What is wrong with our perception of democracy

Development of democratic norms and values should be prioritised from the very root level, starting from family and other social institutions like schools, clubs, and religious institutions. Photo: TBS

Questions are often raised about the state of Bangladesh's democracy. The country's political situation, in relation to historical and concurrent developments, do not paint a good picture of the state of democracy in Bangladesh. But can we blame one political structure or person for this? 

We tend to confine the idea of democracy as a political phenomenon, and treat it as something that only pertains to a system of government. However, the idea of democracy is far more widespread and it is strongly related to social norms and values, which later influence a nation's political culture.

Just like a building cannot rise high without a strong foundation, democracy cannot flourish or expand, and may deviate or even collapse, without consolidation of its norms and values socially, or from the root level. 

Democratic construction should begin with the social structure, and then move to the political structure, which can bring fruitful results in the long run. 

But we see the exact opposite here, as people are more interested in pointing fingers at how democracy has failed at the state level, and are unwilling to address the causes at the more personal level.  

The idea of democracy is only limited to a political system where the government is selected by votes, considered the 'rule of the majority'. 

But other features of democracy, especially social norms like liberty, pluralism, acceptance of diversity, respect for others' opinions, citizen's responsibilities, promotion and preservation of all rights etc are usually absent among our people, let alone practised in society.  

For this reason, democratic characteristics, values, and virtues fail to thrive among us. Social values and orientations formulate a nation's political culture and when we are not owning democratic norms and values as social actors, how can we expect democracy to run well at the state level?

Consequently, instead of a solid and constructive social ground, a fragile and normatively empty structure develops that ultimately shapes democracy at the national political level. 

Dr Shantanu Majumder, a Professor of political science at the University of Dhaka, says our societies "lack in democratic demand". In other words, it means societies do not fulfil the necessary preconditions of democracy- like the democratic norms and values mentioned earlier. 

We demand democracy while being undemocratic ourselves. For example, a person criticising the government's exclusionary policies will completely exclude his wife and children's opinions in taking any familial decision. 

People criticising the government for being intolerant to freedom of opinion do not hesitate to attack ethnic or religious minorities. A random person tired of state-level corruption willingly offers a bribe to get a job done. 

A person complaining about being dictated by the government about her/his opinion and choice often dictates others' dress codes or hairstyles.

These happen frequently in our society. Our anxiety about the government and lack of democracy is legit and necessary, but our normative formations are not. 

So, if actual democracy is provided to the people today, things are likely to remain the same as today because we simply do not have a democratically appropriate social and moral ground which creates national political culture and structure.

Therefore, we should prioritise developing democratic norms and values, starting from family and other social institutions like schools, clubs and religious institutions. 

Let us not frame democracy within just an electoral system but seek out its actual scopes. Let us stop teaching school students that democracy is just a "rule of the majority" and confine its function to selecting the 'class captain' only.

Instead, let us tell our children democracy is "the rule of the majority by protecting the rights of the minority"; let us teach them the class captain holds equal responsibilities towards those who did not vote for her/him.

Democracy is not like a software that you install and expect to run on its own on your computer. It is rather like a plant that needs to be nurtured with water and sunlight for optimum results, which will lead to the betterment of the society. 

Md Saad Rafid. Illustration: TBS

Md Saad Rafid is a student at the Department of Political Science, University of Dhaka