THE DEMOCRACY

MEANING AND DEFINITION:

In the dictionary definition, democracy is government by the people in which the supreme
power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a
free electoral system.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and
for the people. There is no clear cut, universal definition of democracy. Most definitions of
democracy focus on qualities, procedures, and institutions.
There are many types of democracy and their varied practices produce similarly varied effects.
Following are the varied definition of democracy.
Democracy comes from the Greek words demos meaning
People and kratos meaning authority or power. government which is conducted with
the freely given consent of people.
a system of government in which supreme authority lies with the people.
Rule by the people in a country directly or by representation.
The form of government in which political control exercised by all the people, either directly or
through their elected representative.
The word democracy itself means rule by the people. A democracy is a system where people
can change their rulers in a peaceful manner and the government is given the right to rule
because the people say it may.
HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY:
The history of democracy is not a slow steady advance, in the view of political scientist Samuel
P. Huntington, but a succession of waves that have advanced, receded, then rolled in and
crested again. Huntington identifies three historical or long waves of democracy.
The first began in the early 19th century with the extension of the right to vote to a large
proportion of the male population in the United States, and continued until the 1920s. During this
period, some 29 democracies came into being. The flow, or reversal, of the first wave began in
1922 with the accession of Mussolini to power in Italy and lasted until 1942, when the number of
the worlds democracies had been reduced to 12.
A second wave began with the triumph of the Allies in World War II, I 1945 when the number of
democracies had risen to 36. The flow of the second wave between 1962 and the mid 1970s

brought it back down to 30.Since 1974, however, democracys third wave has approximately led
to the emergence of democracies to double. Huntington writes, Economic development makes
democracy possible; political leadership makes it real. Huntington is of the view that the ebbing
of democracys third wave is always possible, he concludes, possibly followed by a fourth wave
sometime in the 21st century.
Democracies fall into two categories,
DIRECT DEMOCRACY:
In a direct democracy, all citizens, without the intermediary of elected or appointed officials, can
participate in making public decisions. Such a system is clearly only practical with relatively
small numbers of people in a community organization to tribal council, for example, or the local
unit of a labour union, where members can meet in a single room to discuss issues and arrive at
decisions by consensus or majority vote.
Ancient Athens, the worlds first democracy, managed to practice direct democracy with an
assembly of as many as 5,000 to 6,000 persons. In Switzerland direct democracy is followed
even at the national level.
INDIRECT DEMOCRACY:
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely
chosen representatives.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed in
periodic and genuine election that shall be held by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held
by secret vote or the equivalent free voting procedures.
India is the best example of a representative democracy. Voting is one of the mechanisms that
guides a democratic state and keeps its leaders on track, and it serves to let the leadership know
how they have performed.
During elections, citizens vote for the candidate for their choice. Elected leader represent the
people and govern for a set period of office. Representatives are chosen through elections based
on the constituency or proportional representation system, or on a combination of the two.
PREREQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY:
With an upsurge in the number of democracies holding free and fair elections and declaring
themselves democratic states, some theorists have developed a set of minimum requirements.

Elections do not make a country democratic. The following list of minimum requirements has
been extracted by a study of democracies and by reading various theories of democracy.
It provides both a good overview of what democracy means and a standard against which to test
whether or not a country is democratic.
1. Control over government decisions about policy constitutionally vested in elected
representatives.
2. Elected representatives chosen in frequent and fair elections.
3. Elected representatives exercise their constitutional powers.
4. All adults have the right to vote in elections.
5. All adults have the right to run for public office.
6. Citizens have the right to express themselves on political matters, defined broadly, without the
risk of state punishment.
The pillars of democracy:
1. Sovereignty of the people.
2. Government based upon consent of the government.
3. Majority rule.
4. Minority rights.
5. Guarantee of basic human rights.
6. Free and fair elections.
7. Equality before the law.
8. Due process of law.
9. Constitutional limits on government.
10. Social, economic, and political pluralism.
MERITS OF DEMOCRACY:
1. The participation of the individual members in the government facilitates to enlist their
sympathy and co operation to the success of the government.
2. It is an effective form to educate the public about political, economic and social affairs.
3. It is helpful to promote patriotism among the people and prevents occurrence of violent
revolutions.
4. It helps to make progress and development and enables changes to take place in a peaceful
manner.

5. It ensures to the people freedom of speech, conscience, assembly and action.

6. It guarantees liberty and equality, which are necessary for human development.
DEMERITS OF DEMOCRACY:
1. It sometimes leads to establish the majority view over the minority view.
2. Party leaders and political office holders in government control the citizens and the members
of the party.
3. It does not encourage individuals to give their opinions.
4. It is a very expensive form of government because elections have to be conducted periodically
to various offices.
5. It is difficult to prevent corruption and malpractices.
6. It is also known as government by amateurs and lead to domination of masses.