Majority rules with minority rights form an important aspect of democracy. The majority rule during the election process but the individual rights are protected through the maintenance of decentralized local government bodies. The majority rule is limited to protect the minority rights since if they were unchecked, they could be used to oppress the people holding the unpopular views. The principle of majority rule serves the function of establishing a clear mechanism for making decisions. A half-century after the establishment of the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that the majority had a tyranny over political and social minorities (Patrick, 2006) . He also visited the state of Pennsylvania and observed that no free blacks participated in a local election. The free blacks had the legal right to vote, but they feared the consequences of exercising it. The majority could make laws and also break them.
Human rights are moral claims, and they are grounded in morality and not limited to just law. The value of freedom and respect for human rights and the principle of holding genuine elections periodically by universal suffrage form essential aspects of democracy. Democracy allows for the natural environment required for the protection and effective realization of human rights. In 2000, the Commission on Human rights declared respect for human rights and fundamental freedom as well as freedom of association and freedom of expression and opinion as elements of democracy. In Zimbabwe, hundreds of human rights defenders and activists were arrested for participating in peaceful gatherings. They were members of the main opposition party that is the Movement for Democratic Change which was a violation of the rights to associate and freely expresses themselves. In Pakistan, thousands of lawyers, journalists, and human rights defenders were arrested alongside political activists for demanding democracy and the rule of law (Landman, 2013) .
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The rule of law entails laws and procedures applying fairly and equally to all citizens. Democracy is a system made of rule by laws and is not determined by individuals. In accordance to democracy, the rule of law protects the rights of all citizens, maintains order and also limits the power of the government. The law is fair, impartially and consistently enforced. In the 1970s, the Watergate scandal involved the former President Richard Nixon trying to cover up the involvement of his administration in unacceptable, illegal activities to ensure he was reelected. The institutions of the rule of law acted together to protect their principles, and the U.S. Supreme Court established that the executive privilege was not absolute and this led to Nixon’s resignation. Roncarelli was a private citizen who bailed out other Jehovah’s witnesses like himself that had been detained for distributing pamphlets. Duplessis was the Premier and Attorney General who revoked Roncarelli’s liquor license due to personal preference since the Commissioner was empowered to cancel permits at his discretion (Raz, 2009) .
Popular sovereignty is based on the principle that the authority of a state and its government is created and sustained by the consent of the people. The consent of the people is established through their elected representatives that are the source of the political power. Popular sovereignty represents a concept that the people have the final say in government decisions. In the 1850’s Northern Democrats promoted popular sovereignty as a middle position on the issue of slavery. It alluded that the actual residents of territories should decide by voting whether or not they would allow slavery in the territory. In 1777, during the Revolutionary war, the Executive Council of Georgia authorized a purchase of supplies from Robert Farquhar but upon receiving Georgia did not pay as agreed (Caldwell, 2017) . After Farquhar died, the executor of his state sued the state of Georgia in federal court in an attempt to collect the deb. Georgia did not show up and claimed it was a sovereign state and as such was not subject to the federal court’s authority.
Free, fair and competitive elections express the will of the people who are the electorate. Free means that all those entitled to vote have the right to be registered as well as to vote and are free to make their choice. A free election gives people the confidence that who they vote for remains a secret. Fair means that all the registered political parties have equal rights to contest the elections as well as to campaign for voter support and to hold meetings and rallies. In the United States and different parts of the world, most people have braved the violence and intimidation as well as other obstacles to demand their right to express their will through free and fair elections. Youths and students have mostly played the leading roles such as the Otpor movement in Serbia that helped to overthrow Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 who was a dictator. Between April 11 and 15 in 2010 Sudan held national elections but a range of human rights violations marred the voting process (Ahmed, 2013) . The political intolerance and violence eroded the legitimacy of the elections violating the rights of the Sudanese people to participate in electing their government in genuinely free and fair elections.
References
Ahmed, A. (2013). Democracy and the Politics of Electoral System Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge university Press.
Caldwell, P. (2017). Popular Sovereignty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Landman, T. (2013). Human Rights and Democracy: the Precarious Triumph of Ideals. London: Bloomsbury.
Patrick, J. (2006). Understanding Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Raz, J. (2009). The Authority of Law: Essays on Law and Morality. New York: Oxford University Press.
