Consolidated and unconsolidated democracy

Difference between consolidated and unconsolidated democracy
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(28th, September, 2012)
Difference between consolidated and unconsolidated democracy
Democracy is a form of government where the subjects have a say in how they are ruled. Under these forms of government, the entire population of the country is treated as equals (Clark, 2002). This form of government allows individuals to fully participate in establishing rules that governs them, through participating in the law making process. This participation can be direct through voting in referendums, or indirectly through electing representatives who forms laws on their behalf (Linz & Stepan, 1996). There are two types of democracies namely consolidated and unconsolidated democracy. These forms of democracies are different in certain aspects.
Consolidated democracy
This is a form of democracy, where the entire population has accepted the political institutions that exist in the country, and supports them fully. This means that the political institutions remains unchallenged by any party, and have been approved as the means through which governance is exercised (Barracca, 2004). The foundations of consolidated democracy are strong culture of democracy and active participation of the population in politics and governance. Therefore, the basis of consolidated democracy is the establishment of solid political and social institutions (Clark, 2002). This is further strengthened through entrenching such institutions into the constitution governing the country, so that any alterations of these institutions have to be acceptable constitutionally. If a provision to execute such changes does not exist in the constitution, then, the mandate of the people is sought, through legislations done by their representatives or through a referendum (Demirtas, 2008). Some examples of consolidate democracies recognizable in the world include USA, UK and Germany.
Unconsolidated democracy
These are forms of government that seems to embrace democracy partially, where some section of the population supports democratic rule and the existing political and social institutions, while the other section opposes them (Linz & Stepan, 1996). The stability of such form of government is not guaranteed, since the section opposing the existing systems of rule always struggle to bring the system down. Under extreme conditions, the groups opposing the existing institutions and systems of governance annex some part of the country and instills their authority there, leaving the ruling government with some share of the country (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2005).
The identifiable difference between consolidated democracy and unconsolidated democracy is that, while the civil society in consolidated democracy has absolute freedom of association and communication, the same is restricted in unconsolidated democracy (Demirtas, 2008). On the political front, consolidated d...