Democracy is a principle that the control of authority comes from public, and ruler and non-ruler are the same. It is derived from the Greek Greek an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of δημοκρατία (dēmokratía (info)), "popular government",[1] which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos), "people" and κράτος (krátos), "rule, strength" in the middle of the fifth-fourth century BC to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens The city of Athens during classical antiquity was a notable polis of Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 510 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief following a popular uprising in 508 BC.[2] A democracy can denote either direct or indirect rule by the people.[3]
In political theory, democracy describes a small number of related forms of government This article lists forms of government and political systems, according to a series of different ways of categorising them. The systems listed are of course not mutually exclusive, and often have overlapping definitions and also a political philosophy Political philosophy is the study of questions about the city, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is,. Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy',[4] there are two principles that any definition of democracy includes. The first principle is that all citizens, not invested with the power to govern, have equal access to power and the second that all citizens enjoy legitimized freedoms and liberties. [5][6]
There are several varieties of democracy, some of which provide better representation and more freedoms for their citizens than others.[7][8] However, if any democracy is not carefully legislated to avoid an uneven distribution of political power with balances, such as the separation of powers The separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic. Under this model, the state is divided into branches or estates, each with, then a branch of the system of rule could accumulate power and become harmful to the democracy itself.[9][10][11] The "majority rule Majority rule is a decision rule that selects one of two alternatives, based on which has more than half the votes. It is the binary decision rule used most often in influential decision-making bodies, including the legislatures of democratic nations. Some scholars have recommended against the use of majority rule, at least under certain" is often described as a characteristic feature of democracy, but without responsible government it is possible for the rights of a minority The term minority rights embodies two separate concepts: first, normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities, and second, collective rights accorded to minority groups. The term may also apply simply to individual rights of anyone who is not part of a majority decision to be abused by the "tyranny of the majority The phrase tyranny of the majority, used in discussing systems of democracy and majority rule, is a criticism of the scenario in which decisions made by a majority under that system would place that majority's interests so far above a dissenting individual's interest that that individual would be actively oppressed. The phrase refers to tyrants". An essential process in representative democracies are competitive elections An election is a decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office. This is the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy fills offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local government. This process is also used in many other private and, that are fair both substantively[12] and procedurally.[13] Furthermore, freedom of political expression The opposite of a free society is a totalitarian state, which highly restricts political freedom in order to regulate almost every aspect of behavior. In this sense ‘freedom’ refers solely to the relation of humans to other humans, and the only infringement on it is coercion by humans, freedom of speech Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are closely and freedom of the press Freedom of the press consists of constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials are essential so that citizens are informed and able to vote in their personal interests.[14][15]
Popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the belief that the legitimacy of the state is created by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated with the social contract philosophers, among whom are Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Popular sovereignty is common but not a universal motivating philosophy for establishing a democracy. In some countries, democracy is based on the philosophical principle of equal rights. Many people use the term "democracy" as shorthand for liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the dominant form of democracies in the 21st century. During the Cold War, liberal democracies were contrasted with the Communist People's Republics or "Popular Democracies", which claimed an alternative conception of democracy. Today, constitutional democracies are mostly contrasted with direct democracy and/or, which may include additional elements such as political pluralism Pluralism is, in the general sense, the acknowledgment of diversity. The concept is used, often in different ways, in a wide range of issues. In politics, pluralism is often considered by proponents of modern democracy to be in the interests of its citizens, and so political pluralism is one of its most important features, equality before the law The rule of law, also called supremacy of law, simply means that the law is above everyone and it applies to everyone. Whether governors or governed, rulers or ruled, no one is above the law, no one is exempted from the law, and no one can grant exemption to the application of the law, the right to petition The right to petition the government for redress of grievances is the freedom of individuals to petition their government for a correction or repair of some form of injustice without fear of punishment for doing so. Although often overlooked in favour of other more famous freedoms and sometimes taken for granted, many other civil liberties are elected officials for redress of grievances, due process Due process is the principle that the government must respect all of the legal rights that are owed to a person according to the law of the land. As developed through a large body of case law in the United States, this principle gives individuals a varying ability to enforce their rights against alleged violations by governments and their agents (, civil liberties Civil liberties are freedoms that protect an individual from the government of the nation in which they reside. Civil liberties set limits for government so that it cannot abuse its power and interfere unduly with the lives of its citizens, human rights Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural, and elements of civil society Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society as opposed to the force-backed structures of a state and commercial institutions of the market outside the government. In the United States, separation of powers The separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic. Under this model, the state is divided into branches or estates, each with is often cited as a supporting attribute, but in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the dominant philosophy is parliamentary sovereignty Parliamentary sovereignty, Sovereignty of Parliament, parliamentary supremacy, or legislative supremacy is a concept in constitutional law that applies to some parliamentary democracies. Under parliamentary sovereignty, a legislative body has absolute sovereignty, meaning it is supreme to all other government institutions . Furthermore, it implies (though in practice judicial independence Independence of the judiciary is the principle that the judiciary should be politically insulated from the legislative and the executive power. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government, or from private or partisan interests is generally maintained). In other cases, "democracy" is used to mean direct democracy Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy, comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate. Depending on the particular system, this assembly might pass executive motions, make laws, elect and dismiss officials and conduct trials. Though the term "democracy" is typically used in the context of a political state A sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. While in abstract terms a sovereign state can exist without being recognised by other sovereign states, unrecognised states will often find it, the principles are also applicable to private organizations An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment. The word itself is derived from the Greek word ὄργανον (organon [itself derived from the better-known word ἔργον ergon - work; deed - > ergonomics, etc]) meaning and other groups.
Democracy has its origins in Ancient Greece The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western civilization and shaped cultures throughout and Ancient India The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive and powerful empire in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 321 to 185 BC.[16][17] However other cultures have significantly contributed to the evolution of democracy such as Ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world,[16] Europe,[16] and North and South America.[18] Democracy has been called the "last form of government" and has spread considerably across the globe. [19]. The Right to vote Suffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. In that context, it is also called political franchise or simply the franchise. Suffrage is very valuable to the extent that there are opportunities to vote (e.g., initiatives, referendums, or elections). Therefore, suffrage varies in two dimensions: who is eligible to vote and has been expanded in many Jurisdictions over time from relatively narrow groups (such as wealthy men of a particular ethnic group), with New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook being the first major nation to achieve Universal suffrage Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens (or subjects) as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and noncitizens. Although suffrage has two necessary components, the right to vote and opportunities to vote, the term universal suffrage is associated only with the right to vote and. Suffrage still remains a controversial issue with regard to disputed territories, areas with significant immigration Immigration is the arrival of new individuals into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration, and countries that exclude certain demographic groups.
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Christie led the Democrat , 47 percent to 42 percent, compared with 45 percent to 39 percent in a July tally. New Jersey is hardened to in-your-face ...
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There are over 200 places offering democratic education in more than 30 countries working with over 40 000 students
DRJ
Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:27:11 GM
Democratic. State Party Chair Pat Waak also noted that an anti-Obamacare poster was glued to an outside wall, presumably at the time the window vandalism took place. The obvious diagnosis is that this is a clear case of conservative ...
Q. Arlen Spector left the Republican Party for the Democratic - who has gone the other way? Anyone in recent years?
Asked by doug t - Tue Jul 21 16:08:27 2009 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments
A. It was awhile ago, but Ronald Reagan did.
Answered by Dina W - Tue Jul 21 16:13:19 2009
