What is your definition of Democracy? Is it possible to have a
non corrupt government without democracy?
DEFINING DEMOCRACY
Government of the
People
Democracy may be a word familiar to most, but it is a concept still
misunderstood and misused in a time when totalitarian regimes and
military dictatorships alike have attempted to claim popular
support by pinning democratic labels upon themselves. Yet the power
of the democratic idea has also evoked some of history's most
profound and moving expressions of human will and intellect: from
Pericles in ancient Athens to Vaclav Havel in the modern Czech
Republic, from Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence in
1776 to Andrei Sakharov's last speeches in 1989.
In the dictionary definition, democracy "is government by the
people 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." In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a
government "of the people, by the people, and for the
people."
Freedom and democracy are often used interchangeably, but the two
are not synonymous. Democracy is indeed a set of ideas and
principles about freedom, but it also consists of a set of
practices and procedures that have been molded through a long,
often tortuous history. In short, democracy is the
institutionalization of freedom. For this reason, it is possible to
identify the time-tested fundamentals of constitutional government,
human rights, and equality before the law that any society must
possess to be properly called democratic.
Democracies fall into two basic categories, direct and
representative. In a direct democracy, all citizens, without the
intermediary of elected or appointed officials, can participate in
making public decisions. Such a system is clearly only practical
with relatively small numbers of people--in a community
organization or tribal council, for example, or the local unit of a
labor union, where members can meet in a single room to discuss
issues and arrive at decisions by consensus or majority vote.
Ancient Athens, the world's first democracy, managed to practice
direct democracy with an assembly that may have numbered as many as
5,000 to 6,000 persons--perhaps the maximum number that can
physically gather in one place and practice direct democracy.
Modern society, with its size and complexity, offers few
opportunities for direct democracy. Even in the northeastern United
States, where the New England town meeting is a hallowed tradition,
most communities have grown too large for all the residents to
gather in a single location and vote directly on issues that affect
their lives.
Today, the most common form of democracy, whether for a town of
50,000 or nations of 50 million, is representative democracy, in
which citizens elect officials to make political decisions,
formulate laws, and administer programs for the public good. In the
name of the people, such officials can deliberate on complex public
issues in a thoughtful and systematic manner that requires an
investment of time and energy that is often impractical for the
vast majority of private citizens.
How such officials are elected can vary enormously. On the national
level, for example, legislators can be chosen from districts that
each elect a single representative. Alternatively, under a system
of proportional representation, each political party is represented
in the legislature according to its percentage of the total vote
nationwide. Provincial and local elections can mirror these
national models, or choose their representatives more informally
through group consensus instead of elections. Whatever the method
used, public officials in a representative democracy hold office in
the name of the people and remain accountable to the people for
their actions.
Majority Rule and
Minority Rights
All democracies are systems in which citizens freely make political
decisions by majority rule. But rule by the majority is not
necessarily democratic: No one, for example, would call a system
fair or just that permitted 51 percent of the population to oppress
the remaining 49 percent in the name of the majority. In a
democratic society, majority rule must be coupled with guarantees
of individual human rights that, in turn, serve to protect the
rights of minorities--whether ethnic, religious, or political, or
simply the losers in the debate over a piece of controversial
legislation. The rights of minorities do not depend upon the
goodwill of the majority and cannot be eliminated by majority vote.
The rights of minorities are protected because democratic laws and
institutions protect the rights of all citizens.
Diane Ravitch, scholar, author, and a former assistant U.S.
secretary of education, wrote in a paper for an educational seminar
in Poland: "When a representative democracy operates in accordance
with a constitution that limits the powers of the government and
guarantees fundamental rights to all citizens, this form of
government is a constitutional democracy. In such a society, the
majority rules, and the rights of minorities are protected by law
and through the institutionalization of law."
These elements define the fundamental elements of all modern
democracies, no matter how varied in history, culture, and economy.
Despite their enormous differences as nations and societies, the
essential elements of constitutional government--majority rule
coupled with individual and minority rights, and the rule of
law--can be found in Canada and Costa Rica, France and Botswana,
Japan and India.
Democratic
Society
Democracy is more than a set of constitutional rules and procedures
that determine how a government functions. In a democracy,
government is only one element coexisting in a social fabric of
many and varied institutions, political parties, organizations, and
associations. This diversity is called pluralism, and it assumes
that the many organized groups and institutions in a democratic
society do not depend upon government for their existence,
legitimacy, or authority.
Thousands of private organizations operate in a democratic society,
some local, some national. Many of them serve a mediating role
between individuals and the complex social and governmental
institutions of which they are a part, filling roles not given to
the government and offering individuals opportunities to exercise
their rights and responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.
These groups represent the interests of their members in a variety
of ways--by supporting candidates for public office, debating
issues, and trying to influence policy decisions. Through such
groups, individuals have an avenue for meaningful participation
both in government and in their own communities. The examples are
many and varied: charitable organizations and churches,
environmental and neighborhood groups, business associations and
labor unions.
In an authoritarian society, virtually all such organizations would
be controlled, licensed, watched, or otherwise accountable to the
government. In a democracy, the powers of the government are, by
law, clearly defined and sharply limited. As a result, private
organizations are free of government control; on the contrary, many
of them lobby the government and seek to hold it accountable for
its actions. Other groups, concerned with the arts, the practice of
religious faith, scholarly research, or other interests, may choose
to have little or no contact with the government at all.
In this busy private realm of democratic society, citizens can
explore the possibilities of freedom and the responsibilities of
self-government--unpressured by the potentially heavy hand of the
state.
THE PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY
Sovereignty of the people.
Government based upon consent of the governed.
Majority rule.
Minority rights.
Guarantee of basic human rights.
Free and fair elections.
Equality before the law.
Due process of law.
Constitutional limits on government.
Social, economic, and political pluralism.
Values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation, and compromise.
Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/whatsdem/whatdm2.htm
