Why Democratic Power Turns Undemocratic
A democracy elects a government to hold power with limits. It elects an opposition to watch that power and stop its excess. This is the whole design. Yet in practice, both sides drift away from the design. The ruling side stretches its mandate. The opposition, whose entire purpose is to guard the constitution, often behaves with the same hunger for power it claims to oppose. Walkouts replace debate. Obstruction replaces scrutiny. Slogans replace argument. The guardian starts to look like the accused. This article does not aim to defend one side or blame the other. It asks a older and harder question. Why does this happen at all. Why does democratic method so often produce undemocratic behaviour in the very people meant to protect democracy. Three traditions offer an answer. Western political philosophy explains the structural weakness inside democracy itself. Chanakya's Arthashastra explains the amoral logic of power that any actor, ruling or opposing, ends up using. Sun Tzu's ...