In Constitutional Choices for New Democracies by Arend Lijphart, the writer says that, when drawing the constitution, democratic architects are confronted by two choices: parliamentary and presidential and plurality elections and proportional representation forms of government. The electoral system of a country will determine whether it will develop or not. For newly formed states, a combination of parliamentarism with proportional representation is the most effective. In the majoritarian democracy, powers are concentrated on the hands of the majority parties. Politics is all about powers. The relationship between pluralism and a two party system is mutual: they favor each other. Democracy can be said to be performing well only if it maintains public order and the level of citizens participation is high. Plurality elections and proportional representation both have their own pros and cons. A country needs to select the system that will best fit its needs and conditions.
The writer decided to write about the US since the world view is that US is democratically matured and many nations end up copying its democracy. However, these democracies fail to work in many countries. This relates to the main chapter on democracy since democracy is all about politics. The ideals, analytical concept and methods of analytical politics have some bearings when it comes to democracy. It also shows how politicians flaw democracies in pursuit of their own interests.
The writers’ intention was to provide a comprehensive understanding of political science more specifically comparative politics and democracy. This helps people to understand that politics is a result of the scramble for power. However, the democracies as presented, fail to cover the current situation since its definition fails to comprehensively cover the peoples participation that a democratic state must give its citizens. Also, blaming the failure of democracy on leaders is not right since everybody has a part to ply for it to succeed. However, the writer clearly covers some basic concepts and vocabularies that are essential for a student to understand political science. It is a good start that can cultivate a debate among learners.
Works cited
O'Neil, Patrick H, and Ronald Rogowski. Essential Readings in Comparative Politics. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
O'Neil, Patrick H. Essential Readings in Comparative Politics. New York [u.a.: W. W. Norton et Co, 2013. Print.
