Outcomes of Democracy Class 10 Notes CBSE Political Science Chapter 5 (Free PDF Download)

Why is Democracy Considered a Better Form of Government?

Democracy can be considered a better form of government because:

• It Promotes equality among citizens

• Every individual is prioritized and hence enhances their trust.

• The quality of decision making is enhanced.

• Provides a method to resolve conflicts

• Allows room to correct mistakes

Democracy is a form of government that can only provide conditions to achieve the goals but it is the citizens who should properly utilize those goals.

Accountable, Responsive and Legitimate Government

• Whenever there is possibility and necessity, citizens should be able to participate in decision making, which affects them all.

• Democracy frames a government that is accountable to all the citizens and meets their expectations too.

• Democracy can sometimes create a less efficient government. It is certainly true that non-democratic rulers do not have to bother about deliberation in assemblies or worry about majorities and public opinion and hence have less restrain over their actions.

• Democratic is more based on deliberation and negotiations and hence decision making can take a lot of time since they keep everyone into consideration. These decisions are better welcomed by the citizens and mostly bear fruitful results.

• The procedure of making a decision is followed using a list of instructions and hence it could be examined at any point. This feature of democracy is called transparency and is often missing in non-democratic governments.

• Therefore, when we are trying to find out the outcomes of democracy, we expect democracy to produce a government that follows procedures and is accountable to the people.

• If we measure democracies on the basis of the expected outcomes, we should look for the following practices and institutions: regular, free and fair elections; open public debate on major policies and legislations; and citizens’ right to information about the government and its functioning. 

• Democracies that are successful in all these aspects are open for debate.

• The presence of corruption in the government proves that it has its own vices along with merits.

• Advantage people wish to be ruled by representatives elected by them.

Economic Growth and Development

• If we consider all democracies and all dictatorships for the fifty years between 1950 and 2000, dictatorships have a slightly higher rate of economic growth.

• A democratic form of government does have the inability to achieve higher economic development.

• The economic development of a country depends on:

• Population

• Aid from other nations

• Economic strategies adopted by the respective government.

Economic Outcomes of Democracy

Countries having dictatorship as a primary form of government have more economic growth, compared to democracy.

About 20 per cent of the population takes up more than 60 per cent of the world population in democratic countries like Brazil and South Africa.

Reduction of Inequality and Poverty

Democratic governments shouldn’t focus on growing economically but on reducing economic disparities that exist between rich and poor.

Poverty is a topic not well addressed by democratic governments as can be noted in countries like Bangladesh where more than half of its population lives in poverty.

Accommodation of Social Diversity

• No society can fully and permanently resolve conflicts among different groups but these differences should be respected in a culturally diverse society.

• These two conditions must be met by a democracy:

• The majority and minority, both should work together. Opinions of both must be respected for the smooth functioning of the government.

• Rule by a ruling party shouldn’t become rule by the majority community.

• Rule by majority means that in case of every decision or in case of every election, different persons and groups may and can form a majority.

• If someone is barred from being in majority on the basis of birth, then the democratic rule ceases to be accommodative for that person or group.

Outcomes of Democracy Notes: Definition

As stated earlier, the various outcomes of democracy are understood through the political, economic and social aspects of a country. This is because a democratic government is founded on the grounds of involvement of the population of a country. The population at large gets to decide who they want to vote for and represent their country with.

It is a sharp contrast to the government practice of dictatorship, as practised in North Korea. A dictatorship is a form of government where the entire nation or country is represented by one primary leader, called the dictator. He is responsible for all of the country’s decisions with regards to its population. This form of government is generally considered quite harmful since the nation’s entire population is bound to vary in ideologies than those of their leader.

Therefore, democracy is considered a more representative and functioning government system than dictatorship since the general population is in charge of the country’s political leaders. To learn more, please refer to Chapter 5 Outcomes of Democracy Revision Notes Class 10 PDF.

Outcomes of Democracy Class 10 - Three Major Aspects

While discussing the three major aspects of a country based on which a democratic government operates, two fundamental questions regarding its outcomes arise. The most obvious one being “What are the outcomes of democracy?” and the other being “How can one examine the outcomes of democracy?” Therefore, when you proceed with the notes of Outcomes of Democracy, these two questions shall be answered in detail.

To state it briefly, the form of a functional democratic government is to improve a nation’s socio-economic environment through multiple ways such as:

• Promoting and practicing equality in the country among its people.

• Enhancing an individual’s dignity through the ways of them being in power while selecting their leaders for the country.

• Improving decision-making practices by considering various perspectives to reach a conclusion.

• Resolving internal as well as external conflicts through functional means and methods.

• Allowing any mistake to be readdressed and corrected.

Political Outcomes of Democracy

The first aspect while discussing the outcomes of democracy is the political aspect. So, to examine the political outcomes of democracy, it must be understood that the political dimension through which democracy operates is based on the interests of the general population. The government is set up by the citizens through the electoral college and elected representatives. Therefore, the outcomes of democracy with respect to the political spectrum are dependent on the power of the citizens of a country. To get more information on the political outcomes of democracy, you can refer to Outcomes of Democracy Class 10 notes PDF by Vedantu.

Similarly, the decision-making of the government is also performed by considering the general consensus among the citizens of the country in order to align their political interests with the interests of the governing body. Therefore, through the practices of a democratic government, the government is held accountable for its actions and is responsive to the general needs of the population.

Economic Outcomes of Democracy

Although the political regime of a democratic nation is superior to that of a dictatorship in terms of economic status under a democratic government, it is less effective than that of a dictatorship regime. Albeit more preferable to execute, the economic outcomes of democracy are oftentimes vastly unequal and exploitative.

Since it doesn’t function in accordance with the entire population of a democratic nation, the economy of a democratic state is generally more favorable to the financially affluent than to the impoverished. Therefore, the economic outcome is vastly unjust under democracy, as stated by Outcomes of Democracy Class 10 notes by Vedantu.

Did You Know?

• A democratic government cannot function without the mutual cooperation of all the social classes in a country.

• A democratic government is formed by the ruling party in a country and the government operates on the Rule by a majority which is often reflected among the general population of a country.