Is democracy a human right?

[Ziegenhain]

No.

And rights aren't rights, but privileges granted by the State.

Inb4wowsoedge

[Second Modern Rome]

lol and I thought the ADL would be all over this thread to flame people.

[The Lacedaemonians]

I'd call it a privilege.

[Zottistan]

It's a legal right, and widely accepted as a human right. I wouldn't consider it a fundamental right since governance is not a fundamental aspect of life, and I wouldn't view it as a right to be considered inviolable.

[Forsher]

Democracy is for the sake of preserving human rights. I'm not sure that I would call it a human right itself, since it would be a means, not an end.

In other words, democracy is one example of an attempt to have and preserve a society based on human rights. It is perhaps the best attempt, though that is not entirely clear.

In many cases, a strong dictatorship will have a much better shot at preserving people's rights than a democracy. Why? Well, a dictatorship will tend to be oppressive but, for a large body of the population, it provides a framework within which a set of rights are actually expressed. However, if you, say, step in and remove said oppressive regime and then try and install Democracy you are probably going to remove that framework and, with it, the ability to express the rights. So, while people theoretically have more, in practice they have way less.

Conclusion? it depends entirely on how the democracy arises in the first place. I argue that democracy can only work when people have faith that it can work, and this is generally only established by first establishing a state or set of state institutions that a) survive as its agents and leaders come and go, and b) are clearly dominant to the military.

So, perhaps, in some sense, democracy is a development out of people having and enjoying rights in certain contexts.

[Warch]

Yes,Dictatorship has time and Time again proven a Faliure,while Democracy Prospers.
All ten of the Richest Countries(By GDP) are Democracies/Republics.

What about China? They are a communist country. All of the top richest countries have a capitalist economy though.

[Laozi Tianxia]

What about China?

China has democracy at the lower levels, politicians have to travel up the hierarchy. Or in other words, more sensible than what you have.

[Internationalist Bastard]

Life, liberty, and security of person. Liberty can only be promised under a government that listens to the people.

[The Liberated Territories]

No, not unless that democracy is established with universal consensus.

[Internationalist Bastard]

No, not unless that democracy is established with universal consensus.

Read the UN Charter, heres the preamble
http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml

[New Carloso]

No, it is not a right. As seen in the Middle East, some countries are more stable and somewhat better off without democracy. Forcefully imposing western-style democracy on a populace that is not used to its different functions is a recipe for disaster and must be tailored to fit the people of these countries if it has any hope of succeeding.

[Internationalist Bastard]

No, it is not a right. As seen in the Middle East, some countries are more stable and somewhat better off without democracy. Forcefully imposing western-style democracy on a populace that is not used to its different functions is a recipe for disaster and must be tailored to fit the people of these countries if it has any hope of succeeding.

Don't force it, but saying governments in which terrorists have been running around for decades are stable is ignorant. It'd be like saying England was stable during the Reformation.

[New Carloso]

No, it is not a right. As seen in the Middle East, some countries are more stable and somewhat better off without democracy. Forcefully imposing western-style democracy on a populace that is not used to its different functions is a recipe for disaster and must be tailored to fit the people of these countries if it has any hope of succeeding.

Don't force it, but saying governments in which terrorists have been running around for decades are stable is ignorant. It'd be like saying England was stable during the Reformation.

Please say that again after comparing post and pre-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

[Rusozak]

Democracy requires responsibility. It requires you to be educated about who you're voting for and make decisions that may influence everyone around you. Therefore, it is a privilege.

[American Imperial Union]

Democracy/republics are the best way to insure human rights. They're not perfect but i think every country should be a stable democracy.

The people in my opinion shouldn't be allowed by the International community to chose their own government when its not a republic. They can vote for policies they agree with in their republic, provided it doesn't infringe in the rights of others. Because in a country of millions, there will never be a unanimous decision for a dictatorship or oligarchy. Because a republic defends all its constituents and their rights, but a dictatorship has no such respect.

Humanity has a collective moral responsibility to protect the most vulnerable of society for which a non Republican form of government historically has no respect. This should be World wide resolve in the same manner that the US Constitution guarantees the states a Republican form if government.

[The Liberated Territories]

No, not unless that democracy is established with universal consensus.

Read the UN Charter, heres the preamble
http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml

Not sure what you are trying to get at here. The preamble itself is very vague, and offers no explanation on the philosophical basis of their program that delegates the authority to themselves. I guess the only justifiable thing here is "might makes right" and "strength in numbers," which is pretty much the basis of modern liberal democracy.

[Daburuetchi]

Democracy doesn't exist outside of a class context so long as classes exist. For whom is the democracy we are talking about? There can only be democracy for either the proletariat or for the bourgeoisie since the world is split between these two camps with irreconcilable class interest. Declaring democracy as a human right isn't useful if we abstract from reality the existence of class struggle and the class nature of the state.

[Knokkeheist]

Yes but you can't it enforce it like in Vietnam , there needs to be a democratic tradition like in western europe and UK.

[The Conez Imperium]

No but I think democracy is one of the better way to maintain Human rights.

[Kilobugya]

Technically, yes, since it's Article 21 of the UNHDR : http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a21 , article III of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarati ... he_Citizen and articles 25 and 26 of http://www.columbia.edu/~iw6/docs/dec1793.html , so it's a "human right" in every "human rights declaration" I know about.

Ethically, should it be ? I don't think it's a "primary" human right, in the sense of being something fundamental in itself, but the consequences of lack of democracy on the rest of human rights are usually so strong that it's sane to include democracy as a human rights, democracy being the way to actually preserve, protect and implement the rest of the rights.

[Internationalist Bastard]

Don't force it, but saying governments in which terrorists have been running around for decades are stable is ignorant. It'd be like saying England was stable during the Reformation.

Please say that again after comparing post and pre-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

First off, Iraqs troubles started from Imperialism, forcing democracy down their throaghts, was just picking at the wound. Secondly, my understanding was that pre Saddam Iraq was a monarchy and then a mess of military coups

[New Carloso]

Please say that again after comparing post and pre-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

First off, Iraqs troubles started from Imperialism, forcing democracy down their throaghts, was just picking at the wound. Secondly, my understanding was that pre Saddam Iraq was a monarchy and then a mess of military coups

Sorry, I misphrased that. I meant compare post-Saddam Iraq and Iraq while Saddam was in power.

[Socialist Tera]

No but food, water and electricity should be.

[Genivaria]

No but food, water and electricity should be.

Authoritarian regimes utterly fail at this.

[Socialist Tera]

No but food, water and electricity should be.

Authoritarian regimes utterly fail at this.

Lol. Good one.