Verified Document

Democracy According To Marc Plattner, In The Essay

Related Topics:

Democracy According to Marc Plattner, in the beginning of the 20th century, most democratic countries were found in North America and, with some exceptions, Western Europe. Today, after much of the world has shed its colonialist past, democracy has appeared to be more widespread. Yet, with democracy comes a great responsibility for a fair form of government and a liberal state, which allows for many freedoms and various forms of opinion, or what we know here as inalienable rights. This paper will argue from Platter's point-of-view, and will agree that liberalism is essential to democracy and vice versa because one facet feeds of the other and must thus exist concomitantly. [1: Plattner, M.F. (1998). "Liberalism and Democracy: Can't Have One Without the Other." Foreign Affairs. Retrieved April 15, 2011, . ]

Plattner first states that liberal democracy means both democracy and liberalism. Democracy, according to the author, means rule for the people and...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

Liberalism also includes natural rights or "human rights" that must be protected along with "plurality and diversity." This is the exact definition that makes up our own liberal democracy here in the United States. [2: Plattner, M.F. (1998). "Liberalism and Democracy: Can't Have One Without the Other." Foreign Affairs. Retrieved April 15, 2011, . ]
Plattner further states that "democracy and liberalism are […] linked" which, according to the writer, is "proven by the historical existence both of non-liberal democracies and of liberal non-democracies." Eventually, the author will state that neither of these systems are as effective in promoting human rights as liberal democracy, and will also prove that illiberal democracies (the term Zakaria utilizes) will eventually be more open to becoming liberal democracies. Plattner…

Sources used in this document:
Though Plattner makes a good case for his thesis of the link between liberalism and democracy there are other political scientists, such as Fareed Zakaria, who believe that most democracies today are "illiberal," and thrive on this illiberality-according to Zakaria, "Illiberal democracy is a growing industry," which does not include freedoms such as we know in this country. This "growth" is due to the fact that these countries benefit from calling themselves so called democratic states, yet they offer none of the freedoms to suit this theory. However, what Zakaria fails to mention, according to Plattner, is that many of such democracies have, indeed, begun opening up to liberal ideals. As his last point, Plattner successfully proves his thesis by stating: [4: Zakaria, F. (1997). "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy." Foreign Affairs, 76(6) . Retrieved April 15, 2011, < http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~lebelp/FZakariaIlliberalDemocracy1997.pdf>.]

"It is precisely the illiberal democracies that Zakaria maligns that are likely to be the most receptive audience for the promotion of constitutional liberalism that he recommends."

This paper has thus argued in favor of the Platter thesis which concludes that liberalism and democracy are inextricably linked and that one feeds off the other and thus they eventually and inevitably must and will coexist. Plattner's discussion is thus important in view of the many nations in this world that must still open up to the ideas of liberalism.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Government and Its Role and
Words: 1157 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

In this case, individuals are entitled to produce goods and services to meet their human need instead of private profit (Wolff, 2012). Prevention for Power and Privileges under Social Contract: While social contract provides power and privileges to all members of the society, ordinary people are usually prevented from executing the power and privilege that they are entitled to through various ways. Some of these ways include the state's legitimacy claims

Government & Policy the Joyan
Words: 1138 Length: 4 Document Type: Creative Writing

Also, a very liberal strategy like the one that Mexico took after the NAFTA agreements is dangerous to a newly independent state. Extreme liberalization worked well for Mexico because a large and confident Mexico felt like it could benefit greatly from increased trade and labor transfer with the United States, without being pushed around in the agreement, and Canada helped to maintain neutrality. The Joyan Islands, on the other

Government Why Did the Framers
Words: 5873 Length: 18 Document Type: Essay

Republicans construed Obama as suggesting government bailouts for new industries, or at the slightest a more lively federal government function in generating or supporting jobs -- concepts abominations to a lot of conservatives. The Obama campaign countered the idea as political spin that does not replicate the president's feeling or meaning, pointing to full circumstances of the quotation as confirmation (Koch, 2011). Discuss the process of how a Bill becomes a

Government Contracting Process the Federal
Words: 2271 Length: 8 Document Type: Thesis

(Vancketta, 1999) The 'Changes' clause enables the Government "to make unilateral changes to the contract during performance, so long as those changes fall within the contract's scope." The Standard 'Changes' clause utilized in fixes price supply contracts allows the CO to make changes in writing to: 1) the drawings, designs, or specifications when the item is being specifically manufactured for the government; 2) the method of shipment or packing; or 3) the place

Government by the People Federalism
Words: 969 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Lobbyists may accost legislators to directly influence their vote on a certain issue. Lobbyists fulfill the important role of providing information for legislators' decision-making, educating and forming public opinion, and even contributing to and testifying to certain legislations. Lobbyists are mostly involved in the electoral process through the use of political action committees (Magleby et al.). Creating the Constitution The original framers designed the Constitution for ordinary people who were not

Government Effects the Government in
Words: 317 Length: 1 Document Type: Term Paper

Higher taxes for example relates to less income for basic needs. In terms of political ideology, it is obvious that the particular ideology of the government would affect the rest of the country. In terms of the United States, for example, the Republican government has a certain set of ideals in terms of issues such as abortion, religious ideology, and so on, that they tend to impose upon the population. In

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now