8 Disadvantages of Democracy and Its Negative Effects on People

Most countries in the world are democratic. The people elect their leaders, and those leaders have to rule as per the people’s aspirations.

But, leaders in democracy misuse it, and ignorant people cannot decide the honest rulers leading to many disadvantages.

Democracy is most important for freedom of life and the collective growth of a nation.

But, while some democratic countries are well developed, others are still in developing states.

This is because of the use of the defects in the democratic system.

By this discussion, I do not mean democracy is bad. Instead, I mean democracy needs honest leaders and educated and informed people.

Demerits of democracy/ A few Bad things

1. Corruption

• There is a chance for the full spread and evergreen corruption.

• A democratic leader is in a position for a limited period. So there is a tendency to make money by use of power.

• Once he loses his power, he can live in a different country and evade the laws of the country.

• Hence, industries and companies can easily invest and get undue benefits from other nations by bribing that state leader.

• This is so common that dozens of U.S. companies face bribery allegations in other nations.

• In a democracy, corruption chances cannot be controlled as long as the entire nation’s people want to avoid it.

• This includes leaders, officials, people, businessmen, etc.

• Even if one is not corrupt, the entire system will go against him, and gradually, he too has to adopt corruption.

2. Misuse of Equality

• The equality rule is also responsible for the enormous levels of corruption.

• Due to democracy, no single power can control the misbehavior of small leaders.

• The lower-rank officer can defy his superior in spite of being unfair in his job.

• Henceforth all leaders & officials try to compromise even at the cost of national prospects.

• They steal the resources of the country and deceive people.

• In countries that have one supreme power, the extent of corruption is limited.

• This is because the authority to execute the bills or laws is present in that supreme person.

• So those companies who intend to bribe will do it to the supreme power and his subordinates.

• Other officials also will be in his control, and possibilities of misbehavior are limited.

• But in a democracy with no supreme power, the bribe is demanded by all the leaders.

• So in one sense, all leaders are ready to steal the country’s resources as they intend to get richer.

• The more thieves, the more the robbery, so the country becomes poor.

• For this, again, prices are hiked to maintain the government’s budget, and that money can be misused.

• No one has the power to question, and even if someone questions, no one is there to answer.

• None has the authority to challenge, and even if someone questions, no one is there to answer.

• The leaders abuse each other, and the common man is tired of seeing this drama.

• If we consider the king’s rule-heavy taxes were levied on people. But this was not a problem as only the king was trying to be rich.  

• Further, he also tries to conquer other states, so his riches come from other lands.

• But in the case of democracy, everyone attempts to be a leader, and when they get a chance, they will try to be rich through corruption.

• So some people are ready to rob the resources and cause trouble for people within the state.

• In another way, we see no protection for the common man.

• There is a sense of “no one cares for anyone, ” and a lower-rank officer will try to defy his superiors as both are corrupt.

3. No protection for the common man

• There is no protection for the common man as the leaders themselves try to misuse or misbehave in public.

• Even security personnel and police treat injustice differently based on the individuals.

• They favor those in power or wealth and neglect or even cause trouble to those who are sick or weak socially.

4. Divide and rule methods

• The leaders try to play divide-and-rule games.

• They divide the people based on religion, caste, language, etc.

• This makes it easy to gain votes and get into power though there are not worthy of it.

• Even during elections, if the candidates standing for the election is not in their interest, people abstain from voting.

• For instance, in US elections, it is believed that black people are less interested in voting when both the contestants in the white house are of a white background.

5. Unfair businesses

• They encourage unfair trade practices to get support for election campaigns.

• This we can see as most politicians support rich people in return for monetary benefits like party funds etc.

• So, these businesses would be least concerned about the environment and the effects on the population while executing their plans.

6. Addiction to power

• The sole motto of politicians is to get into power and cling to it.

• There are very few leaders who work for the benefit of the country.

• Democracy is meant to elect one eligible with sufficient experience to rule and lead the nation forward.

• But parties compete for power without even having the right candidate for the post.

• So they use different means like money, protest, and strikes for publicity.

• Previously these strikes and protests led to the French Revolution, the American Revolution, etc., and democracies were established.

• But currently, behind every strike and protest, there is a hand of a political party.

• The political parties can even halt the parliaments and Senate from functioning smoothly.

• In places where there are multiple parties in a house.

• We can notice incidents wherein one party tries to obstruct the house and see that voice of others is not heard.

• Also, the common man is at a loss due to these politically provoked strikes and protests.

• During attacks, shops and markets remain closed.

• Income sources suffer when these raids run for a week and even months.

• But in spite of this, the parties aim at their publicity but not the plight of an ordinary man.

• And if someone questions this, they say it is freedom of speech and their right to protest as provided by democracy.

• So in one way, too much freedom leads to conflicts instead of prosperity.

7. Dynastic politics

• Ignorance of the masses is taken for a ride. Freedom means the masses can elect anyone to rule.

• But we can see there are also dynastic rules. Grandparents and grandchildren of the same family are positioned for power.

• This can be viewed in a few countries. This is because they exploit the masses emotionally.

• In the past, during kings’ rule, the successors of the throne were rude to the people.

• They did not even know the lay problems of the common man.

• So they could not provide a peaceful rule. Democracy is a way to overcome this issue.

• A democracy intends that anyone elected by the common public should govern the nation.

• But the dynasty families make up a party, and all their party workers work for them.

• Thus the very basic idea of democracy is destroyed.

• Even people also vote for them as they are brain-fed by media and party workers.

• Hence you will see selfish and less capable people taking power into their hands.

• Even you can notice film actors getting into power without much exposure.

• This is because people fail to foresee the consequences of such a rule.

• They vote just without any thought of the future. They do it for their community, film heroes, or media-created gods.

8. Media misuse

• In dictatorial and communal rules, you can notice that journalists cry for their freedom and rights.

• But in a democracy, the media try to fool the people such that they can influence voting behavior.

• In many countries, media channels work for some or another party.

• They even have no value for national prospects.

• They even make news that can be problematic to the country’s security.

• Their goal will be to portray one leader as evil and others as having the right to favor their choice of election results.

• This is possible because few political parties or leaders control the media.

9. Generation Gaps with a lack of experience

This is another factor that relies on the public’s lack of memory or experience.

Every ten years once, there would be a significant shift in the number of new voters eligible for voting.

These new voters who are not exposed to the previous government of a political party would not have experienced their misdeeds or misuse of power.

So, when these new voters are eligible, they sometimes vote to know how a particular party works.

But, there could be chances that the particular party’s ideology can be detrimental to the welfare of the state.

Hence, new voters give a chance for the wrong parties to get back into power through experienced voters who have previously discarded them.

10. Lack of justice

• Democracy is one wherein there is a delay in prosecution.

• You can notice that in kings’ rule, the punishments are severe and very fast after the crime.

• But in democracy, the sentence can be declared after all those involved in the case become old or even die.

• So freedom can seem to be eviler.

11. Unfair participation

• Not all people participate in voting.

• They do not utilize their right to vote due to a lack of interest or laziness.

• Sometimes, they also do not vote if the candidate of interest is not available.

• In recent US elections, black Americans did not vote as they did not have a candidate of interest.

• In the previous elections, they voted for Obama, who was not white.

12. Emotional manipulation

• Politicians try to gain votes by emotional manipulation of people’s minds.

• This is quite common in the name of nationalism, secularism, claims to stop something, achieve long-standing demands, etc.

• This makes people get connect emotionally to that party or leader.

• In doing so, people vote for them without thinking of other factors that can be misused.

13. Disturbance in public relations

• Every person’s perception of a political party varies to a certain extent.

• This includes the members of a family.

• A husband would like to vote for one party while his wife for another party.

• Similarly, this happens between brothers, sisters, friends, etc.

• This variation in preferences could sometimes lead to heated debates and even discord in relationships.

• I have seen some people stay away from their homes during elections.

• The reason for that was to avoid mental stress during elections. They would return home once voting was over.

• Thus, the democratic form of political affiliation can lead to troubles in relationships.

• For more, go through the fascinating book on why democracy does not lead to prosperity but social conflict.

14. Appeasement politics

• Here politicians will try to manipulate people to earn goodwill.

• For this, they offer free benefits to certain sections of society while it harms the whole nation and its economy.

• They try to encourage lethargy and improper education by incentivizing the underserved.

15. Wastage of Public Money

• Elections are to be held regularly by the election commission. To do so, large chunks of public money are spent to conduct the elections.

• In between, some of the elected politicians resign out of disagreements and go for fresh elections.

In doing so, there are chances of frequent elections with a loss of millions of public funds to conduct the polls by the election bodies.

16. A money-making module

People can make money through participation in electoral politics. They need not set up a business or work for a job.

Just being a member of an influential political party, they will have a lot of scope to make money in absurd ways.

They can favor the award of contracts or job postings and indirectly benefit monetarily from those who receive this help.

One can notice that those who are in politics are mostly rich and lead a lavish lifestyle but without having a business or job at hand.

17. Chances of anti-nationals.

Democracy is a place where anti-nationals can be made by external agents. People from other countries can fund few people living in a democratic country and make them be anti-government or even anti-national.