What problems and challenges might exist in establishing democracy in a country?

Answer 1

giving food to the citizens.

establishing civilian control over all governmental institutions.

finding political leaders .

and holding elections in the country.

- Maintaining a fair use of public property.

- Determining what will be provided by the goverment, and what people must obtain or attain through private action.

- How, and to what extent the goverment must regulate the private or commercial use of private property, such as food and medicine inspections.

- Establishing and enforcing criminal laws.

Answer 2

It depends on the country for specifics, but the general issues for establishing democracy boil down to two major categories:

Category 1: Issues for Stability in General

1) Corruption & Nepotism: Most of the developing world is plagued with rampant corruption and nepotism, which serve to prevent stability by seeding distrust with the central government and by appointing incapable individuals to key government posts.

2) Separatism: Many local or tribal leaders wish to gain more power by seceding from the country, provoking complex wrangling and can lead to civil wars.

3) Military: The militaries in unstable countries often turn on the citizenry and repress them or turn on the very government they are supposed to be subservient to them and overthrow them to establish military juntas.

4) Bureaucracy: Democracies, especially, need a well-functioning bureaucracy to manage citizens' affairs. This is often difficult to organize in nascent states.

5) Foreign Interventions: If a country is weak, foreign neighbors may act militarily or financially to derail its interests.

6) Resource Management: Resources can often fund Separatists or Foreign Interventions, creating those problems. Resources can also lead to increased corruption in managing the resources. Conversely, if there is a resource-poor region, this can prevent needed monies from coming into the country and lead to financial collapse and rioting.

Category 2: Issues with Nascent Democracies in Particular

1) Education: For voting to be meaningful, the voters need to be able to understand some basics about civics and government as well as have basic literacy. There are many countries that lack these attributes. Additionally, you have to have leaders that are very well educated in order to manage the affairs of state. Failure to properly buttress the state structures may lead to general dissent and dissatisfaction with the government.

2) Civil Society: Liberal Democracy requires that people come together over shared concerns as opposed to ethnic, tribal, religious, or regional politics. As a result, creating organizations that unite across ethnic, tribal, religious, or regional boundaries help to create a more functional society. Additionally, he formation of civil society reinforces the bedrock ideals of democracy, which hold that all people can have a stake in how their lives are lived and gives more reasons for voting.

3) Election Fraud: In a number of developing countries, infrastructure and elections monitoring are poor and underdeveloped. This can lead to massive ballot-stuffing and other forms of election fraud, undermining the legitimacy of the state.

4) Non-Separation of Powers: In many states and regions throughout the developing world, power is usually concentrated in a strongman. Even in the cases of "democracies" you will see even the courts being subservient to the strongman, leading to less accountability for public officials and jeopardizing the public's ability to compel their leaders to accept their will.

5) Illiberalization: Similar to "Non-Separation of Powers", in many nascent democracies, the leaders will begin to gather more and more powers to them and away from the people, leading to increasingly strongman tendencies and fewer avenues of holding those individuals accountable.

6) Local Governance Traditions: In many areas, the very idea of egalitarian rule infringes on traditional, cultural, or religious beliefs as to how power should be organized and administered. For example, Islamists argue that only God can determine what is right or wrong, not a plebiscite, leading to Islamists to oppose democracy on principle. Another very different example comes from the Igbo of Nigeria who reject the idea of an established ruling system as a violation of their traditions of complete egalitarianism and have had a very tense relationship within Nigeria with other ethnic groups like the Yoruba and Hausa Fulani which have a more established hierarchical view of politics.