Ethnicity and Democracy

Democracy, according to Schmitter and Karl (1991), is a form of government where individuals indirectly hold their representatives responsible for their acts in the public sphere through the representatives' competitive collaboration. Democracy is, to put it simply, the practice of governing by, with, and for the people.
A democratic system is an institutional setup that enables leaders to win the public's support by engaging in a competitive contest for their votes. As a result, the voting rights of qualified adult voters are used by citizens to choose company decision-makers in fair elections held on a regular basis.
A state or nation with numerous ethnic groups is referred to as multiethnic.Each ethnic group has unique traditions and values as well as self-determination but has acknowledged their differences and agrees to live together in peace.

Nash and Eriksen (1994) define ethnicity as a field of study involving the classification of people and relationships between two or more groups based on the distinction between self and others in a given country as a basis of social differentiation.

People often define ethnicity as a consciousness involving individuals who have common linguistic roots and culture which they use to affiliate to a political party and mobilize to compete with a different ethnic group for the scarce or limited resources. The definition often focuses on both activeness and passiveness of ethnicity.

Passively, members of the same ethnicity always have a sense of identity (belonging), language, traditions, beliefs, and values. On the other hand, members of the same ethnical group actively compete with people of the different ethnicity for scarce resources advancing their interest and security.

Democracy in the Multi-Ethnic States

In multi-ethnic countries, such as Kenya, people often use their ethnic origin against democracy as a way of fighting for their individual rights asserting their identity and interest through competing against other members of a different ethnic background for scarce resources.

Ethnic groups often fight to increase their political strength, enlarge their geographical territories, form ethnic-based associations and networks as a way to strengthen their bargaining capacity at a national level (Holtermann, 2009). Such ethnic-based affiliations hinder the effectiveness of democracy where everyone ought to receive equal opportunities and rights.

Although many people in Kenya and even in the United States appreciate and celebrate democracy, ethnicity poses a challenge. Ethnic nationalists hinder nationalism and patriotism as leaders, especially politicians often mobilize their supporters along ethical lines during political participation and elections (Holtermann, 2009).

In Kenya, politicians can only win a legislative seat when they align themselves with their ethnic group's failure to people see them as traitors not worth electing (Holtermann, 2009). In the United States, one is either a Democrat or a Republican each of which has individual members of ethnic affiliations.

Citizens in democratic states become conscious of their ethnic identity more than their political democracy and patriotism. Leaders ought to understand the emerging threats to democracy and consider factors that will enhance the success of democracy in multi-ethnic countries, such as Kenya and the United States.

The United States

America is one of the nations known for its governance championing for democracy amidst the various ethnic groups. The nation consists of different ethnicities, such as the Hispanics who are either black or white, the black Americans, Asians and other groups from different European countries.

Politically, America has two groups: the white-dominated Republicans and the black Democrats. The Republicans are majorly white Americans as only 2% are black and 5% are Hispanics. Over 70% of Democrats are black Americans and a few are white Americans (Richardson, 2009).

The composition of Republican and Democratic parties reflects a pattern of the racial and ethnic composition of the American population and their affiliations to various political parties (Richardson, 2009). Racial differentiation between white and black Americans created the majority and minority rule. The white has been the majority ruling the black minority, except during the presidency of Barack Obama who was a black American.

The majority often governs through policy formulations and not oppression while the minority always expects the majority to protect their rights. Democracy stipulates that the minority has equal rights as the majority rules (Roelofs, 1996). Justice requires total protection of the rights of minority despite the alienation of the minority from the majority lest majority also loses its rights and democracy loses its meaning (Roelofs, 1996).

The Constitution of the US, through The Bill of Rights, protects the liberties of individuals and the rights of individual states as a way of enhancing democracy (Torre, 1995). James Madison drafted The Bill of Rights as The Ten Amendments of the American Constitution to protect human democratic rights, including the right to vote and be elected, the right to life and fair trial (Roelofs, 1996).

Democracy seeks the protection of the minority rights to retain cultural identity, individual consciousness, religious activities, and social practices as fundamental tasks. Tolerance, healthy debates, and willingness to accept other ethnic groups would help to embrace majority’s rule and safeguard minority’s rights upholding democracy (Roelofs, 1996).

However, racial differences are one of the significant challenges to the widespread success of the United States. Many black Americans have suffered injustices in the hands of the law enforcing authorities and the judicial systems (Gorham-Oscilowski & Jaeger, 2008). The criminal justice system in the US hinders democracy due to its radical imbalance on the black Americans. The country has a reputation of violating democratic human rights through the enslavement and the excessive use of force that the law enforcers apply on the black minorities (Torre, 1995). Many black Americans have undergone slavery, unfair trial, and deaths of bullet shots by racial discrimination (Habermas, 2001). The country failed in one aspect of democracy which requires equal treatment and fair justice system (Torre, 1995). Instead, the state has a racial justice that unfairly applies the laws which govern the denial of human democratic rights of one ethnic group of black Americans by ethnicity and race (Gorham-Oscilowski & Jaeger, 2008).

Kenya

Kenya has sovereign power consisting of over 42 different ethnic groups. Despite the Kenyan Constitution requires giving every citizen democratic rights, ethnicity is one of the obstacles to the realization of democracy in Kenya. The impacts of ethnicity are often visible clearly during elections.

Most of the political leaders depend on their ethnic community (Wantchekon, 2003). The success of winning or losing an election depends on the nature of alliances a presidential leader forms. Each leader fights to safeguard their interests as well as the interest of their ethnic community (Stokes, 2005). Such ethnic-based leadership has downplayed democracy as people merge into ethnic groups for their interest at the expense of patriotism. Often people engage in violent activities during elections that ethnicity instigates. Case examples include the 2007/2008 post-election violence (Chandra 2005).

During the 2007 Kenyan general elections, citizens voted along tribal lines at the expense of national unity disregarding democracy (Chandra 2005). As such, people destroyed property and even killed because their ethnic community was not included.

Many people flee their homes becoming refugees in their countries. Ethnic groups continue to grow, polarizing Kenyan democracy. Citizens have lost the spirit of unity and nationalism as elections is a way of ascending to power and having all the resources for a particular community who are in the authority. The latter is against constitutionalism and democracy which requires equal distribution of resources, rights, and opportunities to all Kenya citizens regardless of their ethnicity.

The 2010 Kenyan constitution seeks to restore the human rights and democracy in different ways. Kenya has a whole 47 counties with a governor as a leader. However, each county has a governor from the same ethnic community who are the majority. The presidency, as a symbol of nationalism and unity, is required to have at least 25% of total votes in at least half of the counties and also garner more than 50% of total votes cast nationally.

Conclusion

Ethnicity has proved a challenge to democracy in many nations having multi-ethnic citizens. Democracy only appears to serve in the case where a given ethnic group benefits and disregards in cases where it seems to hinder their interests at the expense of nationalism (Habermas, 2001).

Therefore, a way of assessing the success of democracy in a given state is the fairness of the applicability of the law and the constitutional rights that both the majority and the minority groups enjoy regardless of their ethnicity. However, the simple case studies in the rule of law, a justice system, and elections have proved that ethnicity has substantially undermined democracy and individual democratic rights.

References

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Habermas, J. (2001). Constitutional Democracy: A Paradoxical Union of Contradictory Principles? Political Theory, 29(6), 766-781

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Wantchekon, L. (2003). Clientelism and Voting Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin. World Politics 55: 399-422.