What is democracy: good to know

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

What is democracy? All modern politics and international relations revolve around this definition. Numerous opposition forces regularly accuse each other of a lack of democracy. World states with

other management principles, become outcasts. The apogee of all this triumph of democracy at the end of the 20th century was the concept of the famous American philosopher and political scientist Francis Fukuyama about the end of time. According to this influential modern thinker, after the collapse of the advanced states of the socialist camp and the departure of China from orthodox Maoist positions, it became obvious that liberal values (namely, they are usually identified with democracy) are the highest point in the development of human civilization. Democracy in modern Russia, which has replaced the old command and administrative system, is, according to the political scientist, the best confirmation of this. Neither monarchical nor fascist regimes could offer a viable alternative to it, much less the attempts of Eastern religious leaders to establish Islamic domination.

What is democracy. Origins

The birth of this phenomenon is attributed to the political structure of the Greek city-states,whose government bodies were elected by secret ballot

among the citizens of such a city. Authorities (for example, the Areopagus, Boule, councils of archons, and others) were often elected for a limited period from recognized capable members of the community. There was also an interesting procedure in ancient Greece, designed to prevent the usurpation of power. When one of the we althy citizens or simply high-ranking officials became too powerful and threatened the democratic principles of government, a procedure of so-called ostracism was carried out - "shards", when, by secret ballot with the help of potsherds, such a potential tyrant could be expelled from the city for ten years. With the decline of the ancient Greek civilization, many of its achievements were picked up by the Latins, who created the powerful Roman state. They also developed the concept of democracy. It was there that citizenship, close to the modern concept, was born, as well as, during the period of the republic, the separation of the branches of power. And, of course, electivity.

What is democracy. New time

With the fall of Rome and the establishment of barbarian peoples throughout Europe, many achievements, including those of a political nature, were lost for millennia. The cult of the power of the military elders and their governor among the barbarians was replaced by hereditary privileges of royal dynasties and noble families, who were descendants of that very military elite. Again, humanity remembered what democracy is, only with the Renaissance and modern thinkers: Hobbes, Locke,Montesquieu, Rousseau and many others. One of the key moments in the formation of the modern world order was the Great French Revolution of 1789, when the king, previously inviolable in any country, was expelled for the first time, and the people

proclaimed himself the supreme bearer of power. Of course, no one lived happily ever after after that. Progress still had to contend with reaction around the world, but the following centuries, the nineteenth and twentieth, became a time of constant assertion of human and civil rights and freedoms.

Democracy: pros and cons

The principle of the rule of law and the inviolability of the human person has finally established itself in modern political and social thought. However, in addition to colossal achievements, democracy still has many critics who rightly draw attention to a number of its shortcomings. The main disadvantage of such a device follows from its dignity. The universal right to choose power, of course, is in theory a guarantee that the people themselves can choose their own path of development. However, it should be recognized that not all the population of the country is equal in their education and simply awareness of political trends in general, the economic situation in the country, international relations, and so on. In such a situation, this may mean the wrong choice on the part of a significant number of citizens.