What is democracy?

Nowadays almost everyone is crying for freedom. People want the form of government in which they can be allowed to express themselves clearly and freely. People want to rule their countries through their representatives. The only form of government where people can voice their opinion is democracy.

Meaning of democracy

The word democracy comes from two Greek words: Demos which means people or citizens and Kratos which means power, it can also mean rule or authority.

The word democracy means rule by the people.

Democracy can be defined as a system of government in which the exercise of political power and authority is vested in people through their elected representatives. It has also been defined as a government by consent.

Forms or types of democracy.

There are two main forms of democracy. There are

1) Direct (pure) democracy

2) Indirect (representative) democracy

Direct (pure democracy).

This is a system of government whereby everyone is involved in the affairs of the country. Under this type of democracy, people themselves are the rulers, and they are the ruled at the same time. They themselves make laws, enforce them and decides cases according to those laws.

Such a democracy existed in city-states of Ancient Greece and Rome. Some practice of direct democracy are still observed in Switzerland and some states of the USA.

Representatives or indirect democracy.

This is a system of government where citizens choose their representatives to rule on their behalf. After the creation of large nation-states, it became impossible for all people to participate directly in the affairs of the state. Under this form of democracy, people elect a small number of representatives and give them the authority to run the government. Since people rule through these representatives, we give the system the name of indirect or representative democracy. This is the most common form of democracy found across the world. Its emphasis lies on protecting the rights of not only the majority by also the minorities.

Most of the representative democracies of the world consider themselves to be liberal democracies. This is because they value the needs of their individual citizens more that of the entire state. This is why it is difficult to proclaim the state of emergency in countries like India and the USA.

Examples of countries with indirect democracy are India, Canada, USA, Italy, France, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Holland, Nigeria, etc.

Features or characteristics of democracy.

The following are the key features of democracy:

1) The rule of law.

This implies that no one is above the law and requires that all citizens observe the law and are held accountable if they break it. The due process of law requires that the law should be equally, fairly and consistently enforced. The rule of law ensures law and order and the protection of citizens as they enjoy their rights.

2) Citizen participation.

This means that citizens are part and parcel of what happens in their society or country. The citizens are part of the decision- making process on matters that affect them. People should be allowed to participate in the political process of their country.

3) Independence of judiciary.

In democracy, the judiciary which is one of the three organs of government that interprets laws and decides cases should be free from the control of the other two or organs of government; i.e. the decisions and pronouncements of the judiciary are not subject to either executive or legislative control.

4) Regular fee and fair elections.

In democratic government, elections should be held at regular intervals and whenever elections are held, they should be free and fair.

Regular elections ensure that the citizens are not stuck with bad leadership but that they have the opportunity to through free and fair elections.

Free and fair elections give the citizens a chance to elect a leader of their choice as opposed to rigging elections that usually return unwanted leaders to power.

Elections are the main avenue for all citizens to exercise power by choosing their leaders and giving their votes to the candidate whom they think will represent them best.

5) Protection of human rights.

Unlike dictatorships, democracies strive to protect the rights and freedoms of their citizens from abuse. These rights include the right to life, the right to own property, the freedom of expression, the freedom of assembly, freedom of association, etc.

6) Political equality.

Every citizen in a democratic government is accorded equal opportunity to vote and be voted for, provided they are duly qualified to participate in the political affairs of the country.

7) Transparency.

To be transparent means that leaders allows for public scrutiny of what they do while in public office. The citizens are allowed to attend public meetings and are free to obtain information on what happens in public offices, who makes what decisions and why. Transparency is a step towards accountability.

8) Accountability.

This means that elected leaders or public officials have to answer to the common citizens regarding their actions, decisions or indecisions during the time they are or were occupants of the public office.

Those found to be performing to the required standards are rewarded by their continued stay in office while those found to be lacking in one way or another are punished.

9) Freedom of press.

Freedom of the press: Under the democratic system of government, all the media houses are free to express their opinions and feelings through writing or any means.

10) Popular Sovereignty.

The principle of popular sovereignty, which means the people are the source of all power, is the very essence of a democracy. The government gets all its power from its people. It exercises it so long as the people desire. People can change the government through elections. Government always tries to demonstrate its respect for the principle of sovereignty of the people.

11) Neutrality of state institutions.

In a democratic form of government, state institutions such as the police and the army should be neutral and not take sides or be politically partisan.

12) Popular consultation.

A democratic government seeks the people’s opinion on its policies and programmes because they are the final beneficiaries of such programmes.

13) Political tolerance.

What does this mean? It means that the ruling masses should be mindful and respectful of the interests of the minority. While there may be differences between the people by way of race, religion, descent and culture, they rise above such differences and give room for discussion, debate and accommodation of different viewpoints.

14) Acceptance of Election outcome (results)

Once free and fair elections are held and the winner clearly emerges, the loser of the elections should peacefully evacuate the office and hand over the instruments of power to the winner. However, it is important that once voted into power, the leader should rule for the benefit of all citizens even though some did not vote for them.

15) The existence of multiparty.

A multiparty system is a set-up where more than two political parties are contesting for power. The reasons for having multiple parties in a democracy are:

- to widen the pool for choice of the best candidate for political office;

- to offer alternative views to the government of the day as a result of the existence of opposition.

-to enable the opposition to act as a check on those in political office.

16) Separation of powers.

This is the principle which states that government powers should be divided into three parts called organs of government. These three organs of government (Executive, legislature and judiciary) must operate independently. This ensures checks and balances.

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