Stability of Democratic Societies through Better Governance

Maintenance of peace, stability between and within societies are essential conditions for sustainable development. Peace and security, development and human rights are the three pillars of the UN system that are regarded as the foundation for collective security and well-being. A study by Claudius Gros from Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, has found that in order to conserve stable societies there is need to find out ways that can reduce the time span that governments and other political actors take to respond to the needs of the citizens, especially in case of external shocks.

It is because in the present day, the citizens have become extremely aware and opinionated. They form very quick opinions as compared to the time lags that policy decision making involves. This implies that it is time to bring about changes to the modes of governance, in order to keep democratic societies stable. Gros used the theory of dynamical systems with time delays. It helped him to understand how instabilities in society has developed in modern democracies. He finds that political decision taking takes years; on the contrary in the present age of smartphones and internet, the citizens form quick political opinions.

Therefore, the time scale for opinion formation which is between 7-15 months reaches a turning point. Beyond this turning point, instabilities lead to inconsistent political developments. The time that political systems take to respond to external shocks like financial crisis, diverges at this turning point.

Content: http://www.un.org/en/ga/president/68/settingthestage/6esps.shtml

By: Anuja Arora