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Democracy is a system of government in which the power to make important political decisions rests ultimately with the people. To use a famous phrase, democracy is "government by the people, for the people". Democracy is opposed to forms of dictatorship? or totalitarianism, in which the power resides in a self-appointed elite. |
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Democracy is a system of government in which the power to make important political decisions rests ultimately with the people. To use a famous phrase, democracy is "government of the people, by the people, for the people". Democracy is opposed to forms of dictatorship? or totalitarianism, in which the power resides in a self-appointed elite. |
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Other important issues in democracy include exactly who are "the People", i.e. who ought to be entitled to vote; how to protect the rights of minorities from the "tyranny of the majority"; and which system should be used for the election or representatives or other officials. |
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Other important issues in democracy include exactly who are "the People", i.e. who ought to be entitled to vote; how to protect the rights of minorities from the "tyranny of the majority"; and which system should be used for the election of representatives or other officials. |
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There is another definition of democracy from that given above, though it is less commonly used. According to this definition, the word "democracy" refers solely to direct democracy, whilst a representative democracy is referred to as a "republic". The United States' system, which is not a direct democracy, of government is reffered to, aside from a democracy, as a "democratic-republic." |
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There is another definition of democracy from that given above, though it is less commonly used. According to this definition, the word "democracy" refers solely to direct democracy, whilst a representative democracy is referred to as a "republic". Using this definition, the United States' system of government is referred to as a "democratic-republic," rather than a democracy. |
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The earliest origins of this definition can be found in the work of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle distinguished in his Politics between six systems of government, depending on whether rule was by the one, the few or the many, and whether this rule was just or unjust. He called an unjust system of rule by the many demokratia (democracy), and a just system of rule by the many a politeia, most commonly translated republic (from the Latin res publica, 'public thing'). Aristotle's demokratia was closer to what today we would call direct democracy, and politeia closer to what we could a representative democracy, though even a demokratia still had elected offices. A particularly interesting feature of Aristotle's demokratia is the choosing of public officials by lot, a technique common among Greek city-states, though not endorsed by Aristotle and mostly unknown in any modern political system. (Although in some countries with [first past the post election]? systems, in the highly unlikely case of two candidates for a seat recieving exactly the same number of votes, the seat is decided by flipping a coin.) |
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The earliest origins of this definition can be found in the work of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle distinguished in his Politics between six systems of government, depending on whether rule was by the one, the few or the many, and whether this rule was just or unjust. He called an unjust system of rule by the many demokratia (democracy), and a just system of rule by the many a politeia, most commonly translated republic (from the Latin res publica, 'public thing'). Aristotle's demokratia was closer to what today we would call direct democracy, and politeia closer to what we could a representative democracy, though even a demokratia still had elected offices. A particularly interesting feature of Aristotle's demokratia is the choosing of public officials by lot, a technique common among Greek city-states, though not endorsed by Aristotle and mostly unknown in any modern political system. (Although in some countries with [first past the post election]? systems, in the highly unlikely case of two candidates for a seat receiving exactly the same number of votes, the seat is decided by flipping a coin.) |
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Today, in most democracies, the right to vote is granted without discrimination on race, ethnicity, class or gender. However, the right to vote is still not universal. It is restricted to persons who have attained a certain age, most commonly 18 (although in some places it can be as high as 21). Only citizens of a country can normally vote in its elections, though some countries make exceptions for citizens of other countries they have close links to (e.g. some members of the Commonwealth, and the members of the European Union). |
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Today, in most democracies, the right to vote is granted without discrimination with regard to race, ethnicity, class or gender. However, the right to vote is still not universal. It is restricted to persons who have attained a certain age, most commonly 18 (although in some places it can be as high as 21). Only citizens of a country can normally vote in its elections, though some countries make exceptions for citizens of other countries they have close links to (e.g. some members of the Commonwealth, and the members of the European Union). |
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