Democracies – Rule by the People
Democracy means “rule by the people”. It is a word that conjures up ideals of free speech and association, of respect for different points of view, of fairness and equality before the law. It is a word that has inspired many of humanity’s greatest expressions of will and intellect, from Pericles in ancient Athens to Vaclav Havel and Andrei Sakharov in modern times. But it is also a word that is misunderstood and misused, used by dictatorships to claim legitimacy.
Democracies vary widely in the ways they function, from the way decisions are made to how people hold their elected representatives accountable. It is this wide range of possibilities that makes it difficult to pin down a definition of democracy that is definitive or exhaustive. But we do know that democracy is a complex concept, and it requires the active participation of everyone to work properly. That means voting, forming groups to campaign on specific issues, speaking out against wrongdoing, or even standing for election as a representative.
The term democracy comes from the Greek demokratia, which is a combination of two words: demos (people) and kratos (rule). It was first used in the 5th century BC in some city-states of the Greek world, notably Athens, to describe the political system that then existed in those cities.
Throughout history, the democracy concept has evolved and developed. In some countries, monarchies were abolished and the power was transferred to elected officials; in other cases elite upper houses of legislatures that had hereditary or lifetime membership were dissolved or shifted into elective seats where their powers became limited (as with the British House of Lords); or were replaced by elected bodies with significant influence (as in Australia’s Senate).
There are also different systems of government by which people can be involved in democracy: direct democracy, which gives citizens direct authority over certain decisions, and representational democracy, where citizens choose governing representatives to take on those tasks on their behalf. Other features of democracy include freedom of speech and association, the right to protest, and a system of laws that is transparent, responsive and accountable to its citizens.
All these aspects are considered when organisations try to decide whether a country is democratic or not. Organisations such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House and Varieties of Democracy use different criteria to come up with their assessments of democracy, and they all reach slightly differing conclusions about which countries are democratic or not.
While there are differences in how each organisation defines democracy, they all recognise that a democracy is more than just a government by the people. It is a whole way of life, and it is crucial that all members of society are involved, in the local community, through their workplaces and schools, and in national and international politics, to ensure that democracy works properly and for all. The more we engage, the better our world will be. We can start by joining environmental groups, or other protest groups to make our voice heard about issues that matter to us – but we must also take action at a much smaller scale, starting in our own communities.
Democracy means “rule by the people”. It is a word that conjures up ideals of free speech and association, of respect for different points of view, of fairness and equality before the law. It is a word that has inspired many of humanity’s greatest expressions of will and intellect, from Pericles in ancient Athens to Vaclav Havel and Andrei Sakharov in modern times. But it is also a word that is misunderstood and misused, used by dictatorships to claim legitimacy. Democracies vary widely in the ways they function, from the way decisions are made to how people hold their elected representatives accountable. It is this wide range of possibilities that makes it difficult to pin down a definition of democracy that is definitive or exhaustive. But we do know that democracy is a complex concept, and it requires the active participation of everyone to work properly. That means voting, forming groups to campaign on specific issues, speaking out against wrongdoing, or even standing for election as a representative. The term democracy comes from the Greek demokratia, which is a combination of two words: demos (people) and kratos (rule). It was first used in the 5th century BC in some city-states of the Greek world, notably Athens, to describe the political system that then existed in those cities. Throughout history, the democracy concept has evolved and developed. In some countries, monarchies were abolished and the power was transferred to elected officials; in other cases elite upper houses of legislatures that had hereditary or lifetime membership were dissolved or shifted into elective seats where their powers became limited (as with the British House of Lords); or were replaced by elected bodies with significant influence (as in Australia’s Senate). There are also different systems of government by which people can be involved in democracy: direct democracy, which gives citizens direct authority over certain decisions, and representational democracy, where citizens choose governing representatives to take on those tasks on their behalf. Other features of democracy include freedom of speech and association, the right to protest, and a system of laws that is transparent, responsive and accountable to its citizens. All these aspects are considered when organisations try to decide whether a country is democratic or not. Organisations such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House and Varieties of Democracy use different criteria to come up with their assessments of democracy, and they all reach slightly differing conclusions about which countries are democratic or not. While there are differences in how each organisation defines democracy, they all recognise that a democracy is more than just a government by the people. It is a whole way of life, and it is crucial that all members of society are involved, in the local community, through their workplaces and schools, and in national and international politics, to ensure that democracy works properly and for all. The more we engage, the better our world will be. We can start by joining environmental groups, or other protest groups to make our voice heard about issues that matter to us – but we must also take action at a much smaller scale, starting in our own communities.