Democratic

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Democracy describes small number of related List of forms of government. The fundamental feature is competitive elections. Competitive elections are usually seen to require freedom of speech (especially in political affairs), freedom of the press, and some degree of rule of law. Civilian control of the military is often seen as necessary to prevent military dictatorship and interference with political affairs.

Majority rule is a major principle of democracy, though many democratic systems do not adhere to this strictly - representative democracy is more common than direct democracy, and minority rights are often protected from what is sometimes called "the tyranny of the majority". Popular sovereignty is common but not universal motivating philosophy for establishing a democracy.

There is not a universally accepted definition of "democracy", especially with regard to the elements in a society which are required for it. Liberty and justice for some at The Economist Many people use the term "democracy" as shorthand for liberal democracy, which may include additional elements such as political pluralism, equality before the law, the right to petition elected officials for redress of grievances, due process, civil liberties, human rights, and elements of civil society outside the government. In the United States, separation of powers is often cited as a supporting attribute, but in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the dominant philosophy is parliamentary sovereignty (though in practice judicial independence is generally maintained). In other cases, "democracy" is used to mean direct democracy.

Though the term "democracy" is typically used in the context of a political state, the principles are also applicable to private organizations and other groups.

Democracy has its origins in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, South Asia, Europe and North and South America and in modern times has spread considerably. Suffrage has been expanded in many jurisdictions over time from relatively narrow groups (such as wealthy men of a particular ethnic group), but still remains a controversial issue with regard disputed territories, areas with significant immigration, and countries that exclude certain demographic groups.

As of 2007, almost all countries in the world self-identify as democracies, but many of these are considered by various parties to be undemocratic due to a lack of political freedom or elections which are seen to be flawed. Classification schemes include the Freedom House rankings, the Polity data series, and The Economist's Democracy Index.

Etymology The word democracy derives from the ancient Greek demokratia (δημοκρατία), formed from the roots demos (δημος), "people," Democracy:Britannica Student Encyclopedia "the mob, the many"Inoguchi, Takashi, Edward Newman, JohnKeane (1998). The Changing Nature of Democracy Page 255. United Nations University Press, and kratos (κρατος) "rule" or "power". Democracy:Britannica Student Encyclopedia

Forms of democracy Representative Representative democracy involves the selection of government officials by the people being represented. The most common mechanisms involve election of the candidate with a majority or a plurality of the votes. Representatives may be elected by a particular district (or constituency), or represent the entire electorate proportionally Proportional representation systems, with some using a combination of the two. Some representative democracies also incorporate elements of direct democracy, such as referendums. A characteristic of representative democracy is that while the representatives are elected by the people to act in their interest, they retain the freedom to exercise their own judgment as how best to do so.

Parliamentary democracy Parliamentary democracy where government is appointed by parliamentary representatives as opposed to a 'presidential rule' by decree dictatorship. Under a parliamentary democracy government is exercised by delegation to an executive ministry and subject to ongoing review, checks and balances by the legislative parliament elected by the people.-->

Keen, Benjamin, A History of Latin America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.Kuykendall, Ralph, Hawaii: A History. New York: Prentice Hall, 1948.Mahan, Alfred Thayer, "The United States Looking Outward," in The Interest of America in Sea Power. New York: Harper & Bros., 1897.Brown, Charles H., The Correspondents' War. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1967. Taussig, Capt. J. K., "Experiences during the Boxer Rebellion," in Quarterdeck and Fo'c'sle. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1963Hegemony Or Survival, Noam Chomsky Black Rose Books ISBN 0-8050-7400-7Deterring Democracy, Noam Chomsky Black Rose Books ISBN 0374523495Class Warfare, Noam Chomsky Black Rose Books ISBN 1-5675-1092-2

Liberal democracy Liberal democracy is a representative democracy in which the ability of the elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law, and usually moderated by a constitution that emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals, and which places constraints on the leaders and on the extent to which the will of the majority can be exercised against the rights of minorities (see civil liberties).

Direct Democracy Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens participate in the decision making personally, contrary to relying on intermediaries or representatives. The supporters of direct democracy argue that democracy is more than merely a procedural issue (i.e voting). Most direct democracies to date have been weak forms, relatively small communities, usually city-states. However, some see the extensive use of referendums, as in California, as akin to direct democracy in a very large polity with more than 20 million in California, 1898-1998 (2000) (ISBN 0-8047-3821-1). In Switzerland, 5 million voters decide on national referendums and initiatives two to four times a year; direct democratic instruments are also well established at the cantonal and communal level.

Socialist Democracy Socialism has several different views on democracy. Social democracy, democratic socialism, and the dictatorship of the proletariat (usually exercised though Soviet democracy) are some examples. Many democratic socialists and social democrats believe in a form of participatory democracy and workplace democracy combined with a representative democracy. Marxists, Leninism and Trotskyism believe in direct democracy though a system of commune (intentional community) (which are sometimes called Soviet (council)).

Anarchist Democracy The only form of democracy considered acceptable to anarchists is direct democracy. Some Anarchism oppose direct democracy while others favour it. 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, even when unanimous.Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. General Idea of the Revolution See also commentary by Robert Graham. The General Idea of Proudhon's Revolution However, anarcho-communist Murray Bookchin criticized individualist anarchists for opposing democracy,Bookchin, Murray. Communalism: The Democratic Dimensions of Social Anarchism. Anarchism, Marxism and the Future of the Left: Interviews and Essays, 1993-1998, AK Press 1999, p. 155 and says "majority rule" is consistent with anarchism.Bookchin, Murray. Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable ChasmSome anarcho-communists oppose the majoritarian nature of direct democracy, feeling that it can impede individual liberty and opt in favour of a non-majoritarian form of consensus democracy, similar to Proudhon's position on direct democracy.Graeber, David and Grubacic, Andrej. Anarchism, Or The Revolutionary Movement Of The Twenty-first Century

Tribal Democracy Certain tribes such as the Bushmen and the Iroquois organized themselves using different forms of participatory democracy or consensus democracy. gunit

Consensus Democracy Consensus democracy and deliberative democracy seek consensus among the people.Amy Gutmann & Dennis Thompson, Why Deliberative Democracy?. 2004, Princeton UniversityPress. ISBN 0691120196

Sortition Sometimes called "democracy without elections", sortition is the process of choosing decision makers via a random process. The intention is that those chosen will be representative of the opinions and interests of the people at large, and be more fair and impartial than an elected official. The technique was used in Athenian Democracy and is still used in modern jury selection. It is not universally agreed that sortition should be considered "democracy" due to the lack of actual elections.

History . It shows the de jure status of democracy in the world.

's survey Freedom in the World 2007, which reports the state of world freedom in 2006. It is one of the most widely used measures of democracy by researchers. Note that although these measures (another is the Polity data described below) are highly correlated, this does not imply interchangeability.Casper, Gretchen, and Claudiu Tufis. 2003. "Correlation Versus Interchangeability: the Limited Robustness of Empirical Finding on Democracy Using Highly Correlated Data Sets." Political Analysis 11: 196-203

Freedom House considers these to be liberal democracies.

's evaluation of the number of nations in the different categories given above for the period for which there are surveys, 1972-2005

-2003 scoring 8 or higher on Polity IV scale, another widely used measure of democracy.

by The Economist. This map shows the Democracy Index as published in January, 2007. The palest blue countries get a score above 9.5 out of 10 (with Sweden being the most democratic country at 9.88), while the black countries score below 2 (with North Korea being the least democratic at 1.03).

Ancient origins The concept of democracy first appeared in Ancient Greece political and philosophical thought. The philosopher Plato contrasted democracy, the system of "rule by the governed", with the alternative systems of monarchy (rule by one individual), oligarchy (rule by a small élite class) and timarchy (rule by one race or nationality over another). Political Analysis in Plato's Republic at the Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyAlthough 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,Aristotle Book 6 and secondarily the assembly of all the citizens. 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. Most of the officers and magistrates of Athenian government were allotted; only the generals (strategoi) and a few other officers were elected. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml

One of the earliest instances of civilizations with democracy, or sometimes disputed as oligarchy, was found in the republics of Kingdoms of Ancient India, which were established sometime before the 6th century BC, and prior to the birth of Gautama Buddha. These republics were known as Mahajanapadas, and among these states, Vaishali (ancient city) (in what is now Bihar, India) would be the world's first republic. The democratic Sangha, Gana and Panchayat systems were used in some of these republics; the Panchayat system is still used today in Indian villages. Later during the time of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, the Greeks wrote about the Sabarcae and Sambastai states in what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose "form of government was democratic and not regal" according to Greek scholars at the time. Democracy in Ancient India. Steve Muhlberger, Associate Professor of History, Nipissing University. The Republic of India is currently the largest democracy in the world. Time-India Awakens

The Roman Republic had elections but again women, slaves, and the large foreign population were excluded. The votes of the wealthy were given more weight and almost all high officials come from a few noble families.

Democracy was also seen to a certain extent in band society 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 choose 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. Band societies, such as the bushmen, which usually number 20-50 people in the band often do not have leaders and make decisions based on consensus among the majority.

Middle Ages During the Middle Ages, there were various systems involving elections or assemblies, although often only involving a minority of the population, such as the election of Gopala (Pala king) in Bengal, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Althing in Iceland, certain medieval Italy city-states such as Venice, the tuatha system in early medieval Ireland, the Veche in Slavic peoples countries, Scandinavian Thing (assembly), The States in Tyrol and Switzerland and the autonomous merchant city of Sakai, Osaka in the 16th century in Japan. However, participation was often restricted to a minority, and so may be better classified as oligarchy. Most regions during the middle-ages were ruled by clergy or feudal lords.

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 largely a figurehead.

18th and 19th centuries Although not described as a democracy by the founding fathers, the United States has been described as the first liberal democracy on the basis that its founders shared a commitment to the principle of natural freedom and equality.Jacqueline Newmyer, "Present from the start: John Adams and America", Oxonian Review of Books, 2005, vol 4 issue 2 The United States Constitution, adopted in 1788, provided for an elected government and protected civil rights and liberties. However, in the colonial period before 1776, only adult white male property owners could vote; enslaved Africans, free black people and women were not extended the franchise. On the Frontier Thesis, democracy became a way of life, with widespread social, economic and political equality.Ray Allen Billington, America's Frontier Heritage (1974) 117-158. ISBN 0826303102 However the frontier did not produce much democracy in Canada, Australia or Russia. By the 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 system gradually evolved, from Jeffersonian Democracy to Jacksonian Democracy and beyond. In Reconstruction after the Civil War (late 1860s) the newly freed slaves became citizens with (in the case of men) the right to vote.

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 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 empire and Austria-Hungary empires resulted in the creation of new nation-states in Europe, most of them nominally democratic. In the 1920s democracy flourished, but the Great Depression brought disenchantment, and most of the countries of Europe, Latin America, and Asia turned to strong-man rule or dictatorships. Fascism and dictatorships flourished in Nazi Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as nondemocratic regimes in 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 democratization of the Allied Control Council, Austria, Italy, and the occupied Japan served as a model for the later theory of regime change. However, most of Eastern Europe, including the German Democratic Republic was forced into the non-democratic Soviet bloc. The war was followed by decolonization, and again most of the new independent states had nominally democratic constitutions. In the decades following World War II, most western democratic nations had mixed 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 communism 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.)

A subsequent wave of democratization brought substantial gains toward true liberal democracy for many nations. Spanish democratic transition, Portuguese transition to democracy (1974), and several of the military dictatorships in South America returned to civilian rule in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Argentine transition to democracy, History of Bolivia, History of Uruguay, History of Brazil (1985–present), and Chilean transition to democracy). This was followed by nations in East Asia and South Asia by the mid- to late 1980s. Economic malaise in the 1980s, along with resentment of communist oppression, contributed to the History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991), the associated end of the Cold War, and the democratization and liberalization 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 of attempts of liberalization include the Indonesian Revolution of 1998, the 5th October Overthrow in Yugoslavia, the Rose Revolution in Georgia (country), 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 . Currently, there are 121 countries that are democratic, and the trend is increasing (up from 40 in 1972). 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 "The End of History and the Last Man" controversial theory. These theories are criticized by those who fear an evolution of liberal democracies to Post-democracy, and other who points out the high number of illiberal democracies.

Theory Aristotle Aristotle contrasted rule by the many (democracy/polity), with rule by the few (oligarchy/aristocracy), and with rule by a single person (tyranny/monarchy or today autocracy). He also thought that there was a good and a bad variant of each system (he considered democracy to be the degenerate counterpart to polity). .

Conceptions Among political theorists, there are many contending conceptions of democracy.

Aggregative democracy uses democratic processes to solicit citizens’ preferences and then aggregate them together to determine what social policies society should adopt. Therefore, proponents of this view hold that democratic participation should primarily focus on voting, where the policy with the most votes gets implemented. There are different variants of this:

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, for example, on most issues, most of the time, they have no clear views or their views are not well-founded. Joseph Schumpeter articulated this view most famously in his book Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy.Joseph Schumpeter, (1950). Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-133008-6. Contemporary proponents of minimalism include William H. Riker, Adam Przeworski, Richard Posner.
Direct democracy, on the other hand, 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.
Governments will tend to 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. This is not actually a desirable outcome as it represents the action of self-interested and somewhat unaccountable political elites competing for votes. Downs suggests that ideological political parties are necessary to act as a mediating broker between individaul and governments.Anthony Downs laid out this view in his 1957 book An Economic Theory of Democracy.Anthony Downs, (1957). An Economic Theory of Democracy. Harpercollins College. ISBN 0-06-041750-1.
Robert A. Dahl argues that the fundamental democratic principle is that, when it comes to binding collective decisions, each person in a political community is entitled to have his/her interests be given equal consideration (not necessarily that all people are equally satisfied by the collective decision). He uses the term polyarchy to refer to societies in which there exists a certain set of institutions and procedures which are perceived as leading to such democracy. 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. However, these polyarchic procedures may not create a full democracy if, for example, poverty prevents political participation.Robert A. Dahl, (1989). Democracy and its Critics. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300049382 Some see a problem with the wealthy having more influence and therefore argue for reforms like campaign finance reform. Some 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 or for making it more patient (non-compulsory) by simply refusing power to the government until the full majority feels inclined to speak their minds.

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.
Radical democracy is based on the idea that there are hierarchical and oppressive power relations that exist in society. Democracy's role is to make visible and challenge those relations by allowing for difference, dissent and antagonisms in decision making processes.

"Democracy" and "Republic" In 18th century historical usages, especially when considering the works of the Founding Fathers of the United States, the word "democracy" was associated with radical egalitarianism and was often defined to mean what we today call direct democracy. In the same historical context, the word "republic" was used to refer to what we now call representative democracy.Dahl, Robert A. A Preface to Democratic Theory University of Chicago Press (1956), P.10 For example, James Madison, in Federalist Papers, advocates a constitutional republic over a democracy to protect the individual from the majority.James Madison, (November 22, 1787). "s:The Federalist Papers/No. 10", Daily Advertiser. New York. Republished by Wikisource. Madison was seeking to distinguish between a direct democracy and a representative democracy, but his choice to do so using the words "democracy" and "republic" had no basis in prior usage of the words. Dahl, Robert A. On Democracy, P.16-17

In contemporary western usage, the term "democracy" usually 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. Therefore, today the term is used by states which are quite different from the earlier use of the term, such as the former German Democratic Republic and the USSR.

Note that the US Constitution states that the power comes from the people "We the people..." However, some argue that unlike a direct democracy, in a constitutional republic, citizens in the US are not governed by the majority of the people but by the rule of law.Levinson, Sanford. Constitutional Faith. Princeton University Press, 1989, p. 60 ISBN 0691023212 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. Thomas Jefferson stated that majority rights cannot exist if individual rights do not.Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:455, Papers 15:393 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 or government having power to deny any inalienable right.Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1797. ME 9:422 Moreover, 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."

The original framers of the United States Constitution were notably wikt:cognizant of what they perceived as a danger of majority rule in oppressing freedom and liberty of the individual. 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. Inalienable rights refers to a set of human rights that are not awarded by human power, and cannot be surrendered.Declaration of US Independence http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html> The Constitution of the United States was written to protect the inalienable rights of citizens from potential excesses of government, even if taken by majority rule. Inalienable rights are not granted by government, but by nature.Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME 15:441

Republicanism and Liberalism have complex relationships to democracy and republic. See these articles for more details.

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 powe rful (as in the United States).

Criticisms of Democracy Modern criticism of democracy comes mainly from theocratics, communists, fascists, monarchists, libertarians, classical-liberals, traditional conservatives and anarchists. For debates on specific forms of democracy, see the appropriate article, such as Liberal democracy, Direct democracy, Polyarchy, Sortition, etc.

Plato criticized direct democracy by claiming that the people would be swayed by emotional and deceptive rhethoric, as the people in Athens had supported the disastrous Peloponnesian War, condoned atrocities and breaches of the law, and were responsible for the execution of Socrates.

Fiduciary Control

International equity expert Professor Paul Finn has underlined, “the most fundamental fiduciary relationship in our society is manifestly that which exists between the community (the people) and the state, its agencies and officials. "

Many suggest the basic problem of stopping Human Rights violations and political negligence stems from the lack of understanding by media and politicians on the laws of fiduciary control. In equity fiduciary control suggests obligations that not only comprise of duties of good faith and loyalty, but also include duties of skill and competence in managing the people's interests. After all, Government is a trust structure created by people to manage certain services within society with the politicians depended on by the people to do that task. Therefore the relationship between government (and it's politicians) and the governed is clearly a fiduciary one.

Rules such as Sovereign Immunity and Crown and Judicial Immunity are now being targeted as the very the tools of oppression that are preventing victims from taking action against the people controlling the country who are causing the failure of care. (Originating from within the Courts of Equity, the fiduciary concept was partly designed to prevent those holding positions of power from abusing their authority.)

In pursuit of a more true and fair democracy this new thinking suggests anyone accepting any political or government control over the interests of people should be judged by the most exacting fiduciary standards given politicians (and judges) are the most important fiduciaries in any society given they hold power over the people with power that comes from the people through elections. The fiduciary relationship arises from the government and it's politicians ability to control people with the exercise of that power. In effect the argument is, if politicians have the power to abolish or ignore any rights they should be burdened with the fiduciary duty to protect people's rights because the government (or others engaging politicians on their behalf) would benefit from the exercise of discretion to extinguish rights which it alone had the power to dispose of.

Arguments for democracy Empirical research shows that more democratic nations have little democide.Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder in the Twentieth Century, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1994:, rarely or never make war on one another,Never at War. Spencer R. Weart. Yale University Press 2000 and have few civil wars. See Democratic peace theory.

Poor democracies have better education, longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality, access to drinking water, and better health care than poor dictatorships. This is not due to higher levels of foreign assistance or spending a larger percentage of GDP on health and education. Instead, the available resources are managed better. Democracies do not have large scale famines.Amartya Sen, (1999). "Democracy as a Universal Value". Journal of Democracy, 10.3, 3–17. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Refugee crises almost always occur in nondemocracies. Looking at the volume of refugee flows for the last twenty years, the first eighty-seven cases occurred in autocracies. Political institutions are extremely important in determining the prevalence of Political corruption: democracy, parliamentary systems, political stability, and freedom of the press are all associated with lower corruption.Daniel Lederman, Normal Loaza, Rodrigo Res Soares, (November 2001). "Accountability and Corruption: Political Institutions Matter". World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2708. SSRN 632777. Accessed February 19, 2006. Democracies are more likely to win wars than non-democracies. Democracies are more often associated with a higher average self-reported happiness in a nation. R.J. Rummel, (2006). Happiness—This Utilitarian Argument For Freedom Is True. Accessed February 22, 2006.

Regarding the claim that nondemocracies have higher growth, this only applies to East Asia. If leaving out East Asia, then during the last forty-five years poor democracies have grown their economies 50% more rapidly than nondemocracies. Poor democracies such as Botswana, Costa Rica, Ghana, and Senegal have grown more rapidly than nondemocracies such as Angola, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe. A recent meta-analysis finds that democracy has no direct effect on economic growth. However, it has a strong and significant indirect effects which contribute to growth. Democracy is associated with higher human capital accumulation, lower inflation, lower political instability, and higher Index of Economic Freedom. There is also some evidence that it is associated with larger governments and more restrictions on international trade.

Supranational democracy Qualified majority voting (QMV) is designed by the Treaty of Rome to be the principal method of reaching decisions in the European Council of Ministers. This system allocates votes to member states in part according to their population, but heavily weighted in favour of the smaller states. This might be seen as a form of representative democracy, but representatives to the Council might be appointed rather than directly elected. Some might consider the "individuals" being democratically represented to be states rather than people, as with many other international organizations.

European Parliament members are democratically directly elected on the basis of universal suffrage, may be seen as an example of a supranational democratic institution.

Non-Government Democracy Aside from the public sphere, similar democratic principles and mechanisms of voting and representation have been used to govern other kinds of communities and organizations.

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.
Most trade unions choose their leadership through democratic elections.
Cooperatives are enterprises owned and democratically controlled by their customers or workers.

Quotes

When the people fear the government, there is Tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is Liberty.

:-Thomas Jefferson

Democracy is a system ensuring that the people are governed no better than they deserve.

:-George Bernard Shaw

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

:-Abraham Lincoln

The strongest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.

:-Sir Winston Churchill

Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried.

:-Sir Winston Churchill

More democracy means more freedom.

:-Fareed Zakaria

See also

Representative democracy
Direct democracy
Participatory democracy
Deliberative democracy
Democratic Peace Theory
List of types of democracy
Poll
Media democracy
Islamic democracy
Sociocracy
Democraticization
Majority rule
Freedom deficit
Bhutanese democracy - an emerging democracy
Nancy Loehr

Notes Further reading

Appleby, Joyce, Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination (1992)
Becker, Peter, Juergen Heideking and James A. Henretta, eds. Republicanism and Liberalism in America and the German States, 1750-1850. Cambridge University Press. 2002.
Benhabib, Seyla, ed., Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political (Princeton University Press, 1996)
Charles Blattberg, From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics: Putting Practice First, Oxford University Press, 2000, ch. 5. ISBN 0-19-829688-6
Birch, Anthony H., The Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy, (London: Routledge, 1993)
Castiglione, Dario. "Republicanism and its Legacy," European Journal of Political Theory (2005) v 4 #4 pp 453-65. online version
Copp, David, Jean Hampton, and John E. Roemer, eds. The Idea of Democracy Cambridge University Press (1993)
Caputo, Nicholas America's Bible of Democracy, SterlingHouse Publisher, Inc. (ISBN 1-58501-092-8)
Dahl, Robert A. Democracy and its Critics, Yale University Press (1989)
Dahl, Robert A. On Democracy Yale University Press (2000)
Dahl, Robert A. Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub, eds, The Democracy Sourcebook MIT Press (2003)
Dahl, Robert A. A Preface to Democratic Theory, University of Chicago Press (1956)
Davenport, Christian. State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace Cambridge University Press (2007)
Diamond, Larry and Marc Plattner, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, 2nd edition Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996
Diamond, Larry and Richard Gunther, eds. Political Parties and Democracy (2001)
Diamond, Larry and Leonardo Morlino, eds. Assessing the Quality of Democracy (2005)
Diamond, Larry, Marc F. Plattner, and Philip J. Costopoulos, eds. World Religions and Democracy (2005)
Diamond, Larry, Marc F. Plattner, and Daniel Brumberg, eds. Islam and Democracy in the Middle East (2003)
Elster, Jon (ed.). Deliberative Democracy Cambridge University Press (1997)
Takis Fotopoulos, " Liberal and Socialist “Democracies” versus Inclusive Democracy", The International Journal Of Inclusive Democracy, Vol.2 No.2 (January 2006)
Takis Fotopoulos, "Direct and Economic Democracy in Ancient Athens and its Significance Today", Democracy & Nature, Vol.1 No.1 (Issue 1), 1992
Gabardi, Wayne. "Contemporary Models of Democracy," Polity 33#4 (2001) pp 547+.
Griswold, Daniel, Trade, Democracy and Peace: The Virtuous Cycle
Mogens Herman Hansenn, The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991)
Held, David. Models of Democracy Stanford University Press, (1996), reviews the major interpretations
Inglehart, Ronald. Modernization and Postmodernization. Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies Princeton University Press. 1997.
Khan, L. Ali, A Theory of Universal Democracy. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers(2003)
Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of Democracy. Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries Yale University Press (1999)
Lipset, Seymour Martin. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy”, American Political Science Review, (1959) 53 (1): 69-105. online at JSTOR
Macpherson, C. B. The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy. Oxford University Press (1977)
Morgan, Edmund. Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America (1989)
Plattner, Marc F. and Aleksander Smolar, eds. Globalization, Power, and Democracy (2000)
Plattner, Marc F. and João Carlos Espada, eds. The Democratic Invention (2000)
Putnam, Robert. Making Democracy Work Princeton University Press. (1993)
Raaflaub, Kurt A.; Ober, Josiah; Wallace, Robert W. Origins of democracy in ancient Greece. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 0520245628).
William H. Riker, The Theory of Political Coalitions (1962)

Sen, Amartya K. “Democracy as a Universal Value”, Journal of Democracy (1999) 10 (3): 3-17.

Weingast, Barry. “The Political Foundations of the Rule of Law and Democracy”, American Political Science Review, (1997) 91 (2): 245-263. online at JSTOR

Whitehead, Laurence ed. Emerging Market Democracies: East Asia and Latin America (2002)

Wood, E.M., Democracy Against Capitalism, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)

Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1993), examines democratic dimensions of republicanism

External links

Mission: The Struggle to Spread Democracy by America Abroad Radio
Interactive Democracy - notes on improving democracy with technology.
Program To Defend Democracy at Tel Aviv University
Journal of Democracy
Democracy at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Democracy
Democracy Watch (International) — Worldwide democracy monitoring organization.
The Case Against Democracy
IFES — supporting the building of democratic societies around the world
Democracy at large magazine — a quarterly magazine designed for professionals interested in democracy development worldwide
dgGovernance — Collection of resources on key issues of democracy and nation-building
the site of the Association for the School of Democracy a university-level research and training pluri- and transdisciplinary school of democracy
"Islam and the Challenge of Democracy" by UCLA law professor Khaled Abou El Fadl in the April/May 2003 issue of Boston Review
New York Times argument against the "Development fi

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