Democracy is a form of government characterized by the use of power over the population. This system means that the directions that take over a social group are based on the will of the majority. From an etymological point of view, the word democracy comes from the combination of two Greek words, which mean “government” and “people”.
This form of government differs from totalitarianism (such as fascism and Nazism) and dictatorships
In these cases, civil society, that is, citizenship in general and its decisions are absorbed by those who govern. All power is in the hands of the government, without the citizen having any right to freedom of expression . Communism is also a clear example of government against the principles of democracy.
The most widely heard opinion is that democracy was created or put into practice by Greek civilization, but there are those who claim that the tribal organizations of the past already operated this system; it is also true that the democracy observed among the Greeks was exclusive, in that it left out slaves and women.
Currently, when talking about democracy, it is customary to refer to its “representative” variant, in which the people choose their rulers through elections and for a limited period of time.
The idea is often questioned that, although democracy represents the power of the people, in the representative democracy of citizens, in addition to their choice through voting, there are no other functions assigned.
However, there is another type of democracy, called “direct”, in which each party can participate and there are no representatives, as the following resolutions are directly biased by consensus.At present, this type of organization is impossible on a large scale. Another form of democracy is called “participatory”, in this sense, a choice between “representative” and “direct” must be considered.
Participatory democracy, as its name implies, the people must participate according to law enforcement, as well as in the debates of national interest, for example, decriminalization of drugs or the implementation of new laws for the media communication . Like the “direct”, this form of democracy has not yet reached its peak, and if this is not so, it has a lot to do with the true intention of the rulers to grant not only the vote, but also the “voice” to the citizens to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, opinion or thought .
It is easily noticeable in many people the confusion between democracy and republic, concepts that differ significantly
As already mentioned, the idea of a democracy is that authority resides with the people; by contrast, a republic refers to a government governed by a division of powers. This distinction leads us to understand that a republic is not necessarily a democracy.
Currently, democratic government is the most rational way to address the ideological differences of different groups aspiring to a position of authority. Thus, in an adequate democratic culture, differences are encompassed in common criteria, those that make the people the source of power.
Persistently defended around the globe, democracy as a form of government is the only one that is suitable in societies, the so-called “international community” that recognizes and proclaims human rights. For this reason, democracy and citizen participation is the object of struggle and mobilization of many tertiary sector organizations (known as “non-governmental organizations” or NGOs), such as Democracy Now, which operates worldwide with headquarters in different countries .
