DEMOCRACY

Origins of democracy

The concept of democracy has a wide and varied meaning. Essentially, a democratic country is one in which the people take some part in deciding who will form the government, and where people (who have chosen to become politicians) can play a part in that government. It is important to remember that democracy has no single definition and can appear in a number of different forms. Different cultural groups, too, will have different attitudes to democracy.

A democratic system is one in which elections are held by secret ballot, and the people can freely choose to vote in the way they think fit, without the risk of intimidation or violence. In an ideal system, the electorate would turn out in high numbers to cast their votes in the particular area and election in which they are voting.

Most Western countries are liberal democracies, where the rights of individuals are stressed and participation by all is encouraged. This has become the dominant form of democracy since the Second World War, but it is linked into other forms of democracy. Most democratic societies use a combination of different forms of democracy. In the UK, we often come across the term ‘parliamentary democracy', as Parliament is democratically elected and governs by the will of the people.

Direct democracy is the original form of democracy, first practised in ancient Greece. It involved people making all their own decisions directly. As populations grew, however, the system of direct democracy was not considered viable.

Representative democracy, in which people choose, or elect, representatives to make decisions on their behalf, has evolved in the place of direct democracy. It is now the most common system worldwide, although elements of direct democracy continue to be used in some democratic countries. The most obvious way in which direct democracy continues to be used is in the holding of referendums.


Is ‘totalitarian democracy’ democratic?

Another form of ‘democracy’ is ‘totalitarian democracy’. This label is sometimes used to describe a country where the people are represented by a single individual or an elite group. The people do not vote in open and accountable elections, but the leadership claims to be acting on behalf of the people.

The main way to check whether a country is democratic is to decide whether it is pluralist. Pluralism is the most modern conception of democracy and involves people being represented by groups in which they are members. These groups all have the ability to compete with each other inside the political system. Therefore, no single elite group has ultimate power. Instead, power is dispersed among all the groups, with some being more influential than others.