What Is Democracy?
Democracy is a political system whereby citizens participate in public affairs and the power of government is directly vested in their hands through elections. This means that the people have the right to vote for their leaders and are guaranteed certain freedoms by law such as equality, privacy and the ability to own property and free speech. Democracy also guarantees the rule of law and a separation between church and state. In addition, it enables an orderly transfer of power between competing groups and individuals that can occur without the massive upheavals and bloodshed that characterizes such a transition in non-democratic systems. It is a fundamental part of our modern world.
Democracies are more prevalent than ever before in the history of humankind, with many countries qualifying as democratic states. While there have been a number of ambiguous cases in the 19th century where democratizing countries went to war with one another, since WWII there has been a remarkably stable international order based on a principle known as the democratic peace, whereby established democracies do not fight one other.
There is no consensus as to exactly what conditions are required for a country to democratize, but there is broad agreement that the process must be sufficiently gradual and that a culture of civic engagement needs to exist in a society. This involves a willingness to cooperate and compromise, a respect for different opinions and viewpoints, and a sense of responsibility and fair play in political affairs.
Most experts believe that democracy is a multi-stage process that takes place in phases, rather than as a single event that occurs once all the necessary conditions have been met. Moreover, the majority of democratic states in the world are not considered fully developed, with most falling into the category of a ‘flawed democracy’ or a ‘democracy in transition’. In the latter category are most of the ‘new democracies’ in eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia, as well as most of the states in the Muslim Middle East.
Research into democratization has usually taken a global approach that tries to identify common patterns in the manner in which countries have become democratic. This has led to a variety of explanations for the phenomenon, and these vary over time and space. Democratization theorists have suggested that the underlying reason for this variation is that the enabling conditions needed for a democratization process to take place are highly contingent on specific contextual factors and can vary greatly over time and space. It has been argued that these conditions include previous experiences with democracy, traditions of civilian control over the military, levels of mass mobilization and a democratic political culture. In addition, there are a number of constraints that democratization is subject to, including the extent to which it is facilitated by external actors, and the extent to which an authoritarian regime is able to co-opt or crackdown on a democratic opposition. There are also debates about the relationship between a new democracy’s economic performance and its stability, and over whether or not democratic politics promotes economic development.
Democracy is a political system whereby citizens participate in public affairs and the power of government is directly vested in their hands through elections. This means that the people have the right to vote for their leaders and are guaranteed certain freedoms by law such as equality, privacy and the ability to own property and free speech. Democracy also guarantees the rule of law and a separation between church and state. In addition, it enables an orderly transfer of power between competing groups and individuals that can occur without the massive upheavals and bloodshed that characterizes such a transition in non-democratic systems. It is a fundamental part of our modern world. Democracies are more prevalent than ever before in the history of humankind, with many countries qualifying as democratic states. While there have been a number of ambiguous cases in the 19th century where democratizing countries went to war with one another, since WWII there has been a remarkably stable international order based on a principle known as the democratic peace, whereby established democracies do not fight one other. There is no consensus as to exactly what conditions are required for a country to democratize, but there is broad agreement that the process must be sufficiently gradual and that a culture of civic engagement needs to exist in a society. This involves a willingness to cooperate and compromise, a respect for different opinions and viewpoints, and a sense of responsibility and fair play in political affairs. Most experts believe that democracy is a multi-stage process that takes place in phases, rather than as a single event that occurs once all the necessary conditions have been met. Moreover, the majority of democratic states in the world are not considered fully developed, with most falling into the category of a ‘flawed democracy’ or a ‘democracy in transition’. In the latter category are most of the ‘new democracies’ in eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia, as well as most of the states in the Muslim Middle East. Research into democratization has usually taken a global approach that tries to identify common patterns in the manner in which countries have become democratic. This has led to a variety of explanations for the phenomenon, and these vary over time and space. Democratization theorists have suggested that the underlying reason for this variation is that the enabling conditions needed for a democratization process to take place are highly contingent on specific contextual factors and can vary greatly over time and space. It has been argued that these conditions include previous experiences with democracy, traditions of civilian control over the military, levels of mass mobilization and a democratic political culture. In addition, there are a number of constraints that democratization is subject to, including the extent to which it is facilitated by external actors, and the extent to which an authoritarian regime is able to co-opt or crackdown on a democratic opposition. There are also debates about the relationship between a new democracy’s economic performance and its stability, and over whether or not democratic politics promotes economic development.