Introduction

A smoothly functioning democracy, according to Huntington, needs political institutions that would temper, moderate and redirect the relative power of social forces. It is clear that political realism and prudence should inform the patterning of political institutions. With the advent of the 1990s, a renewed interest developed in democracy. In respect to electoral systems, a plurality system leading to majoritarian democracy is considered by Linz as appropriate in the case of relatively more homogeneous societies; proportional representation leading to consensual democracy is viewed as desirable concerning the relatively more heterogeneous societies. Seymour Martin Lipset has noted that the long-enduring democracies were disproportionately found among the wealthier and Protestant nations. S. N. Eisenstadt has given the examples of countries such as Germany, Italy and Japan which fell under dictatorial regimes but later successfully consolidated their democratic regimes.