what is democracy?

Answer 1

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. 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, or civic organizations.

Types of Democracy:
Direct democracy - is a political system where the people vote on all policy decisions, such as questions of whether to approve or reject various laws. It is called direct because the power of making decisions is exercised by the people directly, without intermediaries or representatives. Historically, this form of government has been rare because of the difficulties of getting all the people of a certain territory in one place for the purpose of voting. Criticism is also drawn upon the use of this term for it emphasises the notion of voting, while it neglects other democratic procedures such as speech and press and civic organizations. That is, these critics argue that democracy is more than merely a procedural issue. All direct democracies to date have been relatively small communities; usually city-states. The most notable was the ancient Athenian democracy. Today, a limited direct democracy exists in some Swiss cantons that practice it in its literal form. The extensive use of referenda, as in California, is akin to direct democracy.

Representative democracy - is so named because the people do not vote on most government decisions directly, but select representatives to a governing body or assembly. Representatives may be chosen by the electorate as a whole (as in many proportional systems) or represent a particular subset (usually a geographic district or constituency), with some systems using a combination of the two. Many representative democracies incorporate some elements of direct democracy, such as referenda.

Liberal democracy - is a representative democracy (with free and fair elections) along with 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 for example used plebiscites to ratify his imperial decisions.

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 the head of state, even if these states also are representative democracies with an elected head of government such as a Prime Minister.[

Answer 2

A true democracy lets the people decide and leaves everyone satisfied. Sorta like a utopia. As we all know, that doesn't happen. The United States is a republic and not a democracy. In a republic, majority wins. Still, I think that alot of countries have come close to a true democracy.

Answer 3

Democracy in its raw form, is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for lunch. I think Churchill got it right about democracy when he said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." It could be the best form, as long as it's limited to prevent a tyranny of the majority, or unlimited growth of gov't.

There are many questions to ask about a gov't. What should its duties be? What decisions should be made by gov't, vs. the private (non-gov't) sector? Of those decisons and duties to be performed by gov't, who makes those decisions?

Democracy is primarily concerned with this last question, and its answer is that such decisions should be made by representatives of the people who are themselves decided upon by those people.

Other possibilities include various forms of dictatorship (decision-makers often took power by force and are loathe to give it up), monarchy (decision-makers are a hereditary line), oligarchy (a small group of decision-makers), minarchy (decision-makers have minimal power), anarchy (no gov't decision-makers), meritocracy (decision-makers may be experts in their fields, & are selected [in theory] based on their results), plutocracy or aristocracy (rule by an upper class), theocracy (rule by the religious class), guildocracy (essentially rule by committees of experts in various fields), and a few others.

All these different forms of gov't have their pros and cons, and those pros or cons may be enhanced or negated by other factors such as the structure of a nation's constitution (if it has one), limits on the extent of power gov't can exercise, the degree to which a culture resists or embraces authority, the checks & balances which shield a gov't from corruption, how easy it is to replace gov't rulers (in some democracies like the U.S., elected officials have a >95% re-election rate, making them essentially career politicians), etc.

I did a blog a while back that talked about democracy. You can read the articles here:
On alternative forms of representative government:
Part 1: Democracy's shortcomings
http://delapaz.blogspot.com/2005/12/on-alternative-forms-of-representative.html
Part 2: A more enduring democracy
http://delapaz.blogspot.com/2005/12/on-alternative-forms-of-representative_16.html
Part 3: Safeguarding liberty
http://delapaz.blogspot.com/2006/01/on-alternative-forms-of-representative.html

Answer 4

Political definition always differs from society to society in relationship with their culture and values they have adopted. the democracy to which we are subjected means rule of handfull of few rich and rude people who are not at all concerned with the problems of the general public, and who use the government machinery for their self interest and amassing wealth, and when the innocent public are forced to die at the hands of extremists and terrorists, these so called politicians moving around under so many rings of securities who are paid by the revenue generated by the general public! THIS IS INDIAN DEMOCRACY!

Answer 5

Democracy is the willing of the people of any country. Democracy (literally "rule by the people", from the Greek demos, "people," and kratos, "rule")

But bush still do not understand that concept.

Answer 6

Democracy is a
power for the people, of the people and by the people..........

means mass can elect their own leader , it's not like monarchy , only King's child can rule over the country . and mass don't have any right to select their own king .

Answer 7

Democracy is a political system which has many different meanings and can take different forms. It is often incorrectly used as a synonym for capitalism. Fundamentally, it means a government of, by and for the people.a form of government in which people hold the power, either by voting for measures directly or by voting for representatives who vote for them.

Answer 8

government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

Answer 9

Churchill: it's not the best form of human community but nobody knows a better one!

Answer 10

Majority rules.