To what extent would you agree that a liberal democracy is an ideal form of government?

Rosseau asserts we are born free and equal, social& economic inequality restrict freedom and equality. Thus, the ideal social contract that he formulated was based on: implement only, decision made by people. This famous remark made in the 1600s clearly highlights the view held by many across in the world- the world is moving towards a more Western style, liberal democracy. While it is clearly true that the Western style of liberal democracy is not a one-size-fit all approach to all the countries, liberal democracy has its unique benefits that pertains most relevant in this day and age. While liberal democracy need not necessarily be pernicious, this could help us to achieve the most ideal government through its immense benefits like social stability, and long term benefits. First, adopting liberal democracy leads to greater sense of belonging to a country, thus bringing social stability. Liberal democracy is often characterized by its signature voting process. Citizens are given the power to vote for the government they want, and in a liberal context, contesting governments only have persuasive means to achieve this. This shows a high degree of availability of choice. Elections are also free and fair, everyone can vote, and the government also does not manipulate results, and this shows liberal process has a high equality, an ordinary citizens vote matters as much as a millionaire voting for the same person. Thus, this shows that government derives power from the people ultimately. This system encourages people to be participative, as they are guaranteed a power to influence a country. Hence, the needs and wants of a citizen are considered the most compared to all political systems, and the selected government enacts the changes. This imbues a sense of responsibility in an individual who is eligible for voting, and thus group identity is enhanced when one is consciously aware that one belongs in the group, and this can be inferred as voting ultimately shows the support of one s repsrentative. Hence it is clear that although liberal democracy can pose threats to liberal democracy during voting periods and have higher risk of political dissent by activists, liberal democracy is stable in the long term, as it gives the highest respect of an individual citizen compared to other political systems, as it respects individual differences. This can be noted from the United States.US has one the highest patriotism in the world, while being economically developed. Over 85% of Americans feel proud of their republican and democratic system in an 2007 survey. Liberal democracy is generally most suitable to cater for people in this day and age. In an international perspective, the world generally has developed economically almost incomparable to a few decades ago. There was the Asian tigers, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Japan that showed remarkable progress after world war 2, and economic power houses like India and China at this point of time. As countries develop economically, this changes the priorities of the people, that affects the country both at a social and political level. In 1950s, many countries had the goal to survive, and develop rapidly as possible, with Singapore, korea being notable

examples. Now, survival is no longer a priority, and an increasingly educated population and rising middle class society demands more, as they are no longer willing to sacrifice their civil rights for economic progress and stability. This arises because now, this is taken for granted. As such, people seek renewal of the social contract that has been set up decades ago, with different assumptions and goals from now. The east Asian regimes, that now enjoys prosperity from an unprecedented growth from illiberal or even authoritarian government, like Singapore, people want more compromise. New challenges from economic growth arise, like increasing inequality, and as people are more educated, people feel that should have a say for the direction that a country is heading. This is clear as from the example of Singapore, Singaporeans are generally moving away from supporting a strong one party government, PAP, that has been dominating the political theatre for decades. By choosing Workers party over PAP for GRC Aljunied, they hope that they can represent their views better, as they are tired of PAP implementing policies without enough consultation, Straits Times reports.

Undeniably, liberal democracy is not suitable for all countries to follow, as one must consider the attenuating circumstances and concerns the country has. Through time, the unique geography and history a country has separated to have no one country completely similar to another. Very often, liberal democracy lacks a decisive government, as a consequence of a more inclusive system of accounting different viewpoints. Hence, this leads to situation whereby find a common ground, every issue becomes contentious, and politicalized, then there is real danger government will become paralyses or trapped in populist policies, which fail to address the longer term challenges. In America and Europe, PM Lee asserts that there is no political will to address the fundamental questions like taxing and spending. In the context of Singapore, this liberal democracy cripples Singapore from maintaining competitive in the long term. City states, due to their small size and general dependence on trade, require a dynamic economy to flourish, and by bringing in liberal democracy, this severely hinders government from achieving the efficiency that we have been taking for granted for more than a decade. Hence, small countries like Singapore cannot spend unnecessary time and energy formulating policies, because of her geographical challenges that almost implicitly forbid her to do so. In conclusion, social modernization transforms the political values and political culture of the public, which increase demand for the more participatory system. New democracies are more likely to endure in DC. It is also worthwhile to note that It often takes time to establish democratic institutions and to have citizens recognize them and comply with the implicit rules of democratic process. Thus, although I do not believe liberal government is for every country, liberal democracy has its unique benefits that pertains most relevant in this day and age. While liberal democracy need not necessarily be pernicious, this could help us to achieve the most ideal

government through its immense social, and political cohesion.