Comparative politics and governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Comparative politics and governance - Essay Example While the United States considers itself the original and best democratic nation, the institutions and basic structure of the government inhibit some of the foundational ideals of democracy. Younger democracies, like Nigeria and Spain, actually come closer to realizing representation of the citizenry. The small-scale direct democracy of classical Athens is often held up as the purest form of democracy. Each citizen in Athenian democracy had a vote, the simplest formulation of â€Å"One man, one vote,† a right which did not extend to women and slaves, and voted directly on issues, policy, and representation (Blackwell 2003). This original democracy is only truly practicable on small scales. With larger populations, such as the 300 million population of the United States (United States Census Bureau 2010), direct democracy is highly impractical, requiring voters to vote on representatives to act in their interests. The way these representatives are elected and represent the will of their constituents is the primary difference between democratic governments. In the United States, power is shared by three separate branches of government, designed to share and check one another to avoid concentration of power in any single branch of the government. The elected representatives of the legislative body are tasked with the crafting of legislation, funding, approving presidential appointments, and declaring war. Representatives of the two houses in the legislature are elected by voters in their district, unlike the president who is elected by electors who are themselves elected in the Presidential race (Leip 2008). On the surface, this may appear to be direct representation, but the United States has a two-party system of democracy, meaning that voters are more often voting for a political party rather than a candidate and his policy platform. Power in a legislative body is shared and wielded by political parties who, more often than not, can act in the best inter est of their party rather than the interest of the voters, regardless of the reasons for which they were elected. This system presents problems for a claim of a true democracy in several ways, one of which being the means by which candidates are selected to run for office in the first place. The political party helps raise funds to run the campaign, a control on who can run in the race before it even starts. Independent or third-party candidates rarely win an election because of the lack of political party support. When they do win, it is almost always because they have name recognition as an established political figure, such as Joseph Lieberman, who won his seat in the Senate as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in 2008 (Joseph I. Lieberman 2011). The voter has, basically, a choice between two candidates, two parties, which does not represent a real choice and may not truly represent the views of the voters. Another problematic aspect of a limited-party system is the gerrymandering of political districts. Once in power, political powers redraw districts to consolidate blocks of voters they know will vote for their party. In a way, this is â€Å"rigging† the election system such that the incumbent, or at least his or her party, is reliably safe in an election, which explains the