Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 225
Political Peace 225 Even if the government remains popular with its voters, it is not unlikely that when certain key decisions are made, a considerable number of the ruling party’s members do not agree at heart with the majority but may have voted out of party loyalty. If the difference is in the strength of the ruling party over the opposition party or parties, then, more often than not, the so-called majority decision would in reality be a minority decision imposed on the people. It is also noteworthy that the concept of what is seen as good for the people changes from time to time. If decisions are not taken on absolute principles but what one considers to be good for the people , or at least what the party considers to be good, it may lead to a constant shift in policy from time to time. What appears good today may be bad tomorrow and good the day after. For the man in the street, this can be a tricky situation. The experimentation of communism on such a large scale for over half a century was after all based on the same slogan of for the people. Not all socialist states were dictatorial. It should also be noted that the line separating the socialist states from the democratic ones, as far as government by the people is concerned, is very thin and sometimes non-existent. How can one condemn all world governments elected in socialist countries as having been brought to power not by the people? Of course, in a totalitarian state, it is possible to dictate the choice of candidates to the electorate in such a manner as leaves them little room to elect any alternates. Yet similar and other high-handed tactics can also be employed, save for a few exceptions in the Western world, in countries with a democratic system of government. In fact, democracy in most parts of the world is not given a free hand and the elections are seldom by the people. With election-rigging,