is accountable to the people. We can also expect that the democratic government develops mechanisms for citizens to hold the government accountable and mechanisms for citizens to take part in decision making whenever they think fit. If you wanted to measure democracies on the basis of this expected outcome, you would look for the following practices and institutions: regular, free and fair elections; open public debate on © Mike Keefe - Cagle Cartoons Inc. Can you think of what and how the government knows about you and your family (for example ration cards and voter identity cards)?
What are the sources of information for you about the government? Governmental Secrecy So, the best outcome of democracy is that it is a democracy! That is what we have discovered after all this mental gymnastics? major policies and legislations; and citizens’ right to information about the government and its functioning.
The actual performance of democracies shows a mixed record on this. Democracies have had greater success in setting up regular and free elections and in setting up conditions for open public debate. But most democracies fall short of elections that provide a fair chance to everyone and in subjecting every decision to public debate. Democratic governments do not have a very good record when it comes to sharing information with citizens.
All one can say in favour of democratic regimes is that they are much better than any n o n - d e m o c r a t i c r e g i m e i n these respects. In substantive terms, it may be reasonable to expect from democracy a government that is attentive to the needs and demands of the people and is largely free of corruption. The record of democracies is not impressive on these two counts. Democracies often frustrate the needs of the people and often ignore the demands of a majority of its population.
The routine tales of corruption are enough to convince us that democracy is not free of this evil. At the same time, there is nothing to show that non-democracies