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Cayman as a Democratic Society

Democracy is the best approach to learning what each social or ethnic group wants, particularly in a diverse country like the Cayman Islands. In my opinion, Cayman is a strong democratic society and throughout this essay I will illustrate in more details how I came to my conclusion.

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The Cayman Islands is considered a Parliamentary Democracy. This means that voters elect representatives who then form parliament where they collectively determine policy based on majority agreement. These countries place more power in the hands of a parliament rather than in the hands of an elected executive (e.g., a president).
 
As a parliamentary democracy, the Cayman Islands has separate judicial, executive and legislative branches, and a history of over 165 years of representative government. Cayman also does not require a direct vote of the people for all bills and this type of democracy makes it less of a burden than the direct democracy model.

Parliament also encourages dialogue and debate across all societal strata. It presents policy proposals, which are put up by the media for debate and to test the mood of the people. The parliamentary model is highly responsive to the will of the people and that is because elected representatives want to be re-elected by their constituents on a regular basis.
 
I believe that democracy uniquely possesses several features that most people, whatever their basic political beliefs, would consider desirable. For example, democracy helps to prevent rule by cruel and vicious autocrats; modern representative democracies do not fight wars with one another; countries with democratic governments tend to be more prosperous than countries with nondemocratic governments; and democracy tends to foster human development. This can be measured by health, education, personal income, and other indicators more fully than other forms of government do.

Other features of democracy most would consider desirable, though some would regard them as less important is that democracy helps people to protect their fundamental interests; democracy guarantees its citizens fundamental rights that nondemocratic systems do not, and cannot, grant; and democracy ensures its citizens a broader range of personal freedoms than other forms of government do (Britannica).

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The word democracy comes from the Greek word "demos", meaning people, and "kratos" meaning power; so, democracy can be thought of as "power of the people": a way of governing which depends on the will of the people.

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Since the time of the ancient Greeks, both the theory and the practice of democracy have undergone profound changes. For thousands of years the kind of association in which democracy was practiced, the tribe or the city-state, was small enough to be suitable for some form of democracy by assembly, or “direct democracy.”

 

Much later, beginning in the 18th century, as the typical association became the nation-state or country, direct democracy gave way to representative democracy—a transformation so sweeping that, from the perspective of a citizen of ancient Athens, the governments of gigantic associations such as France or the United States might not have appeared democratic at all.

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Finally, there are some features of democracy that some people—the critics of democracy—would not consider desirable at all, though most people, upon reflection, would regard them as at least worthwhile and that is that only democracy provides people with a maximum opportunity to live under laws of their own choosing.

 

There is also the fact that only democracy provides people with a maximum opportunity to take moral responsibility for their choices and decisions about government policies; and only in a democracy can there be a relatively high level of political equality.

 

Robert Dahl stated in his book, Democracy and its Critics, that democracy is defined as having seven attributes: elected officials; free and fair elections; inclusive suffrage; the right to run for office; freedom of expression; alternative information and associational autonomy (Power Point).

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I do agree with Robert Dahl, however I do favor the following six features more, and represented with some examples from the Cayman Islands Government (Civics):

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They are:
1) Respect for basic human rights: The 2009 Constitution of the Cayman Islands came into effect on 6 November 2009 following approval by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Privy Council. The current Constitution includes, for the first time, a Bill of Rights which came into force on 6 November 2012. Some rights included are freedom of expression, freedom of speech, etc. (Gov.ky).


2) Multiple political parties paired with political tolerance: A multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coalition.


3) A democratic voting system: The Cayman Islands has free and fair General Elections every four years.

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There is also inclusive suffrage, which means there should be no discrimination toward anyone regarding their voting rights or their implementation. This is also true regarding the right to run for office.


4) Respect for the rule of law: Headed by the Chief Justice, the Judiciary administers the law independently of the executive and the legislature arms of Government. It consists of three jurisdictions – the Summary Court, the Grand Court and the Court of Appeal.

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There are also institutions supporting democracy and the rule of law such as the Constitutional Commission, the Commission for Standards in Public Life, Human Rights Commission etc. (PowerPoint).

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5) Democratic governance: Executive power is exercised by the Government consisting of the Governor as His Majesty’s representative, and the Cabinet, which is composed of the Premier, seven other Ministers and two non-voting ex-officio members, the Deputy Governor and the Attorney General.

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Legislative power is vested in the unicameral Parliament of the Cayman Islands which is composed of 19 Elected Representatives for the Islands’ constituencies, as well as two non-voting ex-officio members.


6) Citizen participation: This may include voting, referendums, town hall meetings, advisory committees, citizen assembles, opinion polls, participator design, participatory budgeting, and even protests.

 

The Cayman Islands possesses the above-mentioned features which also included the seven features of democracy stated by Robert Dahl. It has elected officials, free and fair elections, inclusive suffrage, the right to run for office, freedom of expression, alternative information, and associational autonomy. As a democratic country it exemplifies many of the positive attributes of democracy.

 

Because of this, the Political System of the Cayman Islands is very stable, especially given its tradition of restrained civil service governance, sustained economic prosperity, and its relative isolation from foreign policy concerns by virtue of its colonial relationship with the United Kingdom. This, in part, explains its economic success and allows for a strong democratic society.

Works Cited

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