Democracy

Historical Evolution of Democracy:
– Democratic assemblies have existed throughout human history.
– Major political figures historically opposed democracy until the 19th century.
– Republican theorists associated democracy with small political units.
– The concept of democracy has evolved over time.
– Democratic citizenship was initially restricted to an elite class.
– Various systems involving elections or assemblies existed in medieval Europe.
– The Roman Catholic Church elected the Pope via a papal conclave.
– The emergence of parliamentary institutions in Europe was linked to urban agglomeration.
– Political fragmentation in Europe post-Roman Empire collapse led to democratization.
– Athenian democracy influenced later forms of governance.
– The Roman Republic inspired political thinkers over centuries.
– The Iroquois Nation in the Americas had a democratic society.
– The Americas had a form of democratic society before European contact.
– Various Italian city-states had republic forms of government.
– The emergence of representative government in medieval Europe was linked to new classes and political fragmentation.
– John Locke developed natural rights and consent of the governed.
– The Petition of Right in 1628 established liberties for subjects.
– The Glorious Revolution of 1688 led to the Bill of Rights in 1689.
– Douglass North and Barry Weingast praised the Glorious Revolution’s institutions.
– Thomas Hobbes and John Locke influenced political philosophy in the 17th century.
– The Cossack Hetmanate in Ukraine had an elected Hetman.
– Representative government began in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619.
– English Puritans established democratic governance in New England.
– The House of Burgesses was the forerunner of the Virginia General Assembly.
– The Glorious Revolution restrained government and protected property rights.
– The first Parliament of Great Britain was established in 1707.
– Parliament was initially elected by male property owners.
– Ignatius Sancho, of African heritage, voted in British elections in 1774 and 1780.
– The Age of Liberty in Sweden saw expanded civil rights.
– The United States Constitution of 1787 protected civil rights but did not end slavery.
– The Corsican Republic adopted a democratic constitution in 1755.
– The Corsican Constitution was based on Enlightenment principles.
– Colonial America had property qualifications for voting.
– The United States Constitution did not extend voting rights universally.
– The Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of 1791 aimed for political equality.
– In the 18th century, only white male property owners could vote.
– Vermont’s constitution in 1777 allowed democratic suffrage for males.
– The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to whites.
– The Bill of Rights in 1791 set limits on government power.
– Revolutionary France adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
– Universal male suffrage established in France in 1848.
– US presidential election of 1828 allowed non-property-holding white males to vote.
– North Carolina abolished property qualification in 1856.
– 1860 US Census showed a slave population of four million.
– Reconstruction after the Civil War led to constitutional amendments for black rights.
– UK expanded voting rights with the Reform Act 1832.
– Ottoman Empire transitioned to a constitutional monarchy in 1876.
– New Zealand recognized women’s right to vote in 1893.
– Full universal suffrage achieved in Turkey in 1934.
– France established universal male suffrage in March 1848.
– The United Nations declared 15 September as the International Day of Democracy in 2007.
– Many countries reduced the voting age to 18 in the 1970s.
– Most electoral democracies continue to exclude those younger than 18 from voting.
– The third wave of democracy brought liberal democracy gains in the late 20th century.
– Collapse of the Soviet Union led to democratization of Eastern bloc countries.
– Liberalization spread to some states in Africa in the 1990s.
– Various revolutions in countries like Yugoslavia, Georgia, and Tunisia aimed at liberalization.
– In 2007, there were 123 electoral democracies according to Freedom House.
– In 2007, 120 out of 192 countries were electoral democracies.
– Liberal democracies, as per Freedom House, constituted 38% of the global population.
– Most electoral democracies continue to exclude those younger than 18 from voting.

Foundations and Principles of Democracy:
– Democracy is defined by voting, but lacks a precise definition.
– Karl Popper defines democracy as the rule of the people.
– Over 2,000 adjectives describe democracy in English.
– Democratic principles ensure equal access to legislative processes.
– Democracy reflects legal equality, political freedom, and the rule of law.
– Democracy requires upward control, political equality, and social norms.
– Legal equality, political freedom, and the rule of law are foundational.
– Democracies use majority rule as the dominant decision-making method.
– Freedom of political expression and press are crucial for informed voting.
– Democracy allows all eligible citizens to participate in lawmaking.
– Democracies can be republics, constitutional monarchies, or other forms.
– Democratic principles can apply to private organizations.
– Majority rule in democracies can oppress political minorities.
– Different countries have varying approaches to democracy.
– Democracy can be seen as a form of political collectivism.
– Forms of democracy evolved independently in various societies globally.
– Vaishali in Ancient India is recognized as an early republic.
– The term ‘democracy’ originated in ancient Greece in Athens.
– Athenian democracy featured random citizen selection for offices.
– Sparta had an assembly where citizens voted by shouting.

Forms and Functions of Democracy:
– Democracies can be republics, constitutional monarchies, or other forms.
– Democratic principles can apply to private organizations.
– Majority rule in democracies can oppress political minorities.
– Different countries have varying approaches to democracy.
– Democracy can be seen as a form of political collectivism.
– Athenian democracy was direct, involving citizens in decision-making.
– Spartan ecclesia used range voting and shouting for

Democracy (Wikipedia)

For representative democracy that operates under the principles of classical liberalism, see Liberal democracy. For other uses, see Democracy (disambiguation) and Democrat (disambiguation).

Democracy (from Ancient Greek: δημοκρατία, romanized: dēmokratía, dēmos 'people' and kratos 'rule') is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive elections while more expansive definitions link democracy to guarantees of civil liberties and human rights in addition to competitive elections.

Democracy

Nelson Mandela casting his ballot in the 1994 South African general election. In the 1990s, the dissolution of apartheid in favour of universal suffrage allowed tens of millions of South Africans, including Mandela, to vote for the first time.

In a direct democracy, the people have the direct authority to deliberate and decide legislation. In a representative democracy, the people choose governing officials through elections to do so. Who is considered part of "the people" and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries. Features of democracy oftentimes include freedom of assembly, association, personal property, freedom of religion and speech, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.

The notion of democracy has evolved over time considerably. Throughout history, one can find evidence of direct democracy, in which communities make decisions through popular assembly. Today, the dominant form of democracy is representative democracy, where citizens elect government officials to govern on their behalf such as in a parliamentary or presidential democracy. Most democracies apply in most cases majority rule, but in some cases plurality rule, supermajority rule (e.g. constitution) or consensus rule (e.g. Switzerland) are applied. They serve the crucial purpose of inclusiveness and broader legitimacy on sensitive issues—counterbalancing majoritarianism—and therefore mostly take precedence on a constitutional level. In the common variant of liberal democracy, the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but a constitution and supreme court limit the majority and protect the minority—usually through securing the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, such as freedom of speech or freedom of association.

The term appeared in the 5th century BC in Greek city-states, notably Classical Athens, to mean "rule of the people", in contrast to aristocracy (ἀριστοκρατία, aristokratía), meaning "rule of an elite". Western democracy, as distinct from that which existed in antiquity, is generally considered to have originated in city-states such as those in Classical Athens and the Roman Republic, where various degrees of enfranchisement of the free male population were observed. In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic citizenship was initially restricted to an elite class, which was later extended to all adult citizens. In most modern democracies, this was achieved through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Democracy contrasts with forms of government where power is not vested in the general population of a state, such as authoritarian systems. World public opinion strongly favors democratic systems of government. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices and The Economist Democracy Index, less than half the world's population lives in a democracy as of 2022^[update].