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What is democracy?Give its charachteristics?

The term "democracy" originates from the antiquity and denotes "people`s power" (from the Greek: demos – "people" and kratos –"power").  In simple language we can say democracy is - " FOR THE PEOPLE,OF THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE". 

CHARACTERSTICS OF DEMOCRACY :-

- recognition of people as the source of the state power. The power of people implies that it forms the state power by elections and directly participates in its implementation (with the help of referenda, local authorities as well as through representative bodies);

- alternate electivity and replacement of central and local authorities with their accountability to the electorate;

- declaration and ensuring rights and freedoms of man and citizen. A specific meaning for the full-fledged functioning democratic political system ensures the rights of people of participating in management of state affairs – elective franchise, the right to form political parties and other types of associations, freedom of speech and opinions, information right, etc;

- decision-making by the majority and minority`s submission in implementing them;

- society`s democratic control of security ministries, used according to their intended purpose and within the law;

- domination of persuasive, coordinating and compromising methods, non-violence, non-compulsion, non-suppression;

- real implementation of principles of constitutional state including separation of powers principle...

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Democracy is defined as a government that is elected by the people or by elected representatives. It can also be defined as something being owned by the Democratic party.A free democracy involves the people.



The people can vote for whoever they want, though at the ballots, only a few candidates are actually listed.

The power of the people hold the Government to account, when a government isn't doing too well, they are booted out as determined by the people.

In a democracy, it is always most often majority or mob rule, where a majority can overpower decisions of a minority. A majority can be something as basic as 50.1% of the votes, or even 1 vote more than the minority.

With majority rule, this leaves one half of the population (in theory) unhappy, while the other half is happy, this is a major flaw in democracy, however, it is an actual fact that not everyone can be satisfied at the same time

There are also political parties form, so that people with the same views can assimilate.
Examples of political parties are the Republican and Democratic party of the USA, the Conservative Party of the UK, and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany

Democracy is either representative, like in the US, where the people choose representatives to go to Parliament/Congress. In theory, the Representative must represent his area according to the people, however, it isn't always the case these days. The representative usually gets one vote in Parliament and he/she can use the vote however he/she wants to determine whether laws are passed or not. The other democracy is Direct Democracy (in like Switzerland), where the people vote in referendums that determine whether laws are passed or not. This is called direct democracy, because it directly involves the people.

Democracy also depends on how many people turn up at the booths, low turnouts don't represent the nation fully, and can lead to political disaster

Democracy also requires confidentiality, where your vote is kept secret, in order to avoid intimidation, which leads to some people gaining unfair advantages.


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