Democracy and Dictatorship

Democracy means the "government in which the people hold the power either directly or through elected representatives". It means that people are allowed to choose their representatives for running the government. These elected members make laws and run government according to the wishes of their people whereas dictatorship is a "state ruled by a dictator, absolute power or authority." In such a system an individual may assume all the decision making of the state. Its examples are Kingship and Military rules A democratic system is so disciplined with certain checks and balances that there are few chances of corruption. There is a ruling and an opposition party. It makes the affairs of the state competitive. This competition and the fear of exposition of the follies of ruling party keep things working in a fair manner for the state. However, if the politicians are corrupt and they hijack the democratic system by rigging and propaganda e.g. in third world countries, then this system is used merely for further degenerating and polluting the already deteriorating state of affairs of the country. A dictator is powerful enough to take a country to the heights of progress, provided, he is competent and a man of integrity. Bu he may also ruin the nation because there is no check and balance on him. Both progress and downfall are swift with the aid of dictatorship. Bacon says:" Nero could touch and tune the harp well; but in government sometimes he used to wind the pins too high, sometimes to let them too low". Therefore, it is always risky with dictatorship. Pakistan has been a great laboratory for the testing of the two conventions. Both the systems failed here leaving remnants of a destroyed country. As discussed earlier, education of a nation in the right direction would determine the right type of government for them; however, that must be democracy wherein they may have their representatives in the assembly for resolving the issues being faced by them. In countries like Pakistan, propaganda and influence did play important role so honest and valorous men could not be elected to put country on the right track.

The state is not the property of an individual or a tribe; it is the ownership of all the inhabitants without any discrimination of caste, color or creed. Any system, be it democracy or dictatorship, should be gradual. All western democracies were, in their initial periods of growth, dictatorship of one sort or the other. They remained successful in educating their masses in the true sense of the word and this led them to industrial and cultural revolutions. They excelled in all fields of life. They also enriched their older forms of government with the better ones but it was all according to the traditions of those states. They did not import a system from somewhere else to impose upon their people.