DEMOCRACY
Etymology of Democracy
• From Middle French democratie (French démocratie),
from Medieval Latin democratia, from Ancient
Greek δημοκρατία (dēmokratía).
Surface analysis: demo- (“people”) + -cracy (“rule”)
• democracy (Greek for 'power of the people')
HISTORY
• A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making
within an institution or organization or a country, in which all
members have an equal share of power.
• Democracy is generally associated with the efforts of the ancient
Greeks and Romans, who were themselves considered the founders
of Western civilization by the 18th century intellectuals who
attempted to leverage these early democratic experiments into a
new template for post-monarchical political organization.
• Modern representative democracies attempt to bridge the
gulf between the Hobbesian 'state of nature' and the grip of
authoritarianism through 'social contracts' that enshrine the
rights of the citizens, curtail the power of the state, and
grant agency through the right to vote. While they engage
populations with some level of decision-making, they are
defined by the premise of distrust in the ability of human
populations to make a direct judgment about candidates or
decisions on issues.
FUNCTION OF DEMOCRATIC
GOVERNMENT
• In a democracy, the exercise of political power must respect the
law, the constitution, and the will of the people, through the
decisions of their [elected] legislative representatives.
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
• A democracy is a political system with institutions that allows citizens to
express their political preferences, has constraints on the power of the
executive, and a guarantee of civil liberties.
• Citizens exercise power directly or elect representatives from among
themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament.
• sometimes referred to as "rule of the majority".
• is a system of processing conflicts in which outcomes depend on what
participants do, but no single force controls what occurs and its outcomes.
TRANSITION OF POWER
• In Democracy, power is transferred through a set of
rules.
• The transfer occurs through the votes of the people.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF DEMOCRACY
1. DIRECT DEMOCRACY - A direct democracy is when
citizens get to vote for a policy directly, without
any intermediate representatives or houses of
parliament. They vote on the issue and decide the
fate of their own countries.
2. REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY - indirect
democracy is when people choose to vote for who will
represent them in a parliament. This is the most common
form of democracy found across the world. Its emphasis
lies on protecting the rights of not only the majority of
the people in the state, but also the minorities. By
electing a more qualified representative, a minority
population would be able to vocalize its grievances in a
more efficient manner.
3. PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRACY - the president of a state has
a significant amount of power over the government. He/she is
either directly or indirectly elected by citizens of the state. The
president and the executive branch of the government are not
liable to the legislature, but cannot, under normal circumstances,
dismiss the legislature entirely. Similarly, the legislature cannot
remove the president from his/her office either, unless the case is
extreme. In a presidential democracy, the head of state is also
the head of the government.
4. Parliamentary Democracy - A democracy that gives more
power to the legislature is called a parliamentary democracy.
5. Participatory Democracy - This form of democracy seeks
to apply Islamic law to public policies, while simultaneously
maintaining a democratic framework. Islamic democracy has
three main characteristics.
6. Social Democracy - arose as a reaction to neoliberal policies
in international economics. It aims at empowering the state over
the mere whims of the neoliberal market.
COUNTRIES UNDER
DEMOCRACY
• Norway
• Iceland
• Sweden
• New Zealand
• Denmark
• Switzerland
• Canada
• Finland
• Australia
• Netherlands
• Luxembourg
• Ireland
• Germany
• Austria
• Malta
• UK
• Spain
• Mauritius
• Uruguay
• USA
• Philippines
• India
ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES
1. It protects the interest of citizens.
2.It prevents monopoly of authority.
3.It promotes equality.
4. It makes for a responsible and
stable administration.
5. It brings a feeling of obligation
towards the citizens.
6. It imparts political education to the
people.
7. It helps make good citizens.
8. It allows a little chance of revolution.
DISAVANTAGES
• It might allow misuse of public funds and
time.
•It instigates corruption.
•It risks the wrong choice of public servants.
•It allows not exercising the right to vote.