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The word "democracy" has acquired a highly positive connotation over the second half of the 20th century, to such an extent that even widely acknowledged dictators regularly declare their support for "democracy" and often hold pre-arranged show elections. Nearly all of the world's governments claim to be democratic. Most contemporary political ideologies include at least nominal support for some kind of democracy, no matter what they do support. Kinds of democracy Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy, is a political system where the people vote on government decisions, such as questions of whether to approve or reject various laws. It is called direct because the power of making decisions is exercized by the people directly, without intermediaries or representatives. Historically, this form of government has been rare, due to the difficulties of getting all the people of a certain territory in one place for the purpose of voting. All direct democracies to date have been relatively small communities; usually city-states. The most notable of these was ancient Athens: see Athenian democracy. In recent times, advances in communications technology (such as the Internet) have made it feasible to hold popular votes without getting all the people in one place. However, this has not led to the creation of any new direct democracies as of yet. Representative democracy is a political system where the people vote on government members, who are then expected to make decisions in accordance with the interests of their voters. It is called representative because the people do not vote on government decisions directly, but elect representatives to decide for them. This form of government has been increasingly common in recent times, and the number of representative democracies experienced such explosive growth during the 20th century so that the majority of the world's population now lives under representative democratic regimes (which are sometimes also referred to as "republics"). In turn, representative democracies may be subdivided into "liberal" and "illiberal" forms. Liberal democracy is a type of representative democracy where the ruling government is subject to rule of law and separation of powers, while the people are guaranteed certain inviolable rights. Illiberal democracy is a type of representative democracy where there are no effective limits on the power of elected representatives to rule as they please. History of democracy The earliest forms of democracy were used by republics in ancient India, which were established sometime before the 6th century BC, and prior to the birth of Buddha. [2] These republics were known as Maha Janapadas, and among these states, Vaishali, in what is now Bihar, India, was the world's first republic. 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. The term "democracy" in the original word in Ancient Greek - was coined in ancient Athens in the 5th century BC. Athenian democracy is generally seen as one of the earliest examples of a system corresponding to some of the modern notions of democratic rule. Only a sixth or a quarter of the whole adult male population of Athens could vote; but this was a bar of nationality, like the present German franchise, not of economic status: however poor they were, all Athenian citizens were free to vote and speak in the Assembly. Ancient Athenian citizens made decisions directly, rather than voting for representatives. This form of democracy that was present in Athens is known as direct democracy (or pure democracy). Over time, the meaning of "democracy" has changed, and the modern definition has largely evolved since the 18th century, alongside the successive introduction of "democratic" systems in many nations. Freedom House argues that there was not a single liberal democracy with universal suffrage in the world in 1900, but that in 2000 120 of the world's 192 nations, or 62% were such democracies. They count 25 nations, or 19% of the world's nations with "restricted democratic practices" in 1900 and 16, or 8% of the world's nations today. They counted 19 constitutional monarchies in 1900, forming 14% of the world's nations, where a constitution limited the powers of the monarch, and with some power devolved to elected legislatures, and none in the present. Other nations had, and have, various forms of non-democratic rule. Their evaluations are, like most in this field, disputable: for example, New Zealand enacted universal suffrage in 1893 (there is some room for quibbling about certain restrictions on the Maori vote). Freedom House omits this on the ground that New Zealand was not fully sovereign. Some states have changed their regimes after 2000, for example Nepal which has become a non-democracy after the government assumed emergency powers because of defeats in the Nepalese civil war. Essential elements of a democracy Though there remains some philosophical debate as to the applicability and legitimacy of criteria in defining democracy (see philosopher Charles Blattberg, From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics: Putting Practice First, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, ch. 5. ISBN 0-19-829688-6) what follows is a generally-accepted minimal set of requirements for a decision-making body to be considered democratic: That there is a demos, a group which makes political decisions by some form of collective procedure. Non-members of the demos do not participate. In modern democracies the demos is the adult portion of the nation, and adult citizenship is usually equivalent to membership. That there is a territory where the decisions apply, and where the demos is resident. In modern democracies, the territory is the nation-state, and since this corresponds (in theory) with the homeland of the nation, the demos and the reach of the democratic process neatly coincide. Colonies of democracies are not considered democratic by themselves, if they are governed from the colonial motherland: demos and territory do not coincide. That there is a decision-making procedure, which is either direct, in instances such as a referendum, or indirect, of which instances include the election of a parliament. That the procedure is regarded as legitimate by the demos, implying that its outcome will be accepted. Political legitimacy is the willingness of the population to accept decisions of the state, its government and courts, which go against personal choices or interests. It is especially relevant for democracies, since elections have both winners and losers. That the procedure is effective in the minimal sense that it can be used to change the government, assuming there is sufficient support for that change. Showcase elections, pre-arranged to re-elect the existing regime, are not democratic. That, in the case of nation-states, the state must be sovereign: democratic elections are pointless if an outside authority can overrule the result. |
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