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Democracy

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

   Democracy (literally "rule by the people", from the Greek demos,
   "people," and kratos, "rule") is a form of government for a nation
   state, or for an organization in which all the citizens have an equal
   vote or voice in shaping policy. Today democracy is often assumed to be
   liberal democracy, but there are many other varieties and the methods
   used to govern differ. While the term democracy is often used in the
   context of a political state, the principles are also applicable to
   other bodies, such as universities, labor unions, public companies, or
   civic organizations.

Varieties

   The definition of democracy is made complex by the varied concepts used
   at different periods of history in different contexts. Political
   systems, or proposed political systems, claiming or claimed to be
   democratic have ranged very broadly. For example:
     * Aristotle contrasted rule by the many (democracy/ polity), with
       rule by the few (oligarchy/ aristocracy), and with rule by a single
       person (monarchy/ tyranny or today autocracy). He also thought that
       there was a good and a bad variant of each system. .
     * Sortition/Allotment have formed the basis of systems randomly
       selecting officers from the population: For example, Aristotle
       described the law courts in Athens which were selected by lot as
       democratic and described elections as oligarchic.
     * Certain tribes organised themselves using forms of participatory
       democracy.
     * Democracy is used to describe systems seeking consensus (see
       Deliberative democracy).
     * Many socialists have argued that socialism necessarily implies a
       form of democracy (see Democratic socialism).
     * Communist states claimed to be democratic, held regular elections,
       and sometimes went as far as to insert the word "democratic" in
       their official country names (e.g. the German Democratic Republic).
       However, Communist states are widely seen as being de facto
       dictatorships, since the elections they held tended to be heavily
       rigged.

   Main varieties include:

Direct

   Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens vote on all
   major policy decisions. It is called direct because, in the classical
   forms, there are no intermediaries or representatives. Current examples
   include many small civic organizations (like college faculties) and
   town meetings in New England (usually in towns under 10,000
   population). Critics note that it sometimes emphasises the act of
   voting more than other democratic procedures such as free speech and
   press and civic organisations. That is, these critics argue, democracy
   is more than merely a procedural issue.

   All direct democracies to date have been relatively small communities;
   usually city-states. Today, a limited direct democracy exists in some
   Swiss cantons that practice it in its literal form. Direct democracy
   obviously becomes difficult when the electorate is large--for example
   some 30,000 or more citizens were eligible in Athenian democracy.
   However, the extensive use of referenda, as in California, is akin to
   direct democracy in a very large polity with over 20 million potential
   voters. Modern direct democracy tries to accommodate this problem and
   sees a role for strictly controlled representatives. It is
   characterised by three pillars; referendums (initiated by governments
   or legislatures or by citizens responding to legislation), initiatives
   (initiated by citizens) and recall elections (on holders of public
   office).

Representative

   Representative democracy is so named because the people select
   representatives to a governing body. Representatives may be chosen by
   the electorate as a whole (as in many proportional systems) or
   represent a particular district (or constituency), with some systems
   using a combination of the two. Some representative democracies also
   incorporate some elements of direct democracy, such as referenda.
   Representative democracy is susceptable to various problems such as
   Gerrymandering of constituencies.

Liberal

   Liberal democracy is a representative democracy (with free and fair
   elections) along with the protection of minorities, the rule of law, a
   separation of powers, and protection of liberties (thus the name
   liberal) of speech, assembly, religion, and property. Conversely, an
   illiberal democracy is one where the protections that form a liberal
   democracy are either nonexistent, or not enforced. The experience in
   some post-Soviet states drew attention to the phenomenon, although it
   is not of recent origin. Napoleon III for example used plebiscites to
   ratify his imperial decisions.

History

   Since World War II, democracy has gained widespread acceptance. This
   map shows the official claims made by world governments with regard to
   democracy, as of June 2006. ██ Governments that claim to be democratic
   and allow the existence of opposition groups, at least in theory.
   ██ Governments that claim to be democratic but do not allow the
   existence of opposition groups. ██ Governments that do not claim to be
   democratic.
   Enlarge
   Since World War II, democracy has gained widespread acceptance. This
   map shows the official claims made by world governments with regard to
   democracy, as of June 2006. ██ Governments that claim to be democratic
   and allow the existence of opposition groups, at least in theory.
   ██ Governments that claim to be democratic but do not allow the
   existence of opposition groups. ██ Governments that do not claim to be
   democratic.

Ancient origins

   The word democracy was coined in ancient Greece and used
   interchangeably with isonomia (equality of political rights). Although
   Athenian democracy is today considered by many to have been a form of
   direct democracy originally it had two distinguishing features: firstly
   the allotment (selection by lot) of ordinary citizens to government
   offices and courts, and secondarily the assembly of all the citizens.
   In theory, all the Athenian citizens were eligible to speak and vote in
   the Assembly, which set the laws of the city-state, but neither
   political rights, nor citizenship, were granted to women, slaves, or
   metics. Of the 250,000 inhabitants only some 30,000 on average were
   citizens. Of those 30,000 perhaps 5,000 might regularly attend one or
   more meetings of the popular Assembly. Key to the development of
   Athenian democracy was its huge juries allotted from the citizenry .
   Most of the officers & magistrates of Athenian government were
   allotted; only the generals (strategoi) and a few other officers were
   elected.

   The seeds of representative democracy were arguably sown in the Roman
   Republic. Democratic principles and elements were also found in the
   Mahajanapadas of ancient India, and also in the local Sanghas, Ganas
   and Panchayats that existed throughout the centuries in India. In the
   political climate of ancient India, many sovereign republics existed
   along with princely states. In the account of Alexander's campaigns in
   India, Arrian's Anabasis of Alexander, the Macedonian conqueror is said
   to have encountered "free and independent" Indian communities at every
   turn. However, political rights were to some extent a representative of
   social class and in particular the caste system. In these republics,
   power was typically vested in the hands of an elite class, and so the
   system would perhaps be better classifed as an oligarchy. In the case
   of the village panchayats, the picture is somewhat more democratic. A
   panchayat in essence is a meeting of townspeople mediated by a group of
   village elders, and so it is an example of a direct democracy.

   Democracy was also seen to a certain extent in bands and tribes such as
   the Iroquois Confederacy. However, in the Iroquois Confederacy only the
   males of certain clans could be leaders and some clans were excluded.
   Only the oldest females from the same clans could chose and remove the
   leaders. This excluded most of the population. An interesting detail is
   that there should be consensus among the leaders, not majority support
   decided by voting, when making decisions.

Middle Ages

   During the Middle Ages, there were various systems involving elections
   or assemblies, such as the election of Gopala in Bengal, the
   Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Althing in Iceland, certain
   medieval Italian city-states such as Venice, the tuatha system in early
   medieval Ireland, the Veche in Slavic countries, and Scandinavian
   Things.

   The Parliament of England had its roots in the restrictions on the
   power of kings written into Magna Carta. The first elected parliament
   was De Montfort's Parliament in England in 1265. However only a small
   minority actually had a voice; Parliament was elected by only a few
   percent of the population (less than 3% in 1780. ), and the system had
   problematic features such as rotten boroughs. The power to call
   parliament was at the pleasure of the monarch (usually when he or she
   needed funds). After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the English Bill
   of Rights was enacted in 1689, which codified certain rights and
   increased the influence of the Parliament. The franchise was slowly
   increased and the Parliament gradually gained more power until the
   monarch became entirely a figurehead.

18th and 19th centuries

   Although not described as a Democracy by the founding fathers, the
   United States can be seen as the first liberal democracy. The United
   States Constitution protected rights and liberties and was adopted in
   1788. Already in the colonial period before 1776 most adult white men
   could vote; there were still property requirements but most men owned
   their own farms and could pass the tests. On the American frontier,
   democracy became a way of life, with widespread social, economic and
   political equality.By 1840s almost all property restrictions were ended
   and nearly all white adult male citizens could vote; and turnout
   averaged 60-80% in frequent elections for local, state and national
   officials. The Americans invented the grass roots party that could
   mobilise the voters, and had frequent elections and conventions to keep
   them active. The system gradually evolved, from Jeffersonian Democracy
   or the First Party System to Jacksonian Democracy or the Second Party
   System and later to the Third Party System. In Reconstruction after the
   Civil War (late 1860s) the newly freed slaves became citizens, and they
   were given the vote as well.

   Later in 1789, Revolutionary France adopted the Declaration of the
   Rights of Man and of the Citizen and, although short-lived, the
   National Convention was elected by all males.

   Liberal democracies were few and often short-lived before the late
   nineteenth century. Various nations and territories have claimed to be
   the first with universal suffrage.

20th Century

   This map reflects the findings of Freedom House's survey Freedom in the
   World 2006, which reports the state of world freedom in 2005. It is one
   of the most widely used measures of democracy by researchers.[3]
   ██ Free. Freedom House considers these to be liberal democracies.[4]
   ██ Partly Free ██ Not Free
   Enlarge
   This map reflects the findings of Freedom House's survey Freedom in the
   World 2006, which reports the state of world freedom in 2005. It is one
   of the most widely used measures of democracy by researchers. ██ Free.
   Freedom House considers these to be liberal democracies. ██ Partly Free
   ██ Not Free

   20th century transitions to liberal democracy have come in successive
   "waves of democracy", variously resulting from wars, revolutions,
   decolonization and economic circumstances. World War I and the
   dissolution of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires resulted in the
   creation of new nation-states in Europe, most of them nominally
   democratic. In the 1920 democracy flourished, but the Great Depression
   brought a disenchantment and most of the countries of Europe, Latin
   America and Asia turned to strong-man rule or dictatorships. Thus the
   rise of fascism and dictatorships in Nazi Germany, Italy, Spain and
   Portugal, as well as nondemocratic regimes in Poland, the Baltics, the
   Balkans, Brazil, Cuba, China, and Japan, among others. Together with
   Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union, these made the 1930s the "Age of
   Dictators" .

   World War II brought a definitive reversal of this trend in western
   Europe. The successful democratisation of the occupied Germany and the
   occupied Japan served as a model for the later theory of regime change.
   However, most of Eastern Europe was forced into the non-democratic
   Soviet bloc. The war was followed by decolonisation, and again most of
   the new independent states had nominally democratic constitutions.In
   the decades following World War II, most western democratic nations had
   a predominantly free-market economy and developed a welfare state,
   reflecting a general consensus among their electorates and political
   parties. In the 1950s and 1960s, economic growth was high in both the
   western and Communist countries; it later declined in the
   state-controlled economies. By 1960, the vast majority of nation-states
   were nominally democracies, although the majority of the world's
   populations lived in nations that experienced sham elections, and other
   forms of subterfuge (particularly in Communist nations and the former
   colonies.)
   This graph shows the number of nations in the different categories
   given above for the period for which there are surveys, 1972-2005
   Enlarge
   This graph shows the number of nations in the different categories
   given above for the period for which there are surveys, 1972- 2005
   Number of nations 1800-2003 scoring 8 or higher on Polity IV scale,
   another widely used measure of democracy.
   Enlarge
   Number of nations 1800- 2003 scoring 8 or higher on Polity IV scale,
   another widely used measure of democracy.

   A subsequent wave of democratisation brought substantial gains toward
   true liberal democracy for many nations. Several of the military
   dictatorships in South America became democratic in the late 1970s and
   early 1980s. This was followed by nations in East and South Asia by the
   mid- to late 1980s. Economic malaise in the 1980s, along with
   resentment of communist oppression, contributed to the collapse of the
   Soviet Union, the associated end of the Cold War, and the
   democratisation and liberalisation of the former Eastern bloc
   countries. The most successful of the new democracies were those
   geographically and culturally closest to western Europe, and they are
   now members or candidate members of the European Union. The liberal
   trend spread to some nations in Africa in the 1990s, most prominently
   in South Africa. Some recent examples include the Indonesian Revolution
   of 1998, the Bulldozer Revolution in Yugoslavia, the Rose Revolution in
   Georgia, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Cedar Revolution in
   Lebanon, and the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan.

   The number of liberal democracies currently stands at an all-time high
   and has been growing without interruption for some time. As such, it
   has been speculated that this trend may continue in the future to the
   point where liberal democratic nation-states become the universal
   standard form of human society. This prediction forms the core of
   Francis Fukayama's " End of History" theory.

Marxist/Socialist view

   Many on the left view democracy as essentially a system giving ordinary
   people power and therefore they view Socialism, Marxism, etc. as
   inherently democratic because they believe they give power to the
   working classes. As a result many left-wing political groups in the
   18th and 19th century referred to themselves as democrats or their
   party as "democratic" (Notable examples include the German Democratic
   Republic & the US Democrat Party)

   Social-Democrats see liberal democracy as being compatible with the
   interests of working class and therefore participate in elections.
   According to their views once in power Socialists can improve popular
   welfare without needing to change the economic state.

   The Marxist view is fundamentally opposed to liberal democracy
   believing that the capitalist state cannot be democratic by its nature,
   as it represents the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Marxism views
   liberal democracy as an unrealistic utopia. This is because they
   believe that in a capitalist state all "independent" media and most
   political parties are controlled by capitalists and one either needs
   large financial resources or to be supported by the bourgeoisie to win
   an election. According to Marx, "Universal suffrage (i.e. parliamentary
   elections) is an opportunity citizens of a country get every four years
   to decide who among the ruling classes will misrepresent them in
   parliament." Thus the Marxists believe that in a capitalist state, the
   system focusses on resolving disputes within the ruling bourgeosie
   class and ignores the interests of the proletariat or labour class
   which are not represented and therefore dependent on the bourgeoisie's
   good will. Moreover, even if representatives of the proletariat class
   are elected in a capitalist country they have limited power over the
   country's affairs as the economic sphere is largely controlled by
   private capital and therefore the representative's power to act is
   curtailed. Essentially, in the ideal liberal state the functions of the
   elected government should be reduced to the minimum (i.e. the court
   system and security).

Theory

Conceptions

   Among political theorists, there are many contending conceptions of
   democracy.
     * Under minimalism, democracy is a system of government in which
       citizens give teams of political leaders the right to rule in
       periodic elections. According to this minimalist conception,
       citizens cannot and should not “rule” because on most issues, most
       of the time, they have no clear views or their views are not very
       intelligent. Joseph Schumpeter articulated this view most famously
       in his book Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy . Contemporary
       proponents of minimalism include William H. Riker, Adam Przeworski,
       and Richard Posner. This meaning of the word "democracy" has also
       been called polyarchy.

     * The aggregative conception of democracy holds that government
       should produce laws and policies that are close to the views of the
       median voter — with half to his left and the other half to his
       right. Anthony Downs laid out this view in his 1957 book An
       Economic Theory of Democracy.

     * Deliberative democracy is based on the notion that democracy is
       government by discussion. Deliberative democrats contend that laws
       and policies should be based upon reasons that all citizens can
       accept. The political arena should be one in which leaders and
       citizens make arguments, listen, and change their minds. The modern
       proponents of this form of government are led by Jürgen Habermas.

     * The conceptions above assume a representative democracy. Direct
       democracy holds that citizens should participate directly, not
       through their representatives, in making laws and policies.
       Proponents of direct democracy offer varied reasons to support this
       view. Political activity can be valuable in itself, it socializes
       and educates citizens, and popular participation can check powerful
       elites. Most importantly, citizens do not really rule themselves
       unless they directly decide laws and policies.

     * Another conception of democracy is that it means political equality
       between all citizens. It is also used to refer to societies in
       which there exists a certain set of institutions, procedures and
       patterns which are perceived as leading to equality in political
       power. First and foremost among these institutions is the regular
       occurrence of free and open elections which are used to select
       representatives who then manage all or most of the public policy of
       the society. This view may see it as a problem that the majority of
       the voters decide policy, as opposed to majority rule of the entire
       population. This can be used as an argument for making political
       participation mandatory, like compulsory voting. It may also see a
       problem with the wealthy having more influence and therefore argue
       for reforms like campaign finance reform.

"Democracy" and "Republic"

   In contemporary usage, the term "democracy" refers to a government
   chosen by the people, whether it is direct or representative. The term
   " republic" has many different meanings but today often refers to a
   representative democracy with an elected head of state, such as a
   President, serving for a limited term, in contrast to states with a
   hereditary monarch as a head of state, even if these states also are
   representative democracies with an elected head of government such as a
   Prime Minister.

   In historical usages and especially when considering the works of the
   Founding Fathers of the United States, the word "democracy" refers
   solely to direct democracy, while a representative democracy where
   representatives of the people are elected and whose power to govern is
   limited by laws enshrined in a constitution is referred to as a
   constitutional republic. Unlike a pure democracy, in a constitutional
   republic, citizens are not governed by the majority of the people but
   by the rule of law. Constitutional Republics are a deliberate attempt
   to diminish the threat of mobocracy thereby protecting minority groups
   from the tyranny of the majority by placing checks on the power of the
   majority of the population. The power of the majority of the people is
   checked by limiting that power to electing representatives who govern
   within limits of overarching constitutional law rather than the popular
   vote having legislative power itself. Morever, the power of elected
   representatives is also checked by prohibitions against any single
   individual having legislative, judicial, and executive powers so that
   basic constitutional law is extremely difficult to change. John Adams
   defined a constitutional republic as "a government of laws, and not of
   men."Using the term "democracy" to refer solely to direct democracy, or
   to representative democracy without checks on the power of elected
   officials, retains some popularity in United States conservative and
   libertarian circles.

   The original framers of the United States Constitution were notably
   cognizant of what they perceived as a danger of majority rule in
   oppressing freedom and liberty of the individual. For example, James
   Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 10, advocates a constitutional
   republic over a democracy to protect the individual from the majority.
   The framers carefully created the institutions within the Constitution
   and the United States Bill of Rights. They kept what they believed were
   the best elements of majority rule. But they were mitigated by a
   constitution with protections for individual liberty, a separation of
   powers, and a layered federal structure.

   Republicanism and Liberalism have complex relationships to democracy
   and republic.

Constitutional monarchs and upper chambers

   Initially after the American and French revolutions the question was
   open whether a democracy, in order to restrain unchecked majority rule,
   should have an elitist upper chamber, the members perhaps appointed
   meritorious experts or having lifetime tenures, or should have a
   constitutional monarch with limited but real powers. Some countries (as
   Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavian countries and Japan)
   turned powerful monarchs into constitutional monarchs with limited or,
   often gradually, merely symbolic roles. Often the monarchy was
   abolished along with the aristocratic system (as in the U.S., France,
   China, Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Greece and Egypt).
   Many nations had elite upper houses of legislatures which often had
   lifetime tenure, but eventually these senates lost power (as in
   Britain) or else became elective and remained powerful (as in the
   United States).

Democratic state

   Though there remains some philosophical debate as to the applicability
   and legitimacy of criteria in defining democracy what follows may be a
   minimum of requirements for a state to be considered democratic (note
   that for example anarchists may support a form of democracy but not a
   state):
    1. A demos—a group which makes political decisions by some form of
       collective procedure—must exist. Non-members of the demos do not
       participate. In modern democracies the demos is the adult portion
       of the nation, and adult citizenship is usually equivalent to
       membership.
    2. A territory must be present, where the decisions apply, and where
       the demos is resident. In modern democracies, the territory is the
       nation-state, and since this corresponds (in theory) with the
       homeland of the nation, the demos and the reach of the democratic
       process neatly coincide. Colonies of democracies are not considered
       democratic by themselves, if they are governed from the colonial
       motherland: demos and territory do not coincide.
    3. A decision-making procedure exists, which is either direct, in
       instances such as a referendum, or indirect, of which instances
       include the election of a parliament.
    4. The procedure is regarded as legitimate by the demos, implying that
       its outcome will be accepted. Political legitimacy is the
       willingness of the population to accept decisions of the state, its
       government and courts, which go against personal choices or
       interests.
    5. The procedure is effective in the minimal sense that it can be used
       to change the government, assuming there is sufficient support for
       that change. Showcase elections, pre-arranged to re-elect the
       existing regime, are not democratic.
    6. In the case of nation-states, the state must be sovereign:
       democratic elections are pointless if an outside authority can
       overrule the result.

Criticism

   Anarchists oppose "coercive" majority rule, it's a common saying that
   "democracy is a dictatorship of the majority." Many support a
   non-hierarchical and non-coercive system of direct democracy within
   free associations. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon argued that the only
   acceptable form of direct democracy is one in which it is recognized
   that majority decisions are not binding on the minority. The minority
   can refuse to consent and are free to leave and form or join another
   association. There are also some anarchists who expect society to
   operate by consensus.

   Some far right, theocratic, and monarchist groups oppose democracy.

   For criticisms of specific forms of democracy, see the appropriate
   article.

Beyond the state level

   While this article deals mainly with democracy as a system to rule
   countries, voting and representation have been used to govern many
   other kinds of communities and organisations.
     * Many non-governmental organisations decide policy and leadership by
       voting.
     * In business, corporations elect their boards by votes weighed by
       the number of shares held by each owner.
     * Trade unions sometimes choose their leadership through democratic
       elections. In the U.S. democratic elections were rare before
       Congress required them in the 1950s..
     * Cooperatives are enterprises owned and democratically controlled by
       their customers or workers.

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