democracy

Government by the people, usually through elected representatives, such as local councillors or members of a parliamentary government. In the modern world, democracy has developed from the American and French revolutions.

Types of democracy
Representative parliamentary government existed in Iceland from the 10th century and in England from the 13th century, but the British working classes were excluded almost entirely from the vote until 1867, and women were admitted, and property qualifications abolished, only in 1918.

In direct democracy the whole people meets for the making of laws or the direction of executive officers; for example, in Athens in the 5th century BC. Direct democracy today is represented mainly by the use of the referendum, as in the UK, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Italy. The populist instrument of citizen's initiatives or propositions is used in certain states of the USA. The citizen's initiative is a bottom‐up, grass‐roots device whereby proposed laws and constitutional changes are put to the public for approval.

The two concepts underlying liberal democracy are the right to representative government and the right to individual freedom. In practice the features of a liberal democratic system include representative institutions based on majority rule, through free elections and a choice of political parties; accountability of the government to the electorate; freedom of expression, assembly, and the individual, guaranteed by an independent judiciary (court system); and limitations on the power of government.

Historical background
Democracy is one of the six classical forms of government described by Aristotle, denoting government by the demos, or populace at large, as opposed to government by a few, or by a single ruler. Because the demos was originally contrasted with the aristoi (the best), democracy could and did carry connotations of perversion into sectional rule by the mob; although this was sometimes called ‘ochlocracy’ to distinguish it from non‐sectional popular rule.

The question of who ‘the people’ are is a matter of dispute; historically ‘democracy’ has by no means always designated universal adult suffrage. The question of what constitutes adequate exercise of the demos' power is also a matter for dispute, more particularly since modern social science has demonstrated the persistence of elite structures in electorally‐democratic societies.

Definition
A political system can properly be called democratic only if the government in power can be peacefully removed by a majority decision of the people, through fair and open elections. There are few nation states today that do not claim to be democratic, but not all would qualify on the basis of this criterion.