Essay About Democracy

Democracy Essay examples
Democracy
When I think of the word democracy, I think of Government. Democracy is a form of government
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. This means that Government must protect the basic
rights, or liberties, of all people. This is the system of government that United States are base on.
The United States, Cuba, and Democracy
During the Clinton administration, the sentiment has been proclaimed on so many occasions by the
president and other political leaders, and dutifully reiterated by the media, that the thesis: "Cuba is
the only non–democracy in the Western Hemisphere" is now nothing short of received...show more
content...
If, despite this record, the United States can insist that Cuba is the only "non–democracy" in the
Western Hemisphere, we are left with the inescapable conclusion that this thing called "democracy",
as seen from the White House, may have little or nothing to do with many of our most cherished
human rights. Indeed, numerous pronouncements emanating from Washington officialdom over
the years make plain that "democracy", at best, or at most, is equated solely with elections and
civil liberties. Not even jobs, food, and shelter are part of the equation. Thus, a nation with hordes
of hungry, homeless, untended sick, barely literate, unemployed, and/or tortured people, who have
loved ones, are being disappeared and/or murdered with state connivance, can be said to be living
in a "democracy". Its literal Greek meaning of "rule of the people" implying that this is the kind of
life the people actually want –– provided that every two years or four years they have the right to go
to a designated place and put an X next to the name of one or another individual who promises to
relieve their miserable condition. But who will, typically, do virtually nothing of the kind; and
provided further that in this society there is at least a certain minimum of freedom –– how much
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Essay about Constitutional Democracy
Constitutional Democracy
The basic premise of a constitutional democracy is that government has rules and all of the people
have voices. Through free and fair elections we elect candidates to represent us. The Constitution of
the United States guarantees us the right to do this, and to live democratically. The framers attacked
tyrannical government and advanced the following ideas: that government comes from below, not
from above, and that it derives its powers from the consent of the governed; that men have certain
natural, inalienable rights; that it is wise and feasible to distribute and balance powers within
government, giving local powers to local governments, and general powers to the national...show
more content...
It is a way of deliberation, to tune out the clink of money in the background when you talk to
somebody, so that you can concentrate on that person's message and judge it on its own merits.
It means looking at someone and not saying to yourself, "That's my aunt" or
"That's my boss," but rather, that is someone with his or her own inclinations and
desires, in other words, a true Individual who incidentally happens to have this relation to me, as a
relative or a superior.
On a grander scale, individualism is putting the individual above the state and country. In those
countries that have always been proud of their traditional values of emphasis on the family or the
country above self they see
Individualism as a direct attack on these values. However, we live in a democratic country and we
believe in individualism and equal opportunity for all persons. Equal opportunity for everyone is
idealistic. Roosevelt outlined a second bill of rights which the book states answers the question,
"what kind of equality?" This second bill of rights was four freedoms. They were
freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of speech & expression and freedom of
worship. There are laws and acts to guarantee equal opportunity. For example, the Equal Pay Act of

Essay about Digital Democracy
Digital Democracy
Over the years the media has made citizens major role players in politics. Ross Perot opened eyes
by putting the 1992 Election in the media and thereby allowing voters to become directly involved
in politics. The Internet, the new form of mass media "has turned into a major political and media
industry" (Grossman 16). Because of the rise the Internet has taken, the idea of direct democracy has
risen. The foundation of direct democracy is in self–government. The claim is that the presence of
the Internet will increase citizens' involvement in political issues by allowing them access to more
information. This is significant because it takes a look at the impact of technology on society and
politics, as well by...show more content...
Representative government is grounded in the Constitution. The Constitution was created to protect
citizens from factious groups through the establishment of an extended republic intended to
"diminish the chances that any one faction will gain majority" (Kamark & Nye 29). However, it is
still possible that citizens, as the majority, will tyrannize each other (25).
Theorists contend that representative government is headed for direct democracy by way of the
Internet. Essentially what will happen is that representatives will no longer be needed because
citizens will be able to use the Internet to make decisions. Grossman contends that "the more power
[citizens] have to control their government and to involve themselves in making its decisions, the
better" (41). Over the years citizens have been obtaining information through the media, newspapers,
and other forms of mass media. The issues that arise with obtaining information through these
sources are that the government can easily censor them. With the Internet comes "vastly expanded
capacities for data collection, for computation, and for automation" (Kamark & Nye 22).
In his essay, Applbaum expresses the need for increased intelligence with the increase of
information available on the Internet (Kamark & Nye 22). Basically, as the Internet becomes a
larger resource for information, it will fall to the same fate as other forms of mass media and will
therefor become more censored as

Forms Of Democracy
What is Democracy?
A democracy is a system of government where the citizens have the right to elect government
representatives who jointly create a government body for the entire nation. In a democratic
government, people have certain rights that the government can't take away from them; these rights
are guaranteed. The eight main forms of democracy are:
1. Direct democracy 2. Representative democracy 3. Presidential democracy
4. Parliamentary democracy 5. Authoritarian democracy 6. Participatory democracy 7. Islamic
democracy
8. Social democracy
Direct Democracy – Direct democracy is when citizens vote for a policy directly. If the
government needs to pass a law or policy, then it goes to the people. The people place a vote on
the issue and through their vote, they decide the fate of their country. When the country's
population is small and educated a direct democracy is a good idea. Switzerland has had an
extensive history of very successful direct democracy. However, most countries are too big so it
makes it too complicated for a direct democracy to work. In these cases, people choose to elect
representatives from their country on their behalf, instead of voting on every issue.
Representative Democracy– Representative democracy is when the citizens choose to vote for who
will represent them in a parliament. Its reputation relies on defending the rights of most of the
people in the state and also the minorities. Australia and New Zealand are examples of countries

Essay on Democracy in America
Democracy is a unique type of government, and the purpose of this essay is to illustrate the
strengths and weaknesses that a democratic government provides. I will detail that many
components of this type of society are both strengths and weakness as each component has
beneficial aspects as well as unavoidable pitfalls. Ademocracy is a government by the people, in
which the power is vested in the people themselves. The people then elect representatives who
conduct their power in a free electoral system. The Declaration of Independence, which says that all
men are created equal, was written on the premise of a democracy. According to John Locke, who
wrote The Social Contract, before acknowledging that an individual is part of a...show more content...
The laws of society are applied equally to everyone, but equitable to the circumstances. The same
holds true for taxes: those with higher incomes pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes than
those in lower tax brackets. Although not equally applied, the tax laws are equitable. Democratic
laws are written in such a way as to allow interpretation depending upon circumstances. "A thousand
circumstances, independent of the will of man, facilitate the maintenance of a democratic republic
in the United States" Initially, laws are difficult to design because lawmakers can't think of every
possibility, every scenario, and every obstacle that may present itself in the democracy. Despite
these difficulties, laws keep society together and provide unity for the citizens. Advantages for
creating laws, include, but are not limited to, providing direction for the collection of taxes,
declaring clear expectations for compliance and punishment of citizens and elimination of chaos. A
weakness of democracy is the "Tyranny of the Majority". This is an inevitable pitfall, because in a
democracy, the power is vested foremost in the people the constituting the society itself. Alexis de
Tocqueville wrote on this concept:
"Democratic laws generally tend to promote the welfare of the greatest possible number; for they
emanate from the majority of the citizens, who are subject to error, but who cannot have an interest
opposed to

Athenian Democracy Essay examples
Today, much of the world's governments have converted to democracies. In the Ancient World, there
was only one truly notable example of a democratic society: The City–State of Athens. This is
actually the birthplace of democracy, where instead of the rich or powerful ruling, it was the citizens
of the city–state that held the power. This advanced way of government was so effective and well
structured, it even laid the foundations for the development of our own democracy, right here in the
United States, over 2,000 years in the future. Prior to Athens's collapse during the Peloponnesian War
, it truly had an efficient and very organized system of government. Democracy in Athens can be
traced back to 594 B.C.E, when Solon was given the...show more content...
Cleisthenes then introduced his own reforms for Athens. He gave more power to the Assembly of
Athens and less power to the aristocrats. He then divided all of Attica into ten tribes, which were
called phylai. Each tribe in turn was given three pieces of land, which each contained many little
villages called demes. The demes all together would then participate in the government by voting
for people to make up the Council. The chain of command for the government of Athens was pretty
straightforward. At the very top was the strategoi, the military commanders. There were ten of
these, one strategos voted for each tribe. They each served for one year, however unlike the other
officials, the strategoi could be reelected to their positions an unlimited number of times. "This is
based on the wisdom that frequently overhauling military leadership during a war or other national
emergency can prove dangerous or even disastrous" (Nardo 46). One prominent example of this was
Pericles, who was extremely popular and was reelected over twenty times before his death. The
duty of the strategoi was to carry out orders given by the Council and Assembly. They also
regularly carried out foreign policy initiatives. Next was the ruling group, also known as the
prytany. The prytany provided individuals who were available at all times in case a crisis broke out
and needed attention (Ancient Civilizations 26). After them was the

Essay about Liberal Democracy
Liberal democracy
Introduction
To begin with Francis Fukuyama's, provocative thesis, that after the fall of communism in Europe
and the withering of the grand ideological contests, history too has ended. In his "end of history"
theory, he maintained that the western liberal democracy had become the `final form of human
government'. The fact is that though not all theorists have this kind of a faith in liberal democracy,
and believe that it's not the only feasible form of democracy, they are in a minority. The theoretical
circles and the popular discourse have been dominated by "liberal democracy."
John Stuart mill's essay "on liberalism and considerations of representative...show more content...
<li value="2">Since these civil liberties typically and directly affect those who enjoy them, people
should be exempt for the interference by other, especially the state, even democratic state.
<li value="3">He thought there should be certain areas in citizens' lives, which are free of state
regulation and legal limits. Thus, he favored the preservation of the distinction between the public
and the private realm and rule of law.
<li value="4">Regarding democracy, he encouraged direct citizen participation for its functions of
engendering confidence in the people about their ability to govern themselves, developing
intellectual talents, and communal and moral values.
</ol>
However, since direct participation was not possible in large societies, Mill thought the `ideal type of
a perfect government would be a representative government'.
There are varieties of liberal–democratic theory that is to say that there are differences over the
application of the liberal democratic principles, and not the principle themselves. For ex– there can
be differences over how best to preserve civil liberties or to structure representative democracy.
A)Participation –This is an element that is not shared by all liberal–democrat theorists, for instance
sartori and William riker. Some critics of liberal democracy view mill's enthusiasm for
participationism as a deviation from the

Democracy: An Analysis Essay
Winston Churchill once remarked that "democracy is the worst form of government except all the
others that have been tried". In agreement with his statement, this paper will examine the problems
of democratic governments using specific examples, and compare it to the failure of fascist
governments in Nazi Germany and Italy and communist governments in the Soviet Union and China.
Theoretically, democracy is a stable form of government where power is in the hands of the people.
In a democracy, people have the liberty to elect officials that best represent their interests, and
political institutions exist as a result: Benjamin Constant argues in The Liberty of the Ancients
Compared with that of the Moderns that "true modern liberty is...show more content...
During elections in countries with corrupt governments, for example, it has to be decided whether
the guarantee of every individual's right to vote or who wins is more important. (Wong, Lecture,
October 24) Moreover, deep divides continue to exist and separate groups in democratic countries by
race, religion, language, and class, resulting in tension and, in some cases, oppression. Thus
democracy, despite its emphasis on liberty, equality and plurality, can still be problematic.
According to Andrew Janos, "the price of economic progress has been political turmoil". (Janos, pg.
21) If the Modernization Theory holds that countries tend to become more democratic the more they
modernize, then political turmoil is to be expected in democracies. Certainly this can occur in both
parliamentary and presidential systems: as Linz argues, the presidential system concentrates too
much power on the president, resulting in "winner–take–all" politics (Linz, pg. 56) and the
polarization of political parties. This is evident in the United States, where the president is elected
separately and Congress is divided between the opposing Democrats and Republicans. Conversely,
the parliamentary system in Britain, as well as that adapted by the former British colonies of Sri
Lanka and Nigeria, has had its fair share of single–party hegemony and political abuse. (Horowitz,
pg. 78) Democracy is therefore not a perfect form of government when put in practice, and much of
its

Democracy And Democracy
Introduction
The relationship between economic growth and democracy has long been discussed and dissected
ever since the beginning of the French Revolution and the democratization of Europe through the
18th and 20th centuries with various revolutions occurring, mostly in revolt to the overt dominance
of the upper classes. Yet, no concrete answer has been defined on whetherdemocracy directly
increases economic growth, or that any non–democratic systems are strictly better at growing an
economy. In this paper, there will be an examination of how despite no concrete definite answers
about the correlation between democratic regimes and economic prosperity/growth exist, democracy
still heavily encourages and enables for a maximized economic growth compared to totalitarian or
monarchical regimes, through some main principles that define a democratic regime: Rule of law,
legitimate authority, quality of governance, and participation of citizens, by means of humane work
conditions, equal participation among classes, governance motivating the workforce, and less effort
and money expunged towards legitimacy. Economic growth shouldn't necessarily come before
democracy as democracy facilitates and potentially maximizes economic growth.
Participation and Opportunity
One of the qualifiers for democracy, active participation of citizens in political and civic life
(United Nations[UN], 2005), is necessary for a prosperous marketplace for all industries which have
production in control of

Essay about Democracy
Like a living organism, democracy must be born into a time where the parents, circumstances, are
right to understand the potential of such a child, democracy, and the soil, society, may be described
as the type of state that is ready to accept and nurture that child. Metaphors aside, democracy has
been noted to provide a better opportunity for human development. Democracy is also commonly
defined as a political system that is associated with free and fair elections. A democratic regime
simply refers to a system of governance that places sovereignty in the citizen's hands which allow
them to contribute to the process of decision–making through their elected officials. Democracy is
not as old as many may originally think. As recent as 1974,...show more content...
These breakdowns can occur through military action, a seizure of power by the opposition, or a
collapse of the state. When a collapse occurs, the state cannot coerce and is unable to successfully
control the inhabitants of the given territory. Diamond conveys an important reason why some
authoritarian regimes lose domestic legitimacy. The citizens of a state may not be confident in their
government when "... they fulfill their self–proclaimed missions and become redundant or when they
completely fail to do so and clearly cannot deliver," (Diamond 91). Failures of dictatorial regimes
in countries like Greece and Argentina were a result of bad economic or political performances.
Another example of authoritarian failure occurred in Africa in the early 1990s. Most African
countries were severely set back because of massive foreign debts. In order to pay back some of
these loans, many governments of these African countries would use almost four times their export
earnings leaving the government with no funds to provide basic services for its citizens. These
failures were not just economic but political as well. It got to a point where these "... authoritarian
states became too broke to buy off their opposition and too exhausted to repress them, protests
escalated," (Diamond 93). These protests had prompted not just a change in the leader, but a change
in the

A Democratic Society Essay
A Democratic Society
Throughout time the debate upon which is the best system of government has been an ongoing
debate. Somewhere between the realms of democracy, socialism, fascism, communism, and
monarchism lies the answer to the perfect system. Traditionally speaking, North America has always
tried to remain democratic in ruling. The democratic system, unlike it's alternatives, encourages
equality and liberty among the people which in modern society, makes it the most attractive system
of government today.
Arguably, equality is the goal of many governments today. But what one must realize is that equality
cannot be reached without giving someone else inequality. While democracy influences equality,
...show more content...
Liberty is possibly the most important attribute in American and Canadian society. What people
want is the ability to make their own decisions and go about life with the freedom to do so. In a
democratic society, people are able to voice their opinions to government and ultimately play an
important role in the make up and organization of society. To a new nation, these attributes of our
society are quite attractive. Many new nations today are making the switch to democratic
government. The problem with this is that most of these nations have never been democratic before.
Therefore, new nations are having great difficulty because such a switch is not easily accomplished.
To develop a democratic society it has taken some more more than an entire century. These new
nations tend to rush the change and in the end they become frustrated because such a switch is not
as easily accomplished as thought. The features of a modern democratic state are firstly a society
dedicated to the preservation of rights and freedoms. From that, a government system must adhere to
developing a form of government which encompasses the values of a working society. In other
words, a government for the people, run by the people, and a system into which they have invested.
An excellent example of a nation that comprises the rights and freedoms of its people is Canada. As
a nation we

Democratic Governance Essay
Democratic Governance
Authored by
Md. Alam,
Walden University
Overview
The study of democratic governance is an effort to make a module on "Theories of Democratic
Governance and Research". For this study, one of the most popular topics "Democracy" discussed
and analyzed from the point of theoretical aspect, contemporary research, and application aspect.
Objectives
This Knowledge Area Module (KAM) looks at democratic governance. This breadth component
begins by discussing the theoretical characteristic of democracy. For this study, democratic thoughts
of Aristotle, Milton Friedman, Robert Dahl, and John Dewey will be used as guides; will find out
the different ideas about democracy. In Breadth component, theories of democracy...show more
content...
d) Democracy includes all citizens those who are able to participate in the polis.
This four categories democracy is based on equality between poor and rich. In his Politics book four
Aristotle viewed fifth democracy which is alike with previous four types but the multitude.
Finally, Aristotle presented polity– the best alternative, mixed form of oligarchy and democracy.
This polity may more incline to either oligarchy or democracy. Oligarchic polity would rule by
few selective individuals and democratic polity is operated by common people. Aristotle is a
promoter of the latter, because it involves rule by the middle class. Dewey's Democratic Ends Need
Democratic Methods for Their Realization
Democracy is a social idea to John Dewey (Cunningham, 2002). Dewey viewed people's actions
have permanent and broader effect over other people of the society. People form leaders under
political democracy to regulate the actions. When leaders imposed force to achieve private gain, the
public became defunct. Democracy is the combination of responsible sharing as per their ability and
regulating activities among the groups.
Dahl's Dilemmas of Pluralist Democracy
Robert Dahl's (1989) democracy is a combination of typical and substantive equality. He describes at
least five

Essay About Democracy

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