Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

This contradiction reveals that democracy must be evaluated on two levels — as a principle and as a practice.

People across the world, including those under non-democratic regimes, support democracy because it is a legitimate form of government — people's own government, based on elected representatives. This makes democracy desirable in principle.

However, actual democratic governments often fall short: they may be slow, corrupt, unresponsive, or fail to represent all citizens fairly. Hence, dissatisfaction arises in practice.

This shows that democracy should be assessed not by impossible ideal standards, nor judged solely on shortcomings, but by asking whether it creates conditions better than any alternative — which it does.

Source: Outcomes of Democracy, Chapter 5 — "Accountable, responsive and legitimate government" and "How do we assess democracy's outcomes?"

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What the examiner looks for (3 marks):

• Point 1: Distinguish principle (legitimacy, people's own government) from practice (corruption, inefficiency, poor responsiveness) — this is the core insight.
• Point 2: Reference that support for democracy exists even in non-democratic countries (textbook data from South Asia).
• Point 3: The conclusion — democracy should be evaluated comparatively (better than alternatives), not against a perfect ideal.

Avoid writing a vague essay. Use the two words principle and practice explicitly — they signal to the examiner you understand the textbook's framework.