Back Demokrasie Afrikaans Demokratie ALS ዴሞክራሲ Amharic Democracia AN प्रजातंत्र ANP ديمقراطية Arabic ديموقراطية ARY ديموقراطيه ARZ গণতন্ত্ৰ Assamese Democracia AST
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Democracy (from Ancient Greek: δημοκρατία, romanized: dēmokratía, dēmos 'people' and kratos 'rule')[1] is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state.[2][3][4] Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive elections while more expansive or maximalist definitions link democracy to guarantees of civil liberties and human rights in addition to competitive elections.[5][6][4]
In a direct democracy, the people have the direct authority to deliberate and decide legislation. In a representative democracy, the people choose governing officials through elections to do so. The definition of "the people" and the ways authority is shared among them or delegated by them have changed over time and at varying rates in different countries. Features of democracy oftentimes include freedom of assembly, association, personal property, freedom of religion and speech, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.
The notion of democracy has evolved considerably over time. Throughout history, one can find evidence of direct democracy, in which communities make decisions through popular assembly. Today, the dominant form of democracy is representative democracy, where citizens elect government officials to govern on their behalf such as in a parliamentary or presidential democracy. In the common variant of liberal democracy, the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but a constitution and supreme court limit the majority and protect the minority—usually through securing the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, such as freedom of speech or freedom of association.[7][8]
The term appeared in the 5th century BC in Greek city-states, notably Classical Athens, to mean "rule of the people", in contrast to aristocracy (ἀριστοκρατία, aristokratía), meaning "rule of an elite".[9] In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic citizenship was initially restricted to an elite class, which was later extended to all adult citizens. In most modern democracies, this was achieved through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Democracy contrasts with forms of government where power is not vested in the general population of a state, such as authoritarian systems. Historically a rare and vulnerable form of government,[10] democratic systems of government have become more prevalent since the 19th century, in particular with various waves of democratization.[11] Democracy garners considerable legitimacy in the modern world,[12] as public opinion across regions tends to strongly favor democratic systems of government relative to alternatives,[13][14] and as even authoritarian states try to present themselves as democratic.[15][16] According to the V-Dem Democracy indices and The Economist Democracy Index, less than half the world's population lives in a democracy as of 2022[update].[17][18]
- ^ "Democracy". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- ^ Schwartzberg, Melissa (2014). "Democracy". The Encyclopedia of Political Thought: 851–862. doi:10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0248. ISBN 978-1-4051-9129-6.
- ^ "Democracy | Definition, History, Meaning, Types, Examples, & Facts". Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
- ^ a b Przeworski, Adam (2024). "Who Decides What Is Democratic?". Journal of Democracy. 35 (3): 5–16. doi:10.1353/jod.2024.a930423. ISSN 1086-3214.
- ^ Dahl, Robert A.; Shapiro, Ian; Cheibub, Jose Antonio (2003). The Democracy Sourcebook. MIT Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-262-54147-3.
- ^ Møller, Jørgen; Skaaning, Svend-Erik (January 2013). "Regime Types and Democratic Sequencing". Journal of Democracy. 24 (1): 142–155. doi:10.1353/jod.2013.0010. ISSN 1045-5736. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary: "democracy".
- ^ Watkins, Frederick (1970). "Democracy". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (Expo '70 hardcover ed.). William Benton. pp. 215–23. ISBN 978-0-85229-135-1.
- ^ Wilson, N.G. (2006). Encyclopedia of ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. p. 511. ISBN 978-0-415-97334-2.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Deudney2008bwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
NYTimes20150915was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Fukuyama, Francis (2006). The End of History and the Last Man. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-8455-4.
- ^ Wike, Richard; Fetterolf, Janell; Smerkovich, Maria; Austin, Sarah; Gubbala, Sneha; Lippert, Jordan (28 February 2024). "1. Attitudes toward different types of government systems". Pew Research Center.
- ^ Anderson, Christopher J.; Bol, Damien; Ananda, Aurelia (2021). "Humanity's Attitudes about Democracy and Political Leaders". Public Opinion Quarterly. 85 (4): 957–986. doi:10.1093/poq/nfab056. ISSN 0033-362X. PMC 8754486. PMID 35035302.
- ^ Hyde, Susan D. (2011). The Pseudo-Democrat's Dilemma: Why Election Observation Became an International Norm. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-6125-5. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt7z647.
- ^ Guriev, Sergei; Treisman, Daniel (2022). Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-22446-6.
- ^ V-Dem Institute DEMOCRACY REPORT 2022: Autocratization Changing Nature? pp. 6, 13, 18: "Dictatorships are on the rise and harbor 70% of the world population – 5.4 billion people."
- ^ Economic Intelligence Unit Democracy Index, 2022, p. 4: "According to our measure of democracy, less than half (45.7%) of the world's population now live in a democracy of some sort, a significant decline from 2020 (49.4%)."