-SHIVANGI KANAUJIA (CORRESPONDENT)
‘Which comes first, the individual liberties of the members of the modern market society or the rights of democratic citizens to political participation?’ – Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher and sociologist
This question posed by Habermas pinpoints quite succinctly one of the key tensions within the relationship between democracy and human rights. Democracy, in all its forms, is based on the will of the majority while on the other hand; human rights are hinged on the freedom and rights of an individual. Thus, taking into account the very core structure of these two concepts, one cannot deny that human rights and democracy have very ‘different and potentially competing theoretical foundations.’ Michael Freeman, in Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach suggests that democratic theory urges a rule by people whilst human rights theory is concerned with how those that rule should behave, and it should predominantly take into account the interests of all individuals irrespective of any differences based on caste, colour, creed, race, religion, etc; but these rights are subjective which leads to certain complexities because they are at the same time moral, legal and political rights.
However, both these concepts are also grounded on similarities in terms of core principles which are “self-determination, freedom, autonomy, individualism, egalitarianism, tolerance and pluralism.” On similar lines, theorists like Habermas also believe that the relationship between these two is as “mutually reinforcing” or “co-original” and interdependent. Human Rights and Democracy are also based on the framework of law and order because both of them need a well-articulated, inclusive and participatory web of laws in order to function properly.
Before proceeding to the whole debate around democracy, human rights and the relationship between the two, I want to clearly state that here the word ‘Democracy’ will refer to multi-faceted, liberal and electoral democracy that functions on the principle of a holistic growth model. However, this is not to deny the existence of illiberal democracies but their relationship with human rights can be yet another topic of debate.
David Held, world-renowned political scientist, in his theory of Cosmopolitan Democracy argues that democracy gets redefined as the global institutionalization of human rights and serves as the tool to interpret and implement the set of non-negotiable rights which, according to him, can be equated with the present-day interpretation of human rights. He demands the idea of ‘global democratic law’ based on the core principles of autonomy, liberalism and inclusivity. His fellow philosopher and thinker, Habermas also accounts for an idea of deliberative democracy having core principles as the best of liberalism and maintains that human rights and democracy are co-original.
On similar lines, if we take into account various declarations and charters of international organizations and actors we witness the acknowledgment of a close relationship between these two abstract ideas. The European Union in 2009 has set its objective as “to develop and consolidate democracy and the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms-this, because-democracy, democratic governance, development and respect for all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social – are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.” The Commission on Human Rights in a resolution in 2002 takes into account the importance of democracy in promoting and safeguarding human rights by “holding periodic free and fair elections by universal suffrage and by secret ballot as the expression of the will of the people, a pluralistic system of political parties and organisations.”
However, the larger question persists. Can individual human rights be compromised in the name of majoritarian will and sovereignty? Yet the idea of making these two concepts as the clash between majority and minority fails to document the fact that the “protection of human rights is not an obstacle, but a precondition for the functioning of a sustainable democracy”, as argued by Mehrdad Payandeh, a leading International Law expert. Indeed, human rights allow the emergence of ‘democratic legitimated majority’ based on the spirit of free personal and collective growth which complements the implementation of a true democratic spirit.
In conclusion, the argument in the favor of relation between human rights and democracy being complex yet complementary is the fact that when you have a pluralistic, liberal, multi-party, multi-faceted, electoral democracy, you are placing power in the hands of the individual, en masse and it is the same power that, by the virtue of election and right to opinion building, gives an individual the power to fight for their own rights. Furthermore, the emergence of International Human Rights and international non-state actors such as the United Nations, acts as the safeguarding tool in case individual state democracies fail to insure their citizens their inherent and non-negotiable human rights. Thus, the protection of human rights is in true sense the establishment of liberal democracy.
REFERENCES :
- Habermas, Jürgen; Rehg William (2001). JStor [online]. Available at : https://www.jstor.org/stable/3072601?seq=1
- Freeman, Michael (2011). Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach, 2nd ed.
- Kirchschlaeger, Peter (2014). Social Studies [online]. Available at : https://www.sociostudies.org/almanac/articles/the_relation_between_democracy_and_human_rights/
- Hedrick, Todd (2007). Constitutionalization and Democratization: Habermas on post-colonial governance, Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 33, No. 3.
- Held, David (2015). Stanford University Press. Democracy and Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance, Cambridge, Polity.
- Council of European Union (2009) [online]. Available at : http://www.consilium.europa.eu/eudocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/gena/111250.pdf
- Commission on Human Rights resolution (2002) [online]. Available at : http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/huridoca.nsf/TestFrame/69e2c9ff1419da73c1256baa00508376?Opendocument
- Payandeh, Mehrdad (2019). Deutschland.de [online]. Available at : https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/politics/human-rights-and-democracy
