.

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