What unites the concepts of democracy? In ordinary language about complex things. Participatory democracy theory

The concept of democracy has long been discussed throughout the world. Almost all countries try to comply with its principles. In this article we will look at the topic “Democracy: concept and types”. In addition, you will learn about the principles, forms and characteristics of this political regime.

Basic concept

So, we will consider the types of democracy a little later. First you need to understand the term itself. This is a specific form of government, which consists of the full participation of the country's citizens in its leadership. It provides not only the existence of the necessary rights and freedoms, but also universal equality before the laws.

In a democratic society, democracy should be maximally developed. That is, all powers do not have to be concentrated in the hands of one person or group of people. The government that is elected by the people must be as open as possible to the people, report to them on its activities, and strive for the development of the state.

Main features of democracy

Without them, this form of government cannot exist. So, its characteristic features:

1. Democracy has a political and state character.
2. This form of government involves the guarantee and actual exercise of all civil rights.
3. Compliance with established laws, mutual responsibility of the state and people for attacks on the rights and freedoms of people.

As you can see, these signs are not inherent in some other forms of exercise of power, for example, dictatorship.

Principles

The types of democracy are a very important issue not only for politicians, but also for ordinary people. However, it is no less interesting to learn about its principles:

Functions of democracy

Now let’s figure out what exactly the presented form of government should implement. So, there are the following functions of democracy:

• Security. It provides for the security, dignity and honor of every citizen. It helps to preserve human rights and freedoms from infringement by third parties.
• Founding. This provides for the formation of a state apparatus from government bodies and local self-government through elections or competitive selection.
• Organizational and political. This function assumes people as
• Regulatory. It provides for the work of all subjects of a democratic society, who are obliged to unite their efforts and interests to preserve the freedoms and rights of citizens.

• Control. It provides oversight of authorities, which must act within the limits of their powers and competence.
• Stimulating. It provides for maximum provision of state work for the benefit of society. At the same time, the opinion of the people must be taken into account. Citizens are encouraged to be active in public life.

Only democracy can provide this. You will consider the types and forms of this mode below.

Forms

So, there are only two of them:

As you can see, every citizen needs to know the very concept of what democracy is, its types and forms. Every person has certain rights and freedoms that are protected by the state.

Types of democracy

Now there is another important issue to consider. There are these types of democracy:

• Constitutional. It combines not only democratic principles, but also some signs of liberalism.
• Conservative. It is typical for some countries in which long-standing traditions play a significant role. This form of government is practiced in Great Britain.
• Anarchist. It is based on the populist aura that rulers create.
• Polyarchical. Its characteristic feature is the presence of a large number of political centers that can make decisions. That is, power is dispersed.
• Consensus. It is still being developed, but its main goal is to abandon the majority principle. This form of government should exist on mutual partnership, agreement, and compromise.

Now you know what democracy is, the concept, types and forms of this regime.

Democracy (ancient Greek δημοκρατία - “power of the people”, from δῆμος - “people” and κράτος - “power”) is a political regime based on the method of collective decision-making with equal influence of participants on the outcome of the process or on its significant stages. Although this method is applicable to any social structure, today its most important application is the state, since it has great power. In this case, the definition of democracy is usually narrowed to one of the following:
Leaders are appointed by the people they lead through fair and competitive elections.
The people are the only legitimate source of power
Society exercises self-government for the common good and satisfaction of common interests
Popular government requires ensuring a number of rights for every member of society. A number of values ​​are associated with democracy: legality, political and social equality, freedom, the right to self-determination, human rights, etc.
Since the ideal of democracy is elusive and subject to varying interpretations, many practical models have been proposed. Until the 18th century, the most well-known model was direct democracy, where citizens exercise their right to make political decisions directly, through consensus, or through procedures for the subordination of the minority to the majority. In a representative democracy, citizens exercise the same right through their elected deputies and other officials by delegating to them some of their own rights, while the elected leaders make decisions taking into account the preferences of those led and are responsible to them for their actions.
One of the main goals of democracy is to limit arbitrariness and abuse of power. This goal often failed to be achieved where human rights and other democratic values ​​were not generally accepted or were not effectively protected by the legal system. Today, in many countries, democracy is identified with liberal democracy, which, along with fair, periodic and general elections of the highest authority in which candidates freely compete for the votes of the people, includes the rule of law, the separation of powers and constitutional limits on the power of the majority through guarantees certain personal or group freedoms. On the other hand, leftist movements argue that the exercise of the right to make political decisions and the influence of ordinary citizens on the country's politics is impossible without ensuring social rights, equality of opportunity and a low level of socio-economic inequality.
A number of authoritarian regimes had external signs of democratic rule, but in them only one party had power, and the policies pursued did not depend on the preferences of voters. Over the past quarter of a century, the world has been characterized by a trend towards the spread of democracy. The relatively new problems facing it include separatism, terrorism, population migration, and growing social inequality. International organizations such as the UN, OSCE and EU believe that control over the internal affairs of a state, including issues of democracy and human rights, should be partly within the sphere of influence of the international community.

DEMOCRATIA, -i, f.
1. A political system based on the recognition of the principles of democracy, freedom and equality of citizens. Principles and ideals of democracy. The fight for democracy.
2. The principle of organizing collective activity, which ensures the active and equal participation of all team members in it. Internal party d.
adj. democratic, oh, oh. D. build. Democratic Republic. Democratic Party (the name of certain parties in a number of countries). Democratic transformations.

DEMOCRACY w. Greek popular government; democracy, democracy, world governance; counter autocracy, autocracy or aristocracy, boyars, etc. Democratic, people-ruling, people-governing, people-ruling, world-governing. Democrat m. democrat f. supporter of world governance.

1. g.
A political system in which power belongs to the people; democracy.
2. g.
The principle of organizing collective activity, which ensures
equal and active participation in it of all team members.

democracy, w. (Greek demokratia) (book, political). 1. units only A form of government in which power is exercised by the people themselves, by the masses, directly or through representative institutions. In bourgeois countries, democracy exists only formally. The Soviet coup gave an unprecedented impetus to the development of democracy, ... socialist democracy (for workers), as opposed to bourgeois democracy (for exploiters, for capitalists, for the rich). Lenin. 2. A state with this form of government. Ancient democracies. 3. only units. The middle and lower strata of society, the masses (pre-revolutionary). 4. only units. A way of organizing something. collective, ensuring the influence of the broad masses. Internal party democracy.

The current page provides a simple language definition of the word democracy. We hope that after reading this explanation in simple words, you no longer have any questions about what democracy is.

Among all existing types of structure of the supreme power of the state, democracy is the only form of government in which powers are assigned to the majority, regardless of its origin and merit.

Today, this is the most widespread and progressive type of political regime in the world, characterized by continuous development and species diversity.

Many works of philosophers and scientists of all times are devoted to this form of government.

Democracy is a system of government in which power is recognized by the people and is exercised on the basis of legally expressed equal rights and freedoms of citizens.

Democracy is inseparable from the concept of the state, as it arose along with it.

* State– a political form of organization of society, implemented in a certain territory.

The history of democracy

Democracy began in 507 BC. e. in Ancient Greece as one of the forms of popular self-government of ancient city-states. Therefore, literally from ancient Greek democracy translated as “power of the people”: from demos - people and kratos - power.

I wonder what demos the Greeks did not call the entire people, but only free citizens endowed with rights, but not classified as aristocrats.

General signs of democracy

The essential features of a democratic system are:

• The people are the source of power.
• The electoral principle is the basis for the formation of state self-government bodies.
• Equality of civil rights, with electoral priority.
• Guiding the majority opinion on controversial issues.

Signs of modern democracies

In the process of historical development, democracy has developed new features, including:

• the primacy of the Constitution;
• separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial;
• priority of human rights over state rights;
• recognition of the rights of minorities to freely express their opinions;
• constitutional consolidation of the priority of the rights of the majority over the minority, etc.

Principles of democracy

The system-forming provisions of democracy are, of course, reflected in its characteristics. In addition to political freedoms and civil equality, election of government agencies and separation of powers, the following principles should be noted:

• The will of the majority should not infringe on the rights of the minority.
• Pluralism is socio-political diversity that underlies freedom of choice and expression. It assumes a plurality of political parties and public associations.

Types of democracy

Existing types of democracy speak about the ways in which people can exercise their power:

1. Straight— Citizens themselves, without intermediaries, discuss an issue and put its decision to a vote

1. Plebiscite(considered a type of direct) - Citizens can only vote for or against a decision in the preparation of which they are not involved.

1. Representative— Decisions for citizens are made by their representatives in power, who received popular votes in elections.

Democracy in the modern world

In modern times, democracies are states of representative democracy. In them, the people's will, unlike ancient society, is expressed through elected representatives (deputies) in parliament or local governments.

Representative democracy makes possible the popular government of a large state with a large territory and population.

However, in all forms of modern democracy there are elements of direct democracy, such as referendums, direct presidential elections, and plebiscites.

Modern democracy

Modern Western political scientists do not consider democracy as the power of the people, who determine the essence of the implemented state policy. Democracy, in their opinion, is a system of government that takes into account the will of the people, which is expressed at the time of election of the ruling elite.

Domestic political science solves this issue differently. According to it, the basic principles of democracy are:

• popular sovereignty, t.s. the primary bearer of power is the people; all power comes from the people and is delegated to them;
• free elections of representatives to government bodies for a limited period;
• political pluralism;
• guaranteed access for all to political institutions;
• control of representative institutions over the work of government;
• elimination of political privileges for certain social groups and categories of citizens, institutions and governing bodies.

Principles of democracy:

• the principle of popular sovereignty, according to which the only source of supreme political power in a democracy is the people
• free elections representatives of government at all levels, including the right to remove from power those of them who have not lived up to the trust of voters
• citizen participation in managing the affairs of the state using the mechanisms of both direct (immediate) democracy and representative (mediated) democracy
• constitutionalism, which ensures the rational and legal nature of the organization and functioning of the state and the equality of everyone before the law
• presence of opposition, which guarantees the right to legal political activity and the right to replace the old ruling majority in power based on the results of new elections
• principle of separation of powers, in accordance with which one power restrains the other, excluding the possibility of usurping the full power of one of them.

Depending on how the people participate in governance, who directly performs power functions and how, democracy is divided into:

• straight;
• representative.

Direct democracy

Direct democracy - This is the direct participation of citizens in preparation, discussion and decision-making. This form of participation dominated in ancient democracies. Now it is possible in small towns, communities, enterprises, etc. when solving issues that do not require high qualifications.

Plebiscite democracy is a type of direct democracy, which also implies the direct expression of the will of the people. However, here the influence of citizens on the processes of government is limited. They can only vote to approve or reject a draft law or other decision prepared by the government, party or initiative group. This form of democracy allows for the possibility of manipulating the will of citizens through ambiguous wording of issues put to vote.

Representative democracy

Representative democracy- the leading form of political participation of citizens in modern. Its essence is the indirect participation of subjects in decision making. Citizens elect their representatives to government bodies, who are called upon to express their interests, make laws and give orders on their behalf. This form of democracy is necessary in conditions of huge social systems and the complexity of decisions made.

For the democratic life of a society, it is important not only who rules, but also how they rule, how the system of government is organized. These issues are determined by the country's constitution, which is perceived by many people as a symbol of democracy.

• Democracy (ancient Greek δημοκρατία - “power of the people”, from δῆμος - “people” and κράτος - “power”) is a political regime based on the method of collective decision-making with equal influence of participants on the outcome of the process or on its significant stages. Although this method is applicable to any social structure, today its most important application is the state, since it has great power. In this case, the definition of democracy is usually narrowed to one of the following:

  Leaders are appointed by the people they lead through fair and competitive elections.

  The people are the only legitimate source of power

  Society exercises self-government for the common good and satisfaction of common interests

  Popular government requires ensuring a number of rights for every member of society. A number of values ​​are associated with democracy: legality, political and social equality, freedom, the right to self-determination, human rights, etc.

  Since the ideal of democracy is elusive and subject to varying interpretations, many practical models have been proposed. Until the 18th century, the most well-known model was direct democracy, where citizens exercise their right to make political decisions directly, through consensus, or through procedures for the subordination of the minority to the majority. In a representative democracy, citizens exercise the same right through their elected deputies and other officials by delegating to them some of their own rights, while the elected leaders make decisions taking into account the preferences of those led and are responsible to them for their actions.

  One of the main goals of democracy is to limit arbitrariness and abuse of power. This goal often failed to be achieved where human rights and other democratic values ​​were not generally accepted or were not effectively protected by the legal system. Today, in many countries, democracy is identified with liberal democracy, which, along with fair, periodic and general elections of the highest authority in which candidates freely compete for the votes of the people, includes the rule of law, the separation of powers and constitutional limits on the power of the majority through guarantees certain personal or group freedoms. On the other hand, leftist movements, prominent economists, as well as such representatives of the Western political elite as former US President Barack Obama and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde argue that the exercise of the right to make political decisions and the influence of ordinary citizens on the country's policy is impossible without ensuring social rights, equality of opportunity and low levels of socio-economic inequality.

  A number of authoritarian regimes had external signs of democratic rule, but in them only one party had power, and the policies pursued did not depend on the preferences of voters. Over the past quarter of a century, the world has been characterized by a trend towards the spread of democracy. The relatively new problems facing it include separatism, terrorism, population migration, and growing social inequality. International organizations such as the UN, OSCE and EU believe that control over the internal affairs of a state, including issues of democracy and human rights, should be partly within the sphere of influence of the international community.