The Shaping of Modern Democracy: Bill of Rights, Globalization, IT

This essay examines the intricate relationship between democracy and the Bill of Rights in the United States, arguing that while the Bill of Rights is a crucial foundation, modern democracy is shaped by a combination of factors including globalization and information technology. It begins by defining democracy and exploring its various dimensions, including social and economic democracy, referencing Tocqueville's observations on American society. The essay then delves into the specifics of the Bill of Rights, highlighting its progressive importance in developing democratic traditions while also acknowledging its limitations and historical violations. It emphasizes the Bill of Rights' role in establishing legal frameworks that protect individual rights and freedoms. The essay concludes by noting that the quest for absolute democracy continues, marked by inherent tensions between ideals and practical applications, suggesting that modern democracy is an ongoing evolution influenced by multiple dynamic forces.

Running head: DEMOCRACY AND BILL OF RIGHTS
Democracy and Bill of Rights
Student’s Name
Institution
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Introduction
Democracy can be defined as one of the simple forms of government, in which the
people, as a single body, possesses all sovereignty. Every Republic in which sovereignty resides
in the hands of people is a democracy. For more than two hundred years, almost every political
thinker has conceded that the limitations of space and time make direct democracy impracticable.
Even those who did not share the aversion of the founders of the United States towards the
popular government (Robespierre, Bolívar or Lenin) have recognized that representative
institutions are inevitable. The paper is based on thesis statement that although bill of rights
is crucial force behind the democracy in United States, modern democracy is mainly
shaped by combination of Bill of Rights, globalization and information technology
Background of Democracy
The word democracy has always indicated a political entity, a form of state and
government; and that remains the primary meaning of the term. But since today we also talk
about social democracy and economic democracy, it would be good to establish at all times what
we mean.
The notion of social democracy is raised with Tocqueville in his work Democracy in
America . When visiting the United States in 1831, Tocqueville was impressed primarily by a
"state of society" that Europe did not know (Bossuyt, 2014). It should be remembered that with
respect to its political system, the United States then declared that it was a republic, not yet a
democracy. And therefore Tocqueville perceived American democracy in a sociological key, as a
society characterized by equal conditions and predominantly guided by an "egalitarian spirit."

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That egalitarian spirit partly reflected the absence of a feudal past, but also expressed a profound
characteristic of the American spirit.
Thus, democracy is not, here, the opposite of an oppressive regime, of tyranny, but of
"aristocracy": a horizontal social structure rather than a vertical social structure (Bossuyt, 2014).
After Tocqueville it is above all Bryce who best conceives of democracy as an ethos , as a way
of living and living together, and therefore as a general condition of society. Yes, for Bryce
(1888) democracy is primarily a political concept. But for him, American democracy was also
characterized by an "equality of esteem," for an egalitarian ethos that manifests itself in value,
just as people recognize each other. Therefore, in the original meaning of the term, "social
democracy" reveals a society whose ethos It requires its own members to see and treat each other
as socially equal.
From the original meaning another meaning of "social democracy" is easily obtained: the
set of primary democracies - small communities and specific voluntary associations - that
support and nurture democracy at its base, at the level of civil society. In this sense, a term full of
meaning is "multigroup society", structured in voluntary groups that govern themselves.
Therefore, here social democracy means the infrastructure of microdemocracies that serve as a
basis for the macrodemocracy as a whole, for the political superstructure (Bossuyt, 2014).
Economic democracy is, at first glance, an expression that explains itself. But only in
appearance. From the moment that political democracy revolves around legal-political equality,
and that social democracy consists mainly of equal status, in that sequence economic democracy
means economic equality, approximation of the extremes of poverty and wealth , and therefore
redistributions that pursue a generalized well-being (Bossuyt, 2014). This is the interpretation we
might call intuitive expression. But "economic democracy" acquires a precise and characterizing

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meaning of the "industrial democracy" subspecies. Economic democracy is democracy in the
workplace and in the organization and management of work. In industrial society, work is
concentrated in factories, and therefore it is in the factory that democracy must be introduced
(Triggs, 2011). Thus, a member of the political city, the polites, the member of a specific
economic community, the worker, succeeds him; and in this way the microdemocracy is
reconstituted, or rather, a myriad of microdemocracies is established where ownership and the
exercise of power are given at the same time. In its finished form, industrial democracy is then
configured as the self-government of the worker in his workplace, of the worker in his factory; a
local self-government that should be integrated at the national level by a "functional democracy",
that is, by a political system based on criteria of functional representation, representation of
trades and competences.
Bill of Rights and its relationship with Democracy
The First Amendment proclaimed bourgeois-democratic freedoms of speech, the press,
religious confessions, assemblies and petitions, as well as the separation of the church from the
state. The Bill of Rights affirmed the right of the people to have and carry weapons (2nd
Amendment), forbade the forced deployment of troops in peacetime (3rd Amendment). The 4th
amendment established the inviolability of the person, property and personal papers, the 5-8th
amendments provided for the observance of the rights of citizens brought to justice, the 9th -
contained a reservation, that the above morals should not abrogate or limit the rights that the
people already enjoy. According to the 10th amendment, those prerogatives that, according to the
constitution, did not belong to Congress, were assigned to the state legislatures. The Bill of
Rights was of great progressive importance in the development of the democratic traditions of
the American people. The Bill of Rights is flagrantly violated by the ruling circles of the United

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States, which brutally suppress the democratic movement, persecute progressive figures, pursue
a policy of racial discrimination against blacks. Progressive US forces are fighting for the Bill of
Rights (Roy, 2013).
In his work, the famous New York lawyer, international lawyer, Boris Palant extensively
and convincingly shows the reader how enormous the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are (a
document containing the first ten amendments to the US Constitution) played in the development
of democracy in the United States. They not only gave due legal form to the activity of the state,
distributing the powers and functions of its various branches and bodies, but also made the law
the most important guideline for the authorities. It is thanks to the Constitution and the “Bill of
Rights”, in the author’s opinion, that the founding fathers of the United States laid the
foundations of the political and constitutional order in which the source of law determines a
person whose rights and freedoms are declared the highest criterion for the activity of the entire
state. At the same time, the state was not only declared to be a political institution dependent on
the individual, but was also recognized to protect his personal life from unjustified interference
by the authorities, guarantee him fundamental rights and freedoms, and fully support his desire
for free and creative life (Roy, 2013).
Through bill of rights, citizens not only strive to satisfy their own rights and interests, but
also take responsibility, both for their own lives and, to a certain extent, for the lives of others.
Managing the people with the help of the people means that citizens of a democratic society not
only enjoy its benefits, but also share its problems, since a person takes responsibility for the
society in which he lives. In 2018, the popular online magazine Gorky named the book “Bill of
Rights” among the 100 best novelties of the year. I am deeply convinced that America has
become a great country thanks to its Constitution and the Bill of Rights

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The bourgeois-democratic rights and freedoms included in the Bill of Rights are the
result of the struggle of the masses, a great achievement of the democratic forces of the United
States. This is an important concession wrested by the people from the ruling circles of the
country. At the same time, the Bill of Rights is by its very nature a deeply class document
bearing the imprint of bourgeois inconsistency and narrow-mindedness. Its provisions are formal
and legal in nature and are not backed by social and economic guarantees. An indicator of this is
the lack of equal material opportunities for all citizens of the country to exercise the rights and
freedoms proclaimed in the Bill (Péclard, 2014).
However, it should be noted that even with Bill of Rights, the quest for absolute
democracy is still on. From a structural point of view, democracy has emerged as a theoretical,
abstract and ideal concept that often does not match its practical application. The ideals of
equality, fraternity and participation are often imposed through coercive measures that move
away from freedom. At this point, there is an inherent tension in this definition. If, on the one
hand, democracy brings plurality of interests, equality and cooperation, on the other it is no less
certain that it occasionally entails conflict, coercion and demagogic authoritarianism (Péclard,
2014).
Conclusion
Evidently, the inclusion of the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution should be seen as
the result of the democratic movement of farmers, artisans, workers, their reaction to the hassle
of the bourgeois-planter bloc that came to power, to substantially reduce the legal possibilities of
protecting individual rights, and create conditions for the central government to exercise power
unlimited by constitutional framework in the narrow class interests of the propertied sections of
society.

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References
Bossuyt, J. (2014). Providing effective support to ‘deep democracy’: how can it realistically be
done? International Development Policy, 4 (3): 128–132
Péclard, D. (2014). Bringing Politics Back. International Development Policy, no. 4.3,
http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/poldev.1761.
Roy, O. (2013). Comments on “Democracy Promotion at a Local Level. International
Development Policy, 4 (3):124–132
Triggs, G. (2011). International law: Contemporary principles and practices (2nd ed.). Sydney,
Australia: LexisNexis Butterworths