A democratic system makes it possible to address contemporary social problems and challenges better than a non-democratic one. According to Doyle (1996), building relationships among people through the principles of free cooperation and mutual understanding helps avoid severe disagreements. Moreover, as Mickey et al. (2017) state, democracy has already shown its strength in history, for instance, during the joint struggle of the allied forces against the fascist camp in World War II. Dominance and authoritarianism create conditions under which a person cannot develop freely, which, in turn, serves as a stimulus for mass discontent and results in dangerous conflicts. Hunt and Colander (2016) mention contrasts among cultures and note that the way people with distinctive backgrounds interact largely depends on how equal the rights of the parties are. Therefore, democracies are more rational in protecting social interests than non-democracies.
At the same time, due to shifting values and geopolitical interests of individual countries, modern democracies are not always able to address threats to stability. Traub (2017) assesses the election of President Trump in the context of an opportunity to maintain peace and notes that conservative views based on communist ideas can do more harm than good to society. Zakaria (2016), in turn, notes that too soft conditions of interaction among countries do not help resolve the existing conflicts on ethnic, religious, and other grounds that threaten global stability. According to Schmitter and Karl (1991), the system of checks and balances promoted by constitutional states does not justify itself and is not a tool for mitigating wars in individual world regions. Energy, financial, and other dilemmas are difficult to resolve due to the fact that modern democracies are flexible and give empowered authorities an opportunity to adapt the principles of power to themselves. Therefore, more sustainable strategies for maintaining balance are needed to prevent the exacerbation of global problems and address the current issues more effectively.
References
Doyle, M. (1996). Kant, liberal legacies, and foreign affairs. In R. Art and R. Jervis (Eds.), International politics: Enduring concepts and contemporary issues (4th ed.), pp. 95-107. Harper Collins.
Hunt, E., & Colander, D. (2016). Social science: An introduction to the study of society (15th ed.). Routledge.
Mickey, R., Levitsky, S., & Ahmad Way, L. (2017). Is America still safe for democracy? Foreign Affairs, 96(3), 20-29.
Schmitter, P. C., & Karl, T. L. (1991). What democracy is… And is not. Journal of Democracy, 2(3), 75-88.
Traub, J. (2017). Donald Trump is the president America deserves. Foreign Policy. Web.
Zakaria, F. (2016). Populism on the march: Why the West is in trouble. Foreign Affairs, 95(6), 9-15.