"Democracy creates stability in a society."

Democracy does not create stability in a society. The ideal of having a democratic government to govern a society only brings about a short term focus, which will not provide stability to a particular society in any way. For example, just like Singapore’s government, in four or five years’ time the government will face a new election, and it must think of how it will win that election. Thus, this fact would actually encourage a preference of policies that will bring about short-term advantages to the public, rather than unpopular policies with longer term benefits so that the government stands a chance to win the public’s votes. Stability in a nation involves long-term thinking as the government needs to make accurate predictions of the future so that the society can thrive in an ever-changing world. Thus, if the government only focuses on short-term policies so as to attract votes for their elections, this is definitely not going to be of any help to provide stability in a nation as the government is not getting its attention towards prospective problems or issues that may arise in the long run.

However, democracy does provide stability in a society as it boosts good relations between the people and the government. For example, according to Rice’s speech, she comments that “Democracy has been opening up old, elite-dominated politics to millions… the poor and the disadvantaged and indigenous peoples and minorities. These men and women have at last become active democratic citizens, and they are demanding that their governments work for them.” This means that democracy can provide good relations between the people and the government, and it can also develop mutual trust among the two parties as they can benefit abundantly. Therefore, citizens are able to cooperate, and this will in turn lessen societal instability as people are positive in the path in which the government is taking on.

On the other hand, democracy can also provide stability as it is able to reach an essential consensus, without introducing any form of conflicts. For example, collapsed authoritarian states such as the former Soviet union has disintegrated as their intolerant rulers have failed to build consensus. However, democracy enables people to choose their rulers and way of life, and this in turn promotes stability as the government is able to work without having to worry that consensus is unreached as all of these are still fundamentally built on people’s choice and freedom.

However, I essentially believe that democracy does create stability to a large extent in the long run. The fact that this ideal is essentially built on freedom of people’s choice means that this will in turn lessen the dispute and conflict, which may arise between the people and the government. Therefore, it not only brings about political stability, but also enhances nation’s development in the long run as the government can work on beneficial policies concurrently, in an indisputable way without hurting any consensus as it is the people’s choice.