![]() Not long ago, governments that were called democratic excluded from the franchise all slaves and women, as did the United States through much of its history (former American black, male slaves got the right to vote after the Civil War women did not get this right until 1920, when Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment), as well as all non-slave males who did not meet certain property or literacy requirements. Having a near-universal franchise is an entirely modern addition to the idea of democracy. The manner is which democracies conduct their elections vary from one to another, but all share these characteristics: regular elections for high office, secret ballot, a franchise including nearly the whole adult population, and competitive elections. One necessary and sufficient set of characteristics involves the electoral system through which people choose their representatives and leaders, and thus give their consent to be governed and communicate their interests. With this contemporary understanding of the term democracy, what are its characteristics. Democracy now generally means a republican or representation government. The problem is that in the Twentieth Century the understanding of democracy as the direct participation of citizens was transformed to mean any government in which the people elect their representatives. In the writings on my web site I refer to the United States as a democracy, and therefore have received well over a dozen e-mails informing me that it was not a democracy, but a republic. That the United States was created as a republic and that we now call it a democracy has caused considerable confusion. Although limited to free males, this idea of the direct participation of the people in government was the central meaning of democracy up to modern times, and now is usually known as pure or direct democracy. This was possible because of the small populations of these cities, hardly ever more than 10,000 people, and the exclusion of women and slaves from participation. In the ancient Greek city states and the early Roman Republic democracy meant that people participated directly in governing and making policy. As to its nature, Aristotle defined democracy as rule by the people (Greek demokratia: demos meaning people + -kratia, -cracy, meaning rule or governing body) and this idea that in some way the people govern themselves is still the core sense of democracy. ![]() You may define democracy by its inherent nature and by its empirical conditions. As a concept, "democracy" has not only developed many meanings since its first use by the ancient Greeks, but also meanings once well-established have changed. It must be one that not only commands your obedience to its laws, but one that in its very organization embodies what being free means to you.
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