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- DictionaryDe·moc·ra·cy/dəˈmäkrəsē/
noun
- 1. a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives: "capitalism and democracy are ascendant in the third world"
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What does democracy mean?
What is the plural of democracy?
What does democracy mean in Greek?
How does democracy work?
democracy: [noun] a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.
- Is the United States a democracy or a republic?The United States is both a democracy and a republic. Democracies and republics are both forms of government in which supreme power resides in the...
- What is the basic meaning of 'democracy'?The word democracy most often refers to a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting.
- What is a democratic system of government?A democratic system of government is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirect...
Democracy (from Ancient Greek: δημοκρατία, romanized : dēmokratía, dēmos 'people' and kratos 'rule') [1] is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state. [2] Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive elections while more expansive ...
- Overview
- Fundamental questions
Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the “people,” a group historically constituted by only a minority of the population (e.g., all free adult males in ancient Athens or all sufficiently propertied adult males in 19th-century Britain) but generally understood since the mid-20th century to include all (or nearly all) adult citizens.
Where was democracy first practiced?
Studies of contemporary nonliterate tribal societies and other evidence suggest that democracy, broadly speaking, was practiced within tribes of hunter-gatherers in prehistoric times. The transition to settled agricultural communities led to inequalities of wealth and power between and within communities and hierarchical nondemocratic forms of social organization. Thousands of years later, in the 6th century BCE, a relatively democratic form of government was introduced in the city-state of Athens by Cleisthenes.
How is democracy better than other forms of government?
States with democratic governments prevent rule by autocrats, guarantee fundamental individual rights, allow for a relatively high level of political equality, and rarely make war on each other. As compared with nondemocratic states, they also better foster human development as measured by indicators such as health and education, provide more prosperity for their citizens, and ensure a broader range of personal freedoms.
Why does democracy need education?
The etymological origins of the term democracy hint at a number of urgent problems that go far beyond semantic issues. If a government of or by the people—a “popular” government—is to be established, at least five fundamental questions must be confronted at the outset, and two more are almost certain to be posed if the democracy continues to exist for long.
(1) What is the appropriate unit or association within which a democratic government should be established? A town or city? A country? A business corporation? A university? An international organization? All of these?
(2) Given an appropriate association—a city, for example—who among its members should enjoy full citizenship? Which persons, in other words, should constitute the dēmos? Is every member of the association entitled to participate in governing it? Assuming that children should not be allowed to participate (as most adults would agree), should the dēmos include all adults? If it includes only a subset of the adult population, how small can the subset be before the association ceases to be a democracy and becomes something else, such as an aristocracy (government by the best, aristos) or an oligarchy (government by the few, oligos)?
(3) Assuming a proper association and a proper dēmos, how are citizens to govern? What political organizations or institutions will they need? Will these institutions differ between different kinds of associations—for example, a small town and a large country?
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DEMOCRACY definition: 1. the belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this…. Learn more.
Democracy definition: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system..
Jan 29, 2021 · Key Takeaways: Democracy. Democracy, literally meaning “rule by the people,” empowers individuals to exercise political control over the form and functions of their government. While democracies come in several forms, they all feature competitive elections, freedom of expression, and protection of individual civil liberties and human rights.
Jul 27, 2006 · Democracy Defined. The term “democracy”, as we will use it in this entry, refers very generally to a method of collective decision making characterized by a kind of equality among the participants at an essential stage of the decision-making process. Four aspects of this definition should be noted.
