Which freedoms are usually taken away when a democracy is overthrown by the military?

In an imaginary country called Happyland, the people overthrew the foreign ruler and brought back the old royal family. They said : “After all their ancestors were our kings before foreigners started ruling us. It is good that we have one strong ruler, who can help us become rich and powerful.” When someone talked about democracy the wise men said it is a foreign idea. Their struggle was to throw the foreigners and their ideas out of the country. When someone demanded freedom for the media, the elders thought that too much criticism of the ruler would not help them improve their living standards. “After all, the king is so kind and interested in the welfare of all the subjects. Why create problems for him ? Don’t we all want to be happy?”

After reading the above passage, Chaman, Champa and Chandru made the following observations:

Chaman: Happyland is a democratic country because people were able to throw out the foreign rulers and bring back the king.

Champa: Happyland is not a democratic country because people cannot criticise the ruler. The king may be nice and may provide economic prosperity, but a king cannot give a democratic rule.

Chandru:What people need is happiness. So they are willing to allow their new ruler to take decisions for them. If people are happy it must be a democracy.

What is your opinion about each of these statements? What do you think about the form of government in this country?

Democracy exists:

Who was the President of Chile, when his government was overthrown on 11 Sept. 1973?

Military coup took place in Chile on

Poland had its first election in

Who was elected the president of Poland in 1990?

In which year referendum was held in Poland on Pinochet’s military dictatorship?

In 1980 in Poland which was the ruling party?

Which one of the following was the feature of Walesa government of Poland?

Which of the following was the feature of Allende government of Chile?