Democracy is a form of government, a way of life, a goal or ideal, and a political philosophy. The term also refers to a country that has a democratic form of government. The word democracy means rule by the people. United States President Abraham Lincoln described such self-government as “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
The citizens of a democracy take part in government either directly or indirectly. In a direct democracy, also called a pure democracy, the people meet in one place to make the laws for their community. Such democracy was practiced in the ancient Greek city-state of Athens and exists today in the New England town meeting (see Town meeting).
Most modern democracy is indirect democracy, which is also known as representative democracy. In large communities—cities, states, provinces, or countries—it is impossible for all the people to meet as a group. Instead, they elect a certain number of their fellow citizens to represent them in making decisions about laws and other matters. An assembly of representatives may be called a council, a legislature, a parliament, or a congress. Government by the people through their freely elected representatives is sometimes called a republican government or a democratic republic.
Many voting decisions in democracies are based on majority rule—that is, more than half the votes cast. A decision by plurality may be used when three or more candidates stand for election. A candidate with a plurality receives more votes than any other candidate, but does not necessarily have a majority of the votes. In several democracies, elections to legislative bodies are conducted according to proportional representation. Such representation awards a political party a percentage of seats in the legislature in proportion to its share of the total vote cast.
Throughout history, the most important aspects of the democratic way of life have been the principles of individual equality and freedom. Accordingly, citizens in a democracy should be entitled to equal protection of their persons, possessions, and rights; have equal opportunity to pursue their lives and careers; and have equal rights of political participation. In addition, the people should enjoy freedom from undue interference and domination by government. They should be free, within the framework of the law, to believe, behave, and express themselves as they wish. Democratic societies seek to guarantee their citizens certain freedoms, including freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. Ideally, citizens also should be guaranteed freedom of association and of assembly, freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, and freedom to work and live where and how they choose.
Some people in democratic states have been eager to increase the role of government in society to make material conditions more equal for everyone. But other people have been concerned that the extension of government’s role in such areas as welfare, education, employment, and housing may decrease the freedom of the people and subject them to too much government regulation. The division between these groups has helped furnish one of the main themes of controversy and discussion in modern democratic societies.
Applying democratic principles in everyday life can be challenging. In the United States, for example, freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. In guarding these freedoms, the U.S. judiciary has tried to balance the interests of individuals against possible injury and damage to other people and the community. Thus, the right of free speech does not allow people to falsely damage the reputations of others.
This article presents a broad survey of democracy—what it is, how it works, and how it has developed. For more information on democracy and other forms of government, see the article on Government.
Features of democracy
The characteristics of democracy vary from one country to another. But certain basic features are more or less the same in all democratic nations.
Free elections
give the people a chance to choose their leaders and express their opinions on issues. Elections are held periodically to ensure that elected officials truly represent the people. The possibility of being voted out of office helps assure that these officials pay attention to public opinion.
In most democracies, the only legal requirements for voting or for holding public office have to do with age, residence, and citizenship. The democratic process permits citizens to vote by secret ballot, free from force or bribes. It also requires that election results be protected against dishonesty. See Election.
Majority rule and minority rights.
In a democracy, a decision often must be approved by a majority of voters before it may take effect. This principle, which is called majority rule, may be used to elect officials or decide a policy. Democracies sometimes decide votes by plurality. Most democracies require more than a simple majority to make fundamental or constitutional changes. In the United States, for example, constitutional amendments must be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or by special conventions called in three-fourths of the states.
Majority rule is based on the idea that if all citizens are equal, the judgment of the many will be better than the judgment of the few. Democracy values freely given consent as the basis of legitimate and effective political power. But democracies are also concerned with protecting individual liberty and preventing government from infringing on the freedoms of individuals. Democratic countries guarantee that certain rights can never be taken from the people, even by extremely large majorities. These rights include the basic freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and religious worship. The majority also must recognize the right of the minority to try to become the majority by legal means.
Political parties
are a necessary part of democratic government. Rival parties make elections meaningful by giving voters a choice among candidates who represent different interests and points of view.
The United States and the United Kingdom have chiefly two-party systems. Many democratic countries have multiparty systems, which have more than two major parties. Often in these countries, no single party gains a majority in the legislature. As a result, two or more parties must join to make up such a majority. These parties form a coalition government. In democratic countries, the party or parties that are out of power serve as the “loyal opposition.” That is, they criticize the policies and actions of the party in power. In dictatorships, the people have no real choice among candidates, and no opportunity to express dissatisfaction with the government. See Political party.
Controls on power.
Democracies have various arrangements to prevent any person or branch of government from becoming too powerful. For example, the U.S. Constitution divides political power between the states and the federal government. Some powers belong only to the states, some only to the federal government, and some are shared by both. This arrangement, known as federalism, is also used in such democracies as Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. See Federalism.
The Constitution further divides the powers of the U.S. government among the President, Congress, and the federal courts. The power of each branch is designed to check or balance the power of the others. See Checks and balances.
In all democratic countries, government officials are subject to the law and are accountable to the people. Officials may be removed from office for lawless conduct or for other serious reasons. The media help keep elected officials sensitive to public opinion. See Government (Organization of government).
Constitutional government.
Democratic government is based on law and, in most cases, a written constitution. Constitutions state the powers and duties of government and limit what the government may do. Constitutions also say how laws shall be made and enforced. Most constitutions have a detailed bill of rights that describes the basic liberties of the people and forbids the government to violate those rights. See Bill of rights. 
Constitutions that have been in effect for a long time may include certain unwritten procedures that have become important parts of the operation of government. Such procedures are a matter of custom rather than written law. The United Kingdom, for instance, has no single written document called “the constitution.” In that country, however, certain customs and conventions, as well as certain major documents and many laws, are widely accepted as the basic rules of the system. See Constitution.
An essential characteristic of democratic government is an independent judiciary. It is the duty of the justice system to protect the integrity of the rules and the rights of individuals under these rules, especially against the government itself.
Occasionally, dictatorships establish extremely elaborate constitutions and extensive lists of basic rights of citizens. For example, the 1977 constitution of the Soviet Union contained more detailed rights supposedly guaranteed to citizens than does the U.S. Bill of Rights. In practice, however, Soviet courts were not known to defend individuals’ rights against the government.
Private organizations.
In a democracy, individuals and private organizations carry on many social and economic activities that are, for the most part, free of government control. For example, newspapers and magazines are privately owned and managed. Labor unions are run by and for the benefit of workers, not the state. Democratic governments generally do not interfere with religious worship. Private schools operate along with public schools. The people may form groups to influence opinion on public issues and policies. Most businesses in democratic societies are privately owned and managed.
In dictatorial societies, the government alone may organize and control most associations. The people are not permitted to establish or join most groups without the permission of the state. In some countries, the government owns and manages much of the economy. However, such arrangements have been less common since the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe in the early 1990’s.
Making democracy work
In most democracies, there are extensive programs to provide economic security, to improve education, to ease suffering, and to develop human potential. Many democracies aim to provide a minimum standard of living and adequate medical care for all. A society must be stable and informed for its democratic institutions to function with maximum effectiveness.
Citizen participation.
Democracy calls for widespread participation in politics by the people. It is believed to be the duty of all adult citizens to vote in local, state or provincial, and national elections. Qualified individuals should be willing to run for public office, to serve on juries, and to contribute to the welfare of their country. Citizens should help shape public opinion by speaking out on important issues and by supporting the political party of their choice. An active citizenry is thought to be one of the best guarantees against corrupt and inefficient government.
Education and democracy.
Faith in the power of education is a characteristic of democracy. According to democratic ideals, widespread participation in politics does not necessarily ensure good government. The quality of government depends on the quality of participation. Well-informed and well-educated citizens are able to participate more intelligently.
A democracy needs educated citizens who can think for themselves. Citizens have a duty to take part in public affairs, to keep informed on public issues, and to vote intelligently. Democratic institutions must produce leaders worthy of public trust and responsibility. For this reason, democratic governments support education for their citizens.
Voluntary action.
An important quality of democratic government is its emphasis on trying to get people to act on the basis of understanding and agreement instead of force. Although governments must use force sometimes, democracies usually emphasize dialogue, negotiation, bargaining, and ultimately, voluntary citizen cooperation. This approach is closely linked to the widely held democratic belief that people are generally rational and well disposed toward the common welfare.
Economic development and agreement on fundamentals.
Most successful democracies have existed in developed societies. In such societies, literacy rates and per capita (per person) incomes are relatively high. Some scholars believe democracy works best in countries with a large middle class.
Many democratic governments have collapsed during economic crises. The basic problem involved in the failures of such democracies has been the inability to maintain sufficient agreement among either the people or their political leaders on the purposes of government. Crises have often aggravated and sharpened divisions and suspicions among various classes, groups, parties, and leaders. Excessive divisions have at times blocked action by freely elected governments, often resulting in widespread public frustration and disorder.
Democratic governments are likely to be unstable whenever people become deeply divided and suspicious of one another. Sometimes racial, ethnic, or religious differences make democracies difficult to operate. In the 1960’s and 1980’s, for example, intense ethnic conflicts led to the collapse of newly founded democratic governments in Nigeria. In such instances, the people may not see one another as legitimate and trustworthy partners in the enterprise of government.
The development of democracy
Origins of democracy.
Democracy began to develop in ancient Greece as early as the 500’s B.C. The word democracy comes from the Greek words demos, meaning people, and kratos, which means rule or authority. Greek political thinkers stressed the idea of rule by law. They criticized dictatorship as the worst form of government. Athens and some other Greek city-states had democratic governments. 
Democracy in ancient Athens differed in important ways from democracy today. Athenian democracy was a direct democracy rather than a representative one. Each male citizen had the duty to serve permanently in the assembly, which passed the laws and decided all important government policies. There was no division between legislative and executive branches of the government. Slaves made up a large part of the Athenian population, and did most of the work. Neither slaves nor women could vote.
The ancient Romans experimented with democracy, but they never practiced it as fully as did the Athenians. Roman political thinkers taught that political power comes from the consent of the people. The Roman statesman Cicero contributed the idea of a universal law of reason that is binding on all people and governments everywhere. He suggested that people have natural rights that every state must respect.
The Middle Ages.
Christianity taught that everyone is equal before God. This teaching promoted the democratic ideal of brotherhood among people. Christianity also introduced the idea that Christians are citizens of two kingdoms—the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. It held that no state can demand absolute loyalty from its citizens because they must also obey God and His commandments. During the Middle Ages (about the A.D. 400’s through the 1400’s), the conflict between these two loyalties helped lay the foundation for constitutional government.
In medieval society, persons often pledged their loyalty and services to one another. The pledges established mutual obligations and rights. Although kings often exercised nearly absolute power over their subjects, individuals had certain rights that other persons were required to recognize. Courts were established to uphold these rights and obligations. Such courts later led to kings’ councils, representative assemblies, and modern parliaments.
The Renaissance and the Reformation.
The great cultural reawakening called the Renaissance spread throughout Europe during the 1300’s, 1400’s, and 1500’s. A new spirit of individual thought and independence developed. It influenced political thinking and hastened the growth of democracy. People began to demand greater freedom in all areas of life.
The new independence of the individual found religious expression in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation emphasized the importance of individual conscience. During the early 1500’s, Martin Luther, a leader of the Reformation, opposed the Roman Catholic Church as an intermediary between God and people. A number of Protestant churches were established during the period. Some of these churches practiced the congregational form of government, which had a democratic structure. During the 1500’s, both Catholics and Protestants defended the right to oppose absolute monarchy. They argued that the political power of earthly rulers comes from the consent of the people.
Democracy in England.
In 1215, English nobles forced King John to approve Magna Carta. This historic document became a symbol of human liberty. It was used to support later demands for trial by jury, protection against unlawful arrest, and no taxation without representation. 
English democracy developed slowly during the next several hundred years. In 1628, Parliament passed the Petition of Right. The petition called on King Charles I to stop collecting taxes without the consent of Parliament. It also provided that Parliament should meet at regular intervals. Charles refused to agree to limits on the royal power, and civil war broke out in 1642. The supporters of Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, fought the followers of the king. Charles was beheaded in 1649, and Cromwell established a short-lived commonwealth (republic). See England (The Civil War).
The English revolution of 1688 finally established the supremacy of Parliament. John Locke, the philosopher of the revolution, declared that final authority in political matters belonged to the people. The government’s main purpose, he said, was to protect the lives, liberties, and property of the people. Parliament passed the Bill of Rights in 1689, assuring the people basic civil rights.
Modern democracy was still far off. The larger factory towns were not represented in Parliament until after the adoption of the Reform Act of 1832. Property qualifications for voting disappeared only gradually. In 1918, for the first time, all men were permitted to vote. Not until 1928 could all women vote.
French contributions to democracy
were made in the 1700’s by such political thinkers as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Their writings helped bring about the French Revolution, which began in 1789. Montesquieu argued that political freedom requires the separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of government. Voltaire spoke out against government invasion of individual rights and freedoms. Rousseau declared in his book The Social Contract (1762) that people “have a duty to obey only legitimate powers.” The only rightful rulers, he added, were, ultimately, the people.
The French Revolution, an important event in the history of democracy, promoted the ideas of liberty and equality. It did not make France a democracy, but it did limit the king’s powers. See French Revolution.
American democracy
took root in traditions brought to North America by the first English colonists. The Pilgrims, who settled in Massachusetts in 1620, joined in signing the Mayflower Compact to obey “just and equal laws.” The Revolutionary War in America began more than 150 years later, in 1775. The colonists wanted self-government and no taxation without representation. The Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776, is a classic document of democracy. It expressed the belief that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration said that the people may change or abolish the government if it interferes with those rights. It established human rights as an ideal by which government must be guided.
Most of the Founding Fathers distrusted the Athenian version of direct democracy. They wanted to establish a republic because they feared that giving the people too much power would lead to mob rule. For this reason, the men who wrote the Constitution of the United States adopted a system of dividing power between the federal government and the states. They also provided that the federal powers be divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In addition, they provided that the president be elected by an electoral college rather than by the direct vote of the people (see Electoral College).
Thomas Jefferson favored a government that would pay more attention to the common citizen. After he became president in 1801, he spoke of his election as a “revolution.” In 1828, the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency further advanced American democracy. The pioneer spirit of the settlers in the West encouraged self-reliance, promoted individual liberty, and gave meaning to the promise of equal opportunity.
By 1850, white males could vote in all the states. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1870, gave black men the right to vote. In 1920, the 19th Amendment gave women the vote. In 1964, the 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes as voting requirements in national elections (see Poll tax).
The spread of democracy.
During the 1800’s, democracy developed steadily. Many countries followed the American and British examples. Such democratic institutions as elections and legislatures became common. Where kings still ruled, they lost much of their power and performed mainly ceremonial duties.
The Industrial Revolution brought political changes of great importance. During the second half of the 1800’s, the working classes demanded and received greater political rights. New laws gave more citizens the right to vote. The freedoms of speech, the press, assembly, and religion were extended and enlarged. By the 1920’s, representative democracy had been established throughout much of Western Europe, as well as in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Democracy did not take root everywhere, however. Some countries that adopted constitutions modeled after that of the United States later became dictatorships. These nations found that a constitution alone did not guarantee democracy. In Russia, a group of revolutionists set up a Communist dictatorship in 1917 and prevented representative democracy in Russia for decades. Germany adopted a democratic government in 1919, but Adolf Hitler’s rise to power brought a fascist dictatorship in 1933. Similar interruptions of democracy occurred in Italy and Spain.
Many other nations—including India, Israel, and Japan—have been democracies since the mid-1900’s. The structure of French government has changed many times since the French Revolution, but France has been continuously democratic since the late 1940’s. Beginning in the 1950’s, newly independent nations in Africa and Asia tried to develop democratic institutions. But inexperience with self-rule, in addition to other problems, made democratic government difficult to achieve.
Since the mid-1970’s, democratic government has spread even further. Democracy returned to parts of Europe as dictatorships fell in Portugal and Spain. Beginning in the early 1980’s, there was an increase in the number of democratic governments in Latin America, and, to a lesser extent, Southeast Asia. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, democracy increased in northern and central Asia and Eastern Europe as Communists lost control of the governments of the Soviet Union and many Eastern European countries. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up into a number of independent nations. During the early 2000’s, new democratic systems were established in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Democracy today.
Most governments today claim to be democratic, but many lack some essential freedoms usually associated with democracy. In some countries, for example, the people are not allowed basic freedom of speech and of the press, or competitive elections.
One of the most important influences on democracy since the 1970’s has been the economic and social globalization of the world’s nations. Globalization refers to the trend toward increased business, cultural, and government interaction across international borders. Globalization involves the loosening of trade restrictions and the movement of businesses, investments, and workers around the world. It also involves the rapid spread of information, ideas, and values, by means of the Internet and other technological advances in communications.
Some people believe that globalization can encourage the development and practice of democracy worldwide. Increased cultural interaction may help the spread of democratic principles and the reporting of human rights abuses. In addition, democratic countries may be able to use economic pressure to make dictators give up power and establish democracy. Some international economic organizations require nations to establish and maintain democracy before gaining membership.
On the other hand, some people believe that globalization may have negative consequences for democracy. In some cases, a nation’s efforts to attract international business and investment may conflict with the needs of the nation’s people. Countries may reduce social spending, cut taxes that fund public programs, or eliminate environmental regulations to decrease business costs. In addition, many people are concerned about the growing powers of certain international organizations that are not directly accountable to the people.
