LECTURE 5 Theme: Democracy.

PLAN  Political Science Perspectives.  Democracy. Types and way of realizations.  Democratic state.

Democracy  Democracy (literally "rule by the people", from the Greek δημοκρατία- demokratia demos, "people," and kratos, "rule") is a form of government.form of government

Types of democracy  Direct  Representative  Liberal democracy

Direct  Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens vote on all major policy decisions. Direct democracy

 It is called direct because, in the classical forms, there are no intermediaries or representatives.

 All direct democracies to date have been relatively small communities, usually city-states. city-states

Representative  Representative democracy is so named because the people select representatives to a governing body. Representative democracy

Liberal democracy  Liberal democracy is a representative democracy (with free and fair elections) along with the protection of minorities, Liberal democracy  the rule of law,  a separation of powers,  protection of liberties (thus the name liberal) of speech, assembly, religion, and property

Democratic state  A demos  A territory  A decision-making procedure

 A demos—a group which makes political decisions by some form of collective procedure—must exist. Non- members of the demos do not participate. In modern democracies the demos is the adult portion of the nation, and adult citizenship is usually equivalent to membership.

 A territory must be present, where the decisions apply, and where the demos is resident. In modern democracies, the territory is the nation-state, and since this corresponds (in theory) with the homeland of the nation, the demos and the reach of the democratic process neatly coincide.nation-state

 A decision-making procedure exists, which is either direct, in instances such as a referendum, or indirect, of which instances include the election of a parliament.referendum parliament

 The procedure is regarded as legitimate by the demos, implying that its outcome will be accepted. Political legitimacy is the willingness of the population to accept decisions of the state, its government and courts, which go against personal choices or interests.Political legitimacy

 The procedure is effective in the minimal sense that it can be used to change the government, assuming there is sufficient support for that change. Showcase elections, pre- arranged to re-elect the existing regime, are not democratic.

 In the case of nation-states, the state must be sovereign: democratic elections are pointless if an outside authority can overrule the result.sovereign