What is democracy?
This assessment consists of a 400-500 word essay where you give your personal definition of what a democracy is. In order to answer this question you should provide and justify briefly some characteristics that you believe to be essential for considering a country democratic.
Earth has never had a system of actual democracy simply because we've never had the technology to define the true will of our diverse majorities. Because governments without public oversight naturally become institutionally corrupted over generations due to normal human greed, no small group can ever assure honest and benevolent rule of a people.
Kobach states at the end of his book, "Too often, observers deem Switzerland an oddity among political systems. It is more appropriate to regard it as a pioneer." Finally, the Swiss political system, including its direct democratic devices in a multi-level governance context, becomes increasingly interesting for scholars of European Union integration
Democracy is a political system ruled by its citizens. The ONLY way to do that would be to validate the consent of the governed by vote to establish the true will of the majority of the governed. And, a literal democracy would also enable the citizens to initiate the initiatives (raise the issues) and define the solutions in a votable public forum like this.
Except for the freedom to choose the government there is no reason why people cannot be as free under an autocracy as in a democracy. Democratic states nearly always have freer people than autocratic states. They obviously have the right to vote for their government so by extension deciding the policy of their nation and what their nation should be like. They have more freedom of speech and expression than in autocracies. In particular they are free to criticise their own government.
Earth has never had a system of actual democracy simply because we've never had the technology to define the true will of our diverse majorities. Because governments without public oversight naturally become institutionally corrupted over generations due to normal human greed, no small group can ever assure honest and benevolent rule of a people.
Kobach states at the end of his book, "Too often, observers deem Switzerland an oddity among political systems. It is more appropriate to regard it as a pioneer." Finally, the Swiss political system, including its direct democratic devices in a multi-level governance context, becomes increasingly interesting for scholars of European Union integration
Democracy is a political system ruled by its citizens. The ONLY way to do that would be to validate the consent of the governed by vote to establish the true will of the majority of the governed. And, a literal democracy would also enable the citizens to initiate the initiatives (raise the issues) and define the solutions in a votable public forum like this.
Except for the freedom to choose the government there is no reason why people cannot be as free under an autocracy as in a democracy. Democratic states nearly always have freer people than autocratic states. They obviously have the right to vote for their government so by extension deciding the policy of their nation and what their nation should be like. They have more freedom of speech and expression than in autocracies. In particular they are free to criticise their own government.