Modern democracy can be defined as a rule by the people where the citizens make rules to govern a nation through the government, either directly or by use of elected representatives.  A modern democracy entails four essential factors; First, a political system for selecting or replacing political leaders using a free and fair election. Secondly, the citizens of a country are significantly involved in the civil and political activities of the state. Thirdly, all the citizens’ human rights are fully protected, and lastly, the law is applied uniformly to all the citizens regardless of their political affirmation, race, financial status or any other aspect. Markedly, any country which cannot use absolute supremacy of the law and democracy always ends up failing in most aspects. When compared to other forms of governance like communism and fascism, democracy is the most outstanding form of government in the world. When well analyzed in both practical and theory, modern democracy ensures the protection of individual freedoms and rights provides fairness and safety of a country and moreover, contributes to the economic stability and growth of a nation. Therefore, the issues that harm modern democracy are of high risk to the development of a society.

For instance, an unwritten constitution system can have negative impacts to a modern democracy. All states have constitutions, whether written or unwritten. The laws help in specifying the nature of a nation’s undertakings, the roles, responsibilities and magnitude or limit of power of the state officials. Moreover, a constitution elaborates the correlation between the citizens and a state. For a written law, the rules are correctly outlined, and there are judicial proceedings that determine whether the regulations are being appropriately undertaken or not. Markedly, there is deftness and clarity unlike in the unwritten constitution where the rules are regulated by traditions or customs and the law which supplements and aids in the regulation of the customs in instances when the evolution of today’s society create the need.

Markedly, the unwritten constitution is the main outfall to any government because it is subject to the vulnerability of changing interpretations.Notably, the constitution does not have an appeal, and the changes can be as a result of partisanship or expediency. The government can use the unwritten law for malicious gains, whereby the officials can interpret or alter it on manners that favor them.  Moreover, this could be in a way that is not for the best interests of the citizens of that state, which affects modern democracy negatively. On the contrary, A written constitution always safeguards the interests of the citizens given that the authorities cannot abuse it and it embeds civil liberties and the due processes of the law.

An unwritten constitution does not outline the essential rights of citizens vividly. The citizens do not have a right to express their freedom freely, and they barely have the chance to participate in a state’s democratic process. Thus, government officials can take advantage of this situation to abuse the people by taking away human rights like free speech, rights to defend themselves, charging citizens under their social order laws for the use of excessive sarcasm, imprisoning victims for protecting themselves and allowing the guilt to go Scott free. Notably, all this shows that an unwritten constitution does not represent governance for the people.

Similarly, an unwritten constitution is unfavorable for a federal system, because it does not outline an articulate distribution of powers between the governmental units like provinces and states and the citizens. Thus, there are several disputes between the state and other units with the central government. The parliament has limitless la making powers, with no precise distinction of the rights amongst the various arms of the government. Additionally, if a state has a written constitution, it would be great for the federal system because it takes supremacy over ordinary statute law. Thus, if the constitution and any legal statute differ, the statute can be declared ultra vires either wholly or partly, and the court can report it as unconstitutional. Therefore, the unwritten constitution can result in a dictatorship, but in case a state has a written structure; any changes can only be made through amendments which must be honored by the government.

The unmodified constitution in ambiguous and indefinite and most people do not have enough know how because most of the matters are distributed amongst various documents, Therefor, the few people with knowledge about this scattered information are the only ones who can be relied on in the interpretation of matters. There is the risk of these individuals conspires against the subversion of the constitution. Most citizens relying on unwritten law find it difficult to settle for a section that they can base their arguments on in the many documents.  Therefore, it is difficult for an average British citizen to know their rights.

Proportional Voting system

A proportional representation refers to an electoral system that the various electorate units are reflected proportionately in the elected body. Ideally, the percentage of seats that a given party will win is determined by the number of people who are supporting it. Proportional representation entails an electoral system that parties get places which are proportional to the total votes that they get.   There is also the first past the post electoral system which a simple majority determines the winner in a political election. The proportional representation harms modern democracy because of various reasons.

First, the proportional representation lets parties attain a foothold in the national life, for instance, the citizens who want the current system to be maintained. The method results in legitimization and more power for the radical parties and the extremists who only act for their gains and not for the gains of all citizens in the locality. In most instances, the extremists are generally limited to their rallies, but not the precise representation in the government.

Additionally, the proportional representation system results in the extreme power of party elites to manipulate and control the political agenda.  The success of a candidate is dependent on a party’s lists, which means that the achievements of any aspirant are dependent on how capable they are to curry favor with tier party officials. Moreover, this gives the candidates a chance to attain their motives of working in a public office, which in most instances gives them extreme power to use their political agendas for selfish gains.

Moreover, political representation electoral system does not connect the representatives accordingly with their voters. By this, the voters find it hard to present their desires and ambitions to their representatives. Thus, it negatively affects the modern democratic system because the views of citizens are not implemented. Moreover, this is in centrally to the first past the post systems which gives the residents an opportunity to represent a smaller number of voters. Thus there is a better connection amongst the representatives and their subjects. The proportional representation system does not allow for a by-election in case a large number of constituents vote for it in a specific area.

The coalition governments which are produced by the proportional representation are usually indecisive and weak because most parties do not work together, but instead, each tries to get their way. Thus, this can result in the parliament being dissolved. Unfortunately, this negatively affects the citizens because they have to stay without being governed as they await the politicians to come into an agreement. Thus, the citizen’s views and opinions not to be worked on because they do not have any representative to do it.

In conclusion, modern democracy is a government which the citizens have the sovereign power, which they exercise directly or through the representatives that they have chosen. Modern democracy ensures that the citizens use their freedom, and every decision which the government makes is for the benefit of the citizen. It provides a peaceful and happy nation, with economic stability and many other benefits. Nonetheless, there are some factors that negatively modern democracy. For instance, a government using an unwritten constitution can hardly exercise modern democracy since it usually is uncertain, and matters distributed in various documents. Thus, people find it hard to understand their rights and the government can amend it for their gain. Additionally, the use of a proportional representation system makes it simple for extremist parties to get seats, and the coalition government produces are indecisive and weak which makes it hard for citizens to use their sovereign powers.