Q1 – Why is democracy considered as a better form of government than dictatorship or any

other government?
Ans – 1. It promotes equality among citizens
2. It enhances the dignity of individuals
3. It improves the quality of citizens
4. It provides a platform to solve conflicts
5. It allows to solve its own mistakes

 Democracy is good to see in its ideas but not so good in its practice!

Q2 – What are the prudential reasons to accept democracy?

Ans – 1. They have formal institutions
2. They hold elections regularly
3. They have parties who guarantee certain rights to the citizens
But these prudential reasons cannot be worked upon just because it is democracy, it can just
create a medium to achieve these, the main role is of the citizens who have to take these
advantages and achieve goals. For eg, If any kind of expectation is not met, we start blaming
democracy and suspect if we are actually living in a democratic nation which is not true.

Q3 – What is the basic outcome of democracy?

Ans – In a democracy, we are most concerned with ensuring that people will have the rights to
choose their leaders and should be able to participate in decision making whenever necessary,
therefore, the most basic outcome of democracy should be that it produces a government that
is accountable (jawab dene vali ) to the citizens and responsive to the needs and demands of
the people.

Q4 – Is the democratic government efficient and effective? [ CBSE 2019 ]

Ans – 1. Some people think that democratic government produces less efficient and less
effective government, it is true that non democratic governments do not have to bother about
the public opinion, they can be very quick and efficient in its implementation but democracy us
based on the idea of deliberation and negotiation so some delay might take place.
2. That does not make it less efficient, as , even though the decision is fast and effective in a
non democratic government but it would be of no use if it is not accepted by the people and
may face problems.
3. Even though the decision making takes time in a democratic government but it follows all the
procedures due to which it is more acceptable and effective, the time taken is totally worth it.

Q5 – What is transparency? What is its importance in a democracy?

Ans – A citizen who wants to know if decision was taken through the correct procedures had
the right to find this out. This is calle transparency.
2. It is often missing in a non democratic country.
3. Transparency makes a government that follows prodecure and is accountable to the
people.A democratic government develops mechanism for citizens to take part in decision
making whenever they are required.

Q6 – How would measure a democracy on the basis of its accountability?

Ans – 1. Free and fair elections
2. Open public debate on major policies
3. Citizens right to information about the government and its functioning
-> The actual performance of democracies is a mixed of this.

Democracies had a great success in conducting free and fair election and opening up public
debate for citizens but they still fall short of elections that provide the information about the
government and its functioning, so the only we can say is that democratic government is much
better than any other government.

Q7 – What is the position of democracy and non-democracies regarding the needs of the
people and corruption?
Ans – 1. The record of democracies is not much impressive in its position of providing the
needs of the people and corruption

2. They often ignore the demands of a majority of its population.

3. The democracy is not free of the evil of corruption
4. At the same time, non-democratic governments are also full of corruptness and sensitiveness

Q8 – “There is an overwhelming support for the idea of democracy all over the world” Why? [
CBSE 2019 ]
Ans – 1. Democratic government is a legitimate government, it may be slow, less efficient and
not always responsive or clean but it is people’s own government.
2. For example, in south asia the support for democracy is present in both democratic and non-
democratic regime, people wish to be ruled by a leader elected by them, they believe that
democracy is better for their country.
3. This is why, democracy has an overwhelming support all over the world.
Q9 – “democracy’s ability to generate its own support is itself an outcome that cannot be
ignored.” Support the statement with examples.
Ans – 1. Democracy ensures that decision making is based on norms and procedures.
2. It ensures that every citizen has the right to examine the process.
3. Democratic govt are more accountable and transparent governments.
Thus, it generates its own support.

Q10 – Describe the economic growth and development in democracy during the year 1950-
2000 and compare it with dictatorship.
Ans – 1. If we consider all dicatorships and all democracies from the year 1950-2000, we see
that economic growth is much high in dictatorships.
2. But this alone cannot be reason to reject a democracy as economic development depends on
several factors such as, Population size, global situation, cooperation from other countries and
economic priorities adopted by the country.
3. However the difference in the economic development between less developed countries
with dictatorhips and democracies is negligible.

4. Overall we cannot say that democracy does guarantees economic development but we can
expect it not lag behind dictatorship in this respect.
5. When we find the difference in the rates of economic growth between countries under
dictatorships and democracies it is better to prefer democracy as it has several other outcomes.

Q11 - Is it true that democracies are not much successful in reducing economic disparities?
Why?
OR
Democracies do not appear to be very successful in reducing economic inequalities” justify the
statement. [ CBSE 2019 ]
Ans – 1. Democracies are based upon equality among citizens giving every individual an equal
weight in choosing their representatives, parallel to this we also find growing economic
disparities among citizens of the country.
2. A small number of ultra rich people enjoy a highly disproportionate share of wealth in the
economy, their share in the total income of the country has been increasing.
3. Those at the bottom of the society have very little to depend upon, their incomes have been
declining.
4. Sometimes they find difficult to meet their basic needs, such as food, clothing etc.
5. Poor constitute the most of our population and it must be a duty for the political party to
hold up their thoughts, but democratic governments do not appear keen to address the
question of poverty as you would expect for example in Bangladesh, more than half of its
population lives in poverty they are dependent upon rich countries even for their basic needs
for example food.

Q12 – How is social diversity accommodated in democracy? [ CBSE 2017 ]

OR

“Democracy accommodates regional diversity” how can you say so? [ CBSE 2016 ]
Ans – 1. It will be a fair expectation that democracy produces a harmonious social life, as we
have seen in the example of Belgium how the ethnic composition of Belgium was
accommodated.
2. Democracy usually develops a procedure to conduct their competition, this reduces the
possibility of tensions becoming explosive or violent.
3. In reality, no society can fully resolve conflicts among social groups but to learn the
difference could be done in order to prevent any kind of violent situation, building up our own
mechanisms to negotiate the differences should be evolved.
4. Democracy fairly holds a good position in this matter, on the other hand non democratic
regimes might be blind over social matters, social divisions etc.
5. In order to achieve this outcome democracy must fulfill these points :-
-> It is necessary to understand that democracy is not simply rule by majority, the majority
always need to work with the minority so that the government works efficiently.
-> it is also not necessary that rule by majority is not the rule by majority community in terms of
religion or linguistic group etc. rule by majority means that in every case or in any situation
different persons or groups can form a majority, it provides every citizen to be a part of
majority at some point of time. If someone is barred from being in majority on the basis of his
caste then democracy is not accommodative for him.

Q13 – Why is democracy considered much superior to any other form of government in terms
of promoting dignity and freedom of citizens? [ CBSE 2018 ]
OR
How can we assess democracy in the enhancement for the dignity of the individual? Explain. [
CBSE 2014 ]
Ans – 1. Democracy stands much more superior to any other form of government in promoting
the dignity and freedom of citizens .
2. As every individual wants respect , the passion for respect and freedom is the basis of
democracy, democracies throughout the world have recognized this.
3. For societies built for long, on the basis of subordination and domination it was not an easy
task to enforce dignity to all the citizens.
4. Most societies across the world were male dominated ones, long struggles by women have
created a new idea of equality for them. That does not mean that women are actually seen with
the eyes of respect, but as the principle is recognized it becomes easier for women to wage
against these unjust practices.
5. Democracies in india has strengthened the claims of disadvantaged and discriminated groups
for equal status and opportunity, there might be some incidents of caste based inequalities but
these lack the moral and legal foundations.

Q14 – “complaints are treated as testimony to the success of democracy” justify the statement.
[ CBSE 2017, 2018, 2016 ]
Ans – 1. The most distinctive feature of democracy is that its examination never gets over, as
people get some benefits, they ask for more and even better.
2. When people are asked about the way democracy functions they present new complaints
and expectations which is a testimony to the success of democracy.
3. It shows that people have developed awareness and the ability to expect and look critically at
the power holders.
4. A public expression of dissatisfaction with democracy shows the success of the democratic
government , it transforms people from the status of a subject into a citizen.

5. Most individuals today think that their vote is valued in the running of government just
because of their self interest in the government.

PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS :- [ IMPORTANT ]

Q – Differentiate between democratic government and a non -democratic government. [ CBSE
SQP 2022 ]

Ans -

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT NON- DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

1. It is based on the idea of deliberation and No such deliberations and discussions held.
discussion.
2. Democratic government value the public Non- democratic government do not value
opinion and make any law according to it. public opinion

3. There might be some delay in decision 3. The decisions might be taken fast but it is
making but the outcome is totally worth it and not necessarily accepted by all.
accepted by all.
4. There is transparency in the government 4. No transparency
5. It is accountable to the citizens 5. Not accountable to the citizens

Q – What are the expected outcomes of democracy? [ CBSE 2014 ]