Question

Institutions trust deficit in its functioning which have had ramifications for centre state relations. Discuss the importance of institutional strength in a democracy

Answer 1

We live in the age of democracy. This means that democracy provides the touchstone by which political actions and processes are judged as beneficial or otherwise. The virtues of democracy as an ideal of social and political life are acknowledged even in regimes that are at least formally monarchical as in countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It must be pointed out that this has not been so in all places or at all times, and the validity and legitimacy of what have been called ‘aristocratic’ as against ‘democratic’ regimes have been widely acknowledged in the past (Tocqueville 1956).

For many the main virtue of democracy is that it gives the common people a place in the sun. It reduces the gap between the rulers and the ruled by restricting the powers of the former and enlarging those of the latter. In a monarchical or imperial regime in the true sense of the term, the common people are subjects and not citizens. The advance of democracy transforms subjects into citizens. It is a paradox of our time that the rights of citizenship are better respected in monarchies such as Britain and the Netherlands than in democracies such as India or Sri Lanka.