Democracy. The word chanted by protestors in Sudan, American forces in South Korea and anti-apartheid protestors in South Africa. Almost every person across the globe wishes to live in a country that embraces democracy. In almost everyone’s mind, democracy is painted as the reason people end up living a peaceful and prosperous life. However, democracy is far from the perfect system of governance. I’d personally regard it as the most flawed system of governance there is. There is a popular quote of the former Prime Minister of the UK, Winston Churchill which goes: “The best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter.” Now while this quote may be a cliché, believe me when I say that there is a lot of truth to this cliché. 

The number one flaw of democracy is the fact that candidates who are not qualified to lead public office end up in the race. Sometimes the bribe voters, other times they launch coup de tats and even more often, they end up suppressing certain voters. Pilots, doctors and lawyers are people who have very important jobs and before they get to practice these high-ranking jobs, they undergo intense training and require years of training experience. Even being a CEO requires tons of prior experience before actually leading a company. Nevertheless, in the political systems of most countries, the prior experience required is almost zero. The sole requirement in order to lead a nation – determining the lives of millions of people – is the most popular vote. This “popular” vote can easily be obtained by lying to the people or manipulating the existing system of voting for their gain. Now, I may be told that doing these things are illegal but, can you look me in my eyes and name one politician who has promised to do something about it and then actually done it? I don’t think so.

Tyranny of the majority. A problem that democratic systems don’t just ignore but rather encourage. Remember Brexit? With 52% of the population voting to leave, a simple majority, the UK ended up leaving the European Union (EU). However, the wishes of the rest 48%, who wished to remain in the EU, were completely ignored. This example highlights the second biggest flaw of democracy. This is where a majority votes for something, but the wishes of a sizeable minority are completely ignored. This could result in a government where certain minorities are oppressed so that the majority benefits in which 1950’s America could be taken as an example. Two other major problems that almost always arise in a democratic society are political instability and corruption. Adding on, many critics also term democracy as inefficient and point out that it leads to policies being passed that contradict past policies of the country. This in turn leads to confusion and misinterpretation as to how the country should run and which laws should be followed.

After reading this article, most of you may assume me to be pro-dictatorship; however, I should state that dictatorship has its own fair share of flaws. The system of governance I personally support, as an alternative to democracy, is meritocracy. Meritocracy is a system through which a person is chosen to lead a country based on their skills, experience and training for the given role. It allows a leader to be selected who will benefit the people and blocks inefficient liars from seizing power who are not at all fit to govern. Meritocracy considers the views of people but does not necessarily put those into laws, should that not be the best way to take the country forward.