The Transformation from Monarchy to Democracy
Starting the 1688 Glorious Revolution, the monarchy is declining, and the number of democratic countries is rising. Along with the decline of monarchy, decolonization happened. Now, new ‘empires’ have zones of influence, not colonies. However, the transformation from monarchy to democracy is very challenging because it is on the ruins of monarchy that humanity is struggling to build a democracy.
One of the challenges of the transformation from monarchy to democracy is that because of the massive use of populism, the power granted by the people to the elected leader sometimes equals the power granted to the monarch by God. ‘Chosen by God’ and ‘elected by the people’ are both vague statements because both under the name of people or God, the leader can do whatever he/she wishes, claiming that it is God’s or people’s will. The answer to this, in the case of democracy, is free and fair elections, but what if the leader was elected through populist promises just a year ago, didn’t implement any of the promised reforms, and when the people protest, the elected leader represses them. The leader justifies the repressive actions claiming that he/she is legitimately elected by the people, serves them, and follows their will to repress others. Thus the problem is that democracy doesn’t guarantee the professionalism and honesty of the future elected leader.
One won’t choose a doctor who promises to do a great job but doesn’t have the necessary qualifications. How can we choose someone to rule over us if we are not sure if the candidate is qualified and honest, and genuine in his/her intentions to serve the people who might elect him/her? How can democracy help to get competent people and avoid the election of dilettantes in high cabinets? This is a million dollar question.
Democracy aimed to give common people the right to choose their own leader, but what if, because of objective or subjective reasons, people make the wrong choice and elect the wrong person? What happens then? A civil war, revolution, or armed rebellion? If yes, then the constitutional order in that country will be overthrown. Even that doesn’t guarantee that the democratic order will be recovered in the country after the end of these turbulences. It might lead to an establishment of an authoritarian or a totalitarian regime. Looking at the example of both the Glorious Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution, we can claim that the path to move from monarchic system to democracy is very rocky.
Democracy is all about institutions. The system of checks and balances is the moving force that helps the institutions function properly. It helps to keep the constitutional order and avoid turbulences in the country. However, populism is the poison that has the power to kill or at least shake democracy.
We all agree that any country aims to make its citizens happy. Therefore any elected leader must strive for that. The problem is to identify methods of governance that would lead to such desirable results. So far, democracy proves to be somewhat effective in certain countries, but it doesn’t work well in some other countries.
