Editing Democracy (section)

{{Short description|Form of government}}
{{other uses|Democracy (disambiguation)|Democrat (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2015}}
{{Democracy}}{{Basic forms of government}}'''Democracy''' (from {{langx|grc|δημοκρατία|dēmokratía}}, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule')<ref name="Oxford">{{cite news|title=Democracy|agency=Oxford University Press|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195148909.001.0001/acref-9780195148909-e-241|access-date=24 February 2021}}</ref> is a [[form of government]] in which [[political power]] is vested in the [[people]] or the [[population]] of a state.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schwartzberg|first1=Melissa|title=Democracy|journal=The Encyclopedia of Political Thought|date=2014|pages=851–862|doi=10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0248|isbn=978-1-4051-9129-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2023-08-16|title=Democracy {{!}} Definition, History, Meaning, Types, Examples, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy|access-date=2023-08-17|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref><ref name="Przeworski2024">{{Cite journal|last=Przeworski|first=Adam|date=2024|title=Who Decides What Is Democratic?|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/930423|journal=Journal of Democracy|volume=35|issue=3|pages=5–16|doi=10.1353/jod.2024.a930423|issn=1086-3214}}</ref> Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive [[Election|elections]] while more expansive or maximalist definitions link democracy to guarantees of [[civil liberties]] and [[human rights]] in addition to competitive elections.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dahl|first1=Robert A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8THIuSkiqgC|title=The Democracy Sourcebook|last2=Shapiro|first2=Ian|last3=Cheibub|first3=Jose Antonio|date=2003|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-54147-3|pages=31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=Jan 2013|volume=24|issue=1|first1=Jørgen|last1=Møller|first2=Svend-Erik|last2=Skaaning|title=Regime Types and Democratic Sequencing|url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/regime-types-and-democratic-sequencing/|journal=Journal of Democracy|pages=142–155|doi=10.1353/jod.2013.0010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222213426/https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/regime-types-and-democratic-sequencing/|archive-date=22 February 2024|issn=1045-5736}}</ref><ref name="Przeworski2024" />

In a [[direct democracy]], the people have the direct [[authority]] to [[Deliberation|deliberate]] and decide [[legislation]]. In a [[representative democracy]], the people choose governing [[officials]] through [[election]]s to do so. The definition of "the people" and the ways [[authority]] is shared among them or delegated by them have changed over time and at varying rates in different countries. Features of democracy oftentimes include [[freedom of assembly]], [[freedom of association|association]], [[personal property]], [[freedom of religion]] and [[freedom of speech|speech]], [[citizenship]], [[consent of the governed]], [[voting rights]], freedom from unwarranted governmental [[wikt:deprivation|deprivation]] of the [[right to life]] and [[liberty]], and [[minority rights]].

The notion of democracy has evolved considerably over time. Throughout history, one can find evidence of direct democracy, in which [[communities]] make decisions through [[popular assembly]]. Today, the dominant form of democracy is representative democracy, where citizens elect [[government]] officials to govern on their behalf such as in a [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary]] or [[presidential democracy]]. In the common variant of [[liberal democracy]], the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but a [[constitution]] and [[supreme court]] limit the majority and protect the [[Minority group|minority]]—usually through securing the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, such as [[freedom]] of speech or freedom of association.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'': "democracy".</ref><ref name="Brittanica">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Watkins|first1=Frederick|title=Democracy|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=1970|publisher=William Benton|isbn=978-0-85229-135-1|pages=215–23|edition=Expo '70 hardcover|volume=7}}</ref>

The term appeared in the 5th century BC in [[Greek city-state]]s, notably [[Classical Athens]], to mean "rule of the people", in contrast to [[aristocracy]] ({{lang|grc|ἀριστοκρατία}}, ''{{lang|la|aristokratía}}''), meaning "rule of an elite".<ref>Wilson, N.G. (2006). ''Encyclopedia of ancient Greece''. New York: Routledge. p. 511. {{ISBN|978-0-415-97334-2}}.</ref> In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic [[citizenship]] was initially restricted to an elite class, which was later extended to all adult citizens. In most modern democracies, this was achieved through the [[suffrage]] movements of the 19th and 20th [[centuries]].

Democracy contrasts with forms of government where [[Power (social and political)|power]] is not vested in the [[Population|general population]] of a [[State (polity)|state]], such as [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] systems. Historically a rare and vulnerable form of government,<ref name="Deudney2008b" /> democratic systems of government have become more prevalent since the 19th century, in particular with various [[Waves of democracy|waves of democratization]].<ref name="NYTimes20150915" /> Democracy garners considerable legitimacy in the modern world,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fukuyama |first=Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdFpQwKfX2IC |title=The End of History and the Last Man |date=2006 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-8455-4 |language=en}}</ref> as public opinion across regions tends to strongly favor democratic systems of government relative to alternatives,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Wike |first1=Richard |last2=Fetterolf |first2=Janell |last3=Smerkovich |first3=Maria |last4=Austin |first4=Sarah |last5=Gubbala |first5=Sneha |last6=Lippert |first6=Jordan |date=2024-02-28 |title=1. Attitudes toward different types of government systems |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2024/02/28/attitudes-toward-different-types-of-government-systems/ |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=2021|title=Humanity's Attitudes about Democracy and Political Leaders|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfab056|journal=Public Opinion Quarterly|doi=10.1093/poq/nfab056|issn=0033-362X|last1=Anderson|first1=Christopher J.|last2=Bol|first2=Damien|last3=Ananda|first3=Aurelia|volume=85|issue=4|pages=957–986|pmid=35035302|pmc=8754486}}</ref> and as even authoritarian states try to present themselves as democratic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hyde |first=Susan D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt7z647 |title=The Pseudo-Democrat's Dilemma: Why Election Observation Became an International Norm |date=2011 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-6125-5 |jstor=10.7591/j.ctt7z647 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Guriev |first1=Sergei |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ThCEAAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |title=Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century |last2=Treisman |first2=Daniel |date=2022 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-22446-6 |language=en}}</ref> According to the [[V-Dem Democracy indices]] and [[The Economist Democracy Index]], less than half the world's population lives in a democracy {{as of|2022|lc=y}}.<ref name=V-dem>[https://www.v-dem.net/documents/19/dr_2022_ipyOpLP.pdf V-Dem Institute DEMOCRACY REPORT 2022: Autocratization Changing Nature?] pp. 6, 13, 18: "Dictatorships are on the rise and harbor 70% of the world population – 5.4 billion people."</ref><ref>Economic Intelligence Unit Democracy Index, 2022, p. 4: "According to our measure of democracy, less than half (45.7%) of the world's population now live in a democracy of some sort, a significant decline from 2020 (49.4%)."</ref>

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