DEMOCRATIC POLITICS

POPULAR STRUGGLES and MOVEMENTS Chapter 5

MOVEMENT for the RESTORATION of DEMOCRACY. (case study)

1. Nepal became a democratic country in 1990. King Birendra remained the head of the
state, thus making Nepal a constitutional monarchy.
2. King Birendra was killed in 2001 and King Gyanendra became the next king.
3. In February 2005 he dismissed the Prime Minister and dissolved the Parliament.
4. All the Seven Political Parties in Nepal formed a SEVEN PARTY ALLIANCE (SPA) and called
for a four day strike in Kathmandu.
5. Maoists also joined the movement.
6. People started joining the movement in large numbers and started demanding for the
RESTORATION of DEMOCRACY.
7. On 21st April they gave an ultimatum of three days to the King to (a) restore democracy.
(b) Power to an All-Party government and (c) A new constituent assembly.
8. On 24th April King Gyanendra was forced to accept the demand.
9. The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the Interim Prime Minister.
10. This struggle came to be known as NEPAL’s SECOND MOVEMENT for DEMOCRACY.

BOLIVIA’s WATER WAR. (case study)

1. Bolivia was pressuried by the World Bank to give up the control of Municipal water
supply.
2. The government gave the rights for the city of COCHABAMBA to a Multi-national
company (MNC).
3. The company immediately increased the price of water by four times.
4. This lead to a popular protest.
5. It was led by an organization called FEDECOR which comprised of local professionals,
engineers, environmentalists etc.
6. The power of the people forced the MNC to run away.
7. The contract with the MNC was cancelled and the rates of the water were reduced to
old rates.

Q1. How were the movements in Nepal and Bolivia different? Or Compare the features of
Nepal Movement and Bolivia Water War. Or What are the differences and similarities
between the Nepal movement and the Bolivia water war.

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DIFFERENCES

1. The Movement of Nepal in 2006 was to RESTORE DEMOCRACY.

2. The popular struggle in Bolivia was about one specific issue (water).
3. The struggle in Nepal was about the foundations of the country’s politics.
4. Both the struggles were successful but their impact was at different levels of the society.

SIMILARITIES

5. Both these struggles involved mass mobilization.

6. Both struggles involved the role of political organizations.

Q2. What are conclusions that you can draw from the case studies of Nepal and Bolivia?

1. Democracy EVOLVES through popular struggles.

2. Important (defining) moments in democracy usually involve conflict between those who
are in power and those who desire that power.
3. Most of the democratic conflict is solved (resolved) through mass mobilization.
4. Political parties, pressure groups and movement groups help organize such struggles.

Q3. What are pressure groups or interest groups and what are their types? Or How are
pressure groups different from political parties?

1. Pressure groups are organizations that try to INFLUENCE government policies.

2. But unlike political parties, they do not try to control or share political power.
3. These are formed when people with common occupation, interest or opinions come
together in order to achieve a common objective.

Types of pressure groups: SECTIONAL interest groups.

4. These interest groups promote the interest of a particular section of a society.

5. They are sectional because they protect the interest of a section of society (workers,
employees, people of one religion or caste etc).
6. Trade unions, business associations and professional bodies (doctors, lawyers etc.) are
examples of this type.
7. They work for the betterment of their members and not society in general.

PUBLIC interest groups.

8. These pressure or interest groups work for the common interest of the whole society.
9. The members of the group may or may not benefit from the work that they do.

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 10. FEDECOR is one such example.
11. They promote collective rather than selective good.

Q4. How do movements differ from Interest/pressure groups and how are they similar?

1. The word people’s movement is used to describe many forms of collective action.
Example Narmada Bachao Andolan, women movement, environmental movement etc.

SIMILARITY

2. Like an interest group movement also tries to influence politics and not take part in
elections and hold power.

DIFFERENCE

3. Unlike interest groups movements have loose organization.

4. Their decision making is more informal and flexible.
5. They depend much more on spontaneous mass participation than an interest group.

Q5. What are the different types of movements?

1. Most of the movements are ISSUE SPECIFIC and want to achieve a SINGLE OBJECTIVE
within a LIMITED TIME FRAME.
2. Nepal movement for restoration of democracy was such a movement.
3. The ISSUE SPECIFIC movements have a CLEAR LEADERSHIP but their active life is usually
short.
4. The others are GENERAL or generic movements that want to achieve a BROAD GOAL in
the LONG TERM.
5. There is NO SINGLE ORGANISATION that controls or leads such movements.
6. Some movements can start as ISSUE SPECIFIC movement but later get converted into a
GENERAL movement like the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
7. Environmental movement, women movement are examples of GENERAL/generic
movements.

Q5. In what ways do pressure groups and movement groups influence politics?

1. They try to gain public support for their activities and goals.
2. They organize meetings, information campaigns, file petitions etc. to get public support.
3. They also try to influence the media to support their goal and activities.
4. They also organize strikes, disrupt government programmes.
5. Business groups sponsor expensive advertisements.

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Q6. What kind of relationships do pressure groups/movement groups and political parties
share?

1. In some cases the pressure groups are formed or led by the leaders of the political
parties. Like most trade unions, student unions. (Railway Mens Union, NSUI etc)
2. Sometimes political parties are formed out of a movement. The Assam movement by
the students led to the formation of a political party Asom Gana Parishad.
3. In most cases their relationship is not so direct and completely opposed to each other.

Q7. Is the influence of pressure groups/interest groups healthy? Is the way of functioning of
pressure groups and movements appropriate? Give reasons in favour and against their style
of functioning.

AGAINST

1. In a democracy the interest of all should be looked after and not the interest of one
section.
2. These groups exercise power without responsibility.
3. Political parties are accountable (answerable) to the people but these groups are not
answerable.

FAVOUR

4. But the truth is that the pressure groups and movements have deepened democracy.
5. These groups keep reminding the political parties or the government of the needs and
demands of the ordinary citizens.
6. Putting pressure is not bad if everyone gets this opportunity.
7. The presence of pressure groups and movements leads to some kind of BALANCE of
POWER.

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 POLITICAL PARTIES Chapter 6
Q1. What is a political party and state the various functions performed in a democracy?

MEANING

1. A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold
power in the government.
2. A political party has three components: (a) the leaders (b) the active members and (c)
the followers.

FUNCTIONS

3. Political parties CONTEST ELECTIONS. Parties select their candidates in different ways (a)
In America the members and supporters of a party choose their candidate (b) in India
top party leaders choose their candidates.
4. Parties put forward various POLICIES and PROGRAMMES and the voters choose from
them. A party reduces the multiple opinions of people into few basic demands which it
supports.
5. Parties play an important role in LAW MAKING. Because most of the members of the
legislature belong to political parties, the parties are able to make laws they want
through them.
6. Parties FORM and RUN GOVERNMENTS. The members of the executive are also mostly
from political parties therefore they become ministers and run the government.
7. The parties that loose the elections also have a role to play and they play the ROLE of
the OPPOSITION. They highlight the weaknesses of the government.
8. Parties SHAPE PUBLIC OPINION. Parties sometimes also launch movements.
9. Parties provide ACCESS to GOVERNMENT machinery and WELFARE SCHEMES. It is easy
for an ordinary citizen to approach a local party leader than government officer.

Q2. Why are political parties necessary or why are they indispensible from the modern
democracy? Or Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?

1. If there were no political parties, only independents will contest the elections and no
one will be able to promise people about any major policy changes.
2. The government may be formed but it will not be stable.
3. Every elected representative will be accountable and work for his constituency and no
will be responsible for running the country.

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Q3. How many parties should we have? Which is a better: a two-party system or a multi-
party system? Why is multi-party system suitable to India?

1. In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run government, these are
called one-party system (china). But this is not a democratic option.
2. Any democratic country must allow at least two parties to function and compete in
elections.
3. In countries where there are TWO MAIN parties who have a chance of forming and
controlling the government, this is known as TWO-PARTY system (USA, UK)
4. If there are more than two parties and they have a reasonable chance of forming the
government either on their own or by forming an alliance with other parties, such a
system is known as multi-party system. (India)
5. Party system is not something any country can choose and no constitution of a
democratic country says that. It evolves over a period of time according to the needs of
the people.
6. India has a multi-party system because the social and geographical diversity in such a
large country cannot be REPRESENTED by two or even three parties.
7. Different people who have different languages, religion, food etc., have different
opinions, needs etc. and therefore they need different parties who can represent them.

Q4. What is the difference between National and State parties?

NATIONAL PARTY

1. A party that gets at least 6% of the total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly
elections in four states and wins at least 4 seats in Lok Sabha is recognised as a
National Party by the Election Commission.
2. There are 6 National Parties in India: Indian National Congress, Bhartiya Janta Party,
Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI (M) , National Congress Party
(NCP)

STATE PARTY

3. A party that gets at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the Legislative
Assembly of a state and wins at least two seats is recognized as a State party.

Q5. What are the challenges before the political parties?

1. All over the world people are not satisfied with political parties as they have not
performed their functions.

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 2. There is LACK OF INTERNAL DEMOCRACY within the parties. (a) Parties do not keep
membership registers. (b) Do not hold organizational meetings. (c) They do not conduct
internal elections regularly.
3. As a result the leaders of the party become very powerful and take all the decisions in
the name of the party.
4. The second Challenge is DYANASTIC SUCCESSION: (a) The leaders favour their family
members over ordinary members of the party and often they get a chance to contest
election and hold power. (b) There is hardly any chance for the ordinary party worker to
rise to the top as the parties do not function transparently.
5. The third challenge is the GROWING ROLE of MONEY and MUSCLE POWER: (a) The
people with criminal records and strong financial background manage to get tickets for
contesting elections. (b) In some cases parties support criminals who can win election
because of their muscle power.
6. The fourth challenge is there are not MEANINGFUL CHOICES for the voters to choose
from: (a) All parties almost have similar policies. (b) The same set of people contest
elections most of the time which leaves no choice to choose from.

Q6. How can Parties be reformed? What steps have been taken to reform the Political parties
in India?

1. The constitution was amended to prevent elected MPs and MLAs from changing parties.
2. Many MPs and MLAs were changing parties for money or to become ministers.
3. Now the law says that if an elected MP or MLA changes parties, he will loose his seat in
the legislature.
4. The Supreme Court has passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals.
5. It is compulsory for every candidate to file an AFFIDAVIT and give details of his property
and the criminal cases against him.
6. The Election Commission has made it necessary for the political parties to hold elections
within parties for various positions.
7. The parties are also supposed to file their income tax returns.

Q7. What steps can be taken to reform political parties? Suggest some changes that can be
carried out to reform political parties?

1. A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of the political parties.
2. It should be compulsory for them to maintain members register.
3. Parties should give one-third seats to women candidates.
4. There should be state funding of elections.
5. The parties should follow their constitution.

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 OUTCOMES OF DEMOCRACY Chapter 7
Q1. Why is democracy considered the best form of government? Why is democracy better
than dictatorship or military rule?

1. Promotes equality among citizens.

2. Enhances the dignity of the individual.
3. Improves the quality of decision making.
4. Provides a method to resolve conflicts and
5. Allows room to correct mistakes.

Q2. What is the minimum requirement that a democracy must fulfill? What are some
necessary things that all democracies must provide? What is the basic outcome of
democracy?

1. The most basic outcome of democracy is that it produces a government that is

ACCOUNTABLE and RESPONSIVE to the needs and expectations of the citizens.

Q3. The cost of time that democracy pays is worth it. Explain. Is the democratic government
efficient?

1. Non-democratic governments can be very quick and efficient in decision-making.

2. The democratic governments will take more time to follow procedures before arriving at
a decision.
3. But because the democratic government has followed procedures its decision may be
both more acceptable to the people and more effective.

Q4. How does democracy produce an accountable, responsive and legitimate government?

1. By conducting regular, free and fair elections.

2. Open Public debate on major policies and legislations.
3. Citizens’ right to information about the government and its functioning.

Q5. Are democratic governments free of corruption and attentive to the needs of the people?
How do they perform vis-à-vis non-democratic governments?

1. The record of democracies in not good as they are not corruption free.
2. Democracies often ignore the demands of a majority of its population.
3. But there is nothing that shows that non-democratic governments are less corrupt or
more sensitive to the needs of the people.

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Q6. In what respect is democracy certainly better than alternatives (non-democracies)? Is
democratic government a legitimate government? Democracy’s ability to generate its own
support is itself an outcome that cannot be ignored. Explain.

1. A democratic government is a legitimate government that is it is people’s own

government.
2. The evidence from the South Asia shows that people wish to be ruled by representatives
elected by them.
3. 69% of Bangladesh, 70% of India and 71% people of Sri Lanka believe that democracy is
more suitable to their country.

Q7. How have democracies faired on account of economic development? Are democracies
effective in dealing with economic inequalities among people? Is economic growth in
democracies accompanied by increased inequalities among the people?

1. Democracies do not seem to be very successful in reducing economic inequalities.

2. People in several democratic countries are dependent on the rich countries for even
food supplies.
3. A small number of very rich enjoy a high proportion of wealth and incomes.
4. The gap between the rich and the poor in democratic countries has increased.
5. In all democratic countries the average growth rate is 4% approx. whereas all dictatorial
countries have 4.5% growth rate approx.
6. In South Africa top 20% have 65% of wealth and bottom 20% have only 3% wealth.
7. In USA top 20% have 50% wealth and bottom 20% have only 4% wealth.

Q8. How can democracy accommodate social diversity? Do democracies lead to peaceful and
harmonious social life?

1. Democracy is best suited for handling social differences, divisions and conflicts.
2. All democracies must fulfill two conditions to achieve this outcome.

TWO CONDITIONS

3. The majority always should work with the minority and not exclude them. Example: The
manner in which French speaking and Dutch speaking communities accommodated
each other in Belgium.
4. Different persons and groups should have a chance of being in majority at sometime or
the other. In Sri Lanka this did not happen.

Q9. In what ways does Democracy promote dignity and freedom of the individuals (specially
women)?

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 1. All democracies recognize that all individuals are equal. This has been achieved in
different degrees in different countries.
2. In democracies women have the authority to fight for their rights and demand equal
treatment if they are not being treated equally.
3. In India SC’s, ST’s and OBC’s have demanded equal status and opportunity which they
have been provided.

CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRACY
Q1. Describe briefly the challenges faced by modern democracies?

Different countries face different kinds of challenges:

1. FOUNDATIONAL CHALLENGE: At least 1/4th of the total number of countries which are
not democratic face this challenge.
2. They have to bring down the existing non-democratic regime, keep military away from
taking control of the government and set up democratic institutions. e.g. China
3. CHALLENGE OF EXPANSION: This means applying democratic principles across all
regions, social groups and institutions.
4. Ensuring greater power to local governments, inclusion of women and minority groups.
e. g. India and US.
5. DEEPENING OF DEMOCRACY: This involves strengthening of the institutions and
practices of democracies.
6. Reducing the influence of the rich and powerful people in making governmental
decisions.

Q2. What should be kept in mind in formulating political reforms in India?

1. Making new laws cannot alone overcome challenges of democracy. Legal ways of
reforming democracy should be avoided.
2. Some legal change can be counter-productive. For example banning people who have
more than two children from contesting Panchayat elections in few states has resulted
in keeping away poor people from democratic opportunity.
3. Right to Information is a good example of productive legal way of democratic reform.
4. Any proposal for Political reforms should also think about who will implement it and
how.

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