Democracy’s superior virtue lies in the fact that it calls into activity
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Answer: A. Democracy's strength is that it involves ordinary citizens in public life. Through voting, debate and taking part, it draws out and develops the intelligence and character of ordinary men and women. This idea comes from thinkers such as J.S. Mill. The other options describe leaders, executives or party cadres, which other systems can also have. So the answer is A.
Watch for: Watch for option C. A 'dynamic leader' sounds positive, but democracy's virtue is mass participation, not one person.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Wrong because a strong executive is not unique to democracy; it is a feature of authoritarian systems too.
- C. Wrong because relying on one superior leader goes against democracy's idea of ordinary people's participation.
- D. Wrong because party workers are a narrow group, not the whole citizen body.
Source to check: NCERT Class 9 Democratic Politics I, Chapter 2 'What is Democracy? Why Democracy?' (section on arguments for democracy); J.S. Mill, Considerations on Representative Government
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.