Look at the given picture carefully and choose the most appropriate option:
Which of the following is a strength of democracy highlighted in the cartoon?
Show Hint
Read the writing on each falling stone. They are all different demands from different groups. Then ask what democracy is doing about them in the picture.
Two of the four options describe things a democracy is criticised for, and one describes a dictatorship. Sorting them this way isolates the answer.
The cartoon then only has to confirm the survivor.
Step 1: Remove the option that belongs to a dictatorship.
Concentration of power with one person is the defining feature of authoritarian rule. It cannot be a strength of democracy, so option (C) goes.
Step 2: Remove the usual criticism of democracy.
Democracies are routinely criticised for being slow, because every decision has to pass through discussion, negotiation and often a compromise. Quick decision-making is therefore not the strength on display, so option (B) goes.
Step 3: Test the claim about conflict.
Option (A) says social conflicts are avoided. The cartoon shows stones flying in from all directions, each one a live dispute over language, borders, a separate state, pay or police conduct. Conflicts are plainly present, not avoided.
Step 4: Confirm the remaining option against the drawing.
The figure of democracy stays on its rock and takes every demand, thinking rather than striking back. That is the ability to hear and accommodate many competing demands at the same time.
Step 5: Connect it to the chapter.
Democracy is valued precisely because it can handle social differences and divisions without allowing them to tear the country apart. The cartoon is a picture of that capacity.
Final Answer: (D) Thinking accommodation of various demands.
