Politics Journalist of the Year: Aged 10 and under runner-up

Is political democracy the best administrative system there is?

Akshainie Patlolla, Indus International School, Hyderabad, India

Before we elaborate on political democracy being the best administrative system or not, let us also know what the other administrative systems are:

There is a monarchy, there is a dictatorship, there is a kleptocracy, and there is democracy. In the present scenario, political democracy is the predominant governance model.

The advent of political democracy goes back to 2500 BCE. During the roman republic, political democracy was first introduced. People elected counselors, these counselors in turn were a part of the Roman consul. The Roman counsel took decisions such as tax collection, administrative matters, spending of the taxes collected, and even military affairs. Even In Ancient India, before the rule of kings, there were ‘Mahajan Padas’ which itself translates to the great republic. The concept of political democracy is not new to the world or to India.

The age-old debate about whether democracy is the best system or not is unending.

There are four different types of political systems out of which democracy has proven to be the most successful yet evolving from time to time.

Political democracy is where people elect a representative to be their leader who in turn strives for their development and well-being. These representatives in turn form a political party and choose their leader who runs the party. The activities of a political party are associated with governance of a country or a state. Different political parties run their campaigns called the elections through which they are elected. This is the outline of how a political democracy function. Countries around the Globe have variations to suit their geographical, systemic, and financial needs. We in India, have a five-tier system where the hierarchy is maintained to be able to provide leadership existence at every level of the community as we are a densely populated country. Now, as we read that people elect their ‘leader’ and it becomes ‘politics shouldn’t they have elected a ‘politician’ or shouldn’t it be ‘leadership?’ How different is a ‘leader’ from a ‘politician’ how is ‘politics’ different from ‘Leadership?’ I know, I know now the curiosity is kicking in. Isn’t it? Watch out this space for more on this.