DemocracY

Democracy describes a system of government in which the power to make important political decisions is given directly to ThePeople? via direct vote. Exactly what "democracy" means depends on what one means by "the People," by "important political decisions," and by "direct vote." Sometimes "democracy" is used more loosely to describe RepubliC?s, as in the phrase "Western democracies," but in careful discussions of PoliticalTheory? this usage is incorrect. Sometimes, in order to distinguish democracies from republics, the term DirectDemocracy? is used. Depending on what, exactly, one means, one can accurately say that there has never been a "true" democracy of any considerable size (but see NoTrueScotsmanFallacy?).

The traditional, and to many still compelling, objection to democracy as a form of government is that it is open to DemagoguerY?. It is (famously) for this reason that the UnitedStates was established, strictly speaking, as a RepubliC? rather than a DemocracY. Thus BenjaminFranklin?'s famous answer, to the question as to what sort of government TheFoundingFathers? had established, was: "A Republic, if you can keep it."

See TechnoDemocracy; RepubliC?.