Divergence in Democracy

The definition of democracy states that it is a system of government in which power is vested in people who rule directly or indirectly or through freely elected representatives. India is a country that goes solely with this definition of democracy and stands as the largest democracy in the world. It has a government for the people, by the people and of the people. Is it not possible for all the people in a large country like this to participate in the government? It is for this reason they are required to exercise their franchise and elect representatives at regular intervals. These representatives form the parliament legislate and form responsible government.

Looking by the definition of democracy, the United States of America also follows the democratic form of government. Identifying these two countries as a democracy why is there perplexity regarding this fact that  USA is a democracy? The reason is that USA is not a direct democracy, in the sense of a country in which laws are made predominantly by majority vote. Some law making is done this way, on state and local levels, but that seems to be only a tiny fraction of all the lawmaking. But without doubt USA is a representative democracy which is a form of democracy. And certainly the American form of government has been called a democracy by leading American statesmen and legal commentators from the framing on. In addition to being a representative democracy, the United states is also a constitutional democracy.

Comparing India and USA there are significant differences between the democracies. While the USA follows the two party system, India follows the multiparty system. United States of America does not have a Prime Minister, instead it has a Presidential form of government, where the President is elected head of the state and head of the government unlike the parliamentary form of government. The Cabinet is appointed by the President with Senate approval.  Contrary to USA, in India we can see that there is a Union Council of Ministers appointed by the President on the recommendation of the prime minister. Also  the USA has a higher degree of participation in the democratic process. Based on the reality that a large percentage of Indians vote in the general elections than the percentage of Americans vote in their elections, one can be  misled into believing that Indians are somehow more into the democratic process. Yes, US does have a different type of democracy when compared to India and the application of democracy varies there. But nevertheless USA is also a democracy.

Thomas George