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We welcome new members to join in the fight for a liberal democracy.

There is an increasing feeling of democracy in the country.

We use democracy as a method of selecting representatives.

The widespread belief in the robustness of the rule of law in Britain certainly reflects our reputation as a vibrant multicultural democracy.

After touring the United States for more than nine months in the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville returned to his native France and penned the two-volume Democracy in America.

In point of fact, bourgeois democracy is the political formula for free trade, nothing more.

The AA is proud to have the benefit of an active and participatory democracy.

Their exclusive possession of power made the commonwealth in which they bore rule an aristocracy; but they were a democracy among themselves.

Coverage of the scrutiny process is central to our parliamentary democracy.

Participation in political life was one of the pillars of Athenian democracy.

Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government?

During the early 1990s, under pressure from western aid donors, the Moi government was finally forced to concede to a multi-party democracy.

The only speech made by him during his three years in parliament that was listened to with impatience was, curiously enough, his speech in favour of counteracting democracy by providing for the representation of minorities.

Indeed the spread of democracy elsewhere increased the prestige of the Athenian administration, which had now reached a high pitch of efficiency.

A nobility of this kind often gave way to a democracy which either proved as turbulent as itself, or else grew into an oligarchy ruling under democratic forms. Thus at Florence the old nobles became the opposite to a privileged class.

In politics he advocates absolute equality - a democracy pushed to anarchy.

The network aims to deepen democracy through greater citizen participation in local governance.

Those sixty thousand, like the populus of Rome, formed a narrow oligarchy as regarded the rest of the nation, but a wild democracy among themselves.

Shortly afterwards, however, an insurrection took place, by which the disciples of Pythagoras were driven out, and a democracy established.

For a certain class of citizens to be condemned, by virtue of their birth, to political disfranchisement is as flatly against every principle of democracy as for a certain class of citizens to enjoy exclusive rights by reason of birth.

In the heyday of the Athenian democracy, citizens both conservative and progressive, politicians, philosophers and historians were unanimous in their denunciation of "tyranny."

Their weak point lies in their necessary conservatism; they cannot advance and adapt themselves to changed circumstances, as either monarchy or democracy can.

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Use democracy in a sentence | democracy sentence examples

For some time, the word democracy has been circulating as a debased currency in the political marketplace. Politicians with a wide range of convictions and practices strove to appropriate the label and attach it to their actions. Scholars, conversely, hesitated to use itwithout adding qualifying adjectivesbecause of the ambiguity that surrounds it. The distinguished American political theorist Robert Dahl even tried to introduce a new term, "polyarchy," in its stead in the (vain) hope of gaining a greater measure of conceptual precision. But for better or worse, we are "stuck" with democracy as the catchword of contemporary political discourse. It is the word that resonates in people's minds and springs from their lips as they struggle for freedom and a better way of life; it is the word whose meaning we must discern if it is to be of any use in guiding political analysis and practice.

The wave of transitions away from autocratic rule that began with Portugal's "Revolution of the Carnations" in 1974 and seems to have crested with the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe in 1989 has produced a welcome convergence towards a common definition of democracy.1 Everywhere there has been a silent abandonment of dubious adjectives like "popular," "guided," "bourgeois," and "formal" to modify "democracy." At the same time, a remarkable consensus has emerged concerning the minimal conditions that polities must meet in order to merit the prestigious appellation of "democratic." Moreover, a number of international organizations now monitor how well [End Page 75] these standards are met; indeed, some countries even consider them when formulating foreign policy.2

Let us begin by broadly defining democracy and the generic concepts that distinguish it as a unique system for organizing relations between rulers and the ruled. We will then briefly review procedures, the rules and arrangements that are needed if democracy is to endure. Finally, we will discuss two operative principles that make democracy work. They are not expressly included among the generic concepts or formal procedures, but the prospect for democracy is grim if their underlying conditioning effects are not present.

One of the major themes of this essay is that democracy does not consist of a single unique set of institutions. There are many types of democracy, and their diverse practices produce a similarly varied set of effects. The specific form democracy takes is contingent upon a country's socioeconomic conditions as well as its entrenched state structures and policy practices.

Modern political democracy is a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives.3

A regime or system of governance is an ensemble of patterns that determines the methods of access to the principal public offices; the characteristics of the actors admitted to or excluded from such access; the strategies that actors may use to gain access; and the rules that are followed in the making of publicly binding decisions. To work properly, the ensemble must be institutionalizedthat is to say, the various patterns must be habitually known, practiced, and accepted by most, if not all, actors. Increasingly, the preferred mechanism of institutionalization is a written body of laws undergirded by a written constitution, though many enduring political norms can have an informal, prudential, or traditional basis.4

For the sake of economy and comparison, these forms, characteristics, and rules are usually bundled together and given a generic label. Democratic is one; others are autocratic, authoritarian, despotic, dictatorial, tyrannical, totalitarian, absolutist, traditional, monarchic, oligarchic, plutocratic, aristocratic, and sultanistic.5 Each of these regime forms may in turn be broken down into subtypes.

Like all regimes, democracies depend upon the presence of rulers, persons who occupy specialized authority roles and can give legitimate commands to others. What distinguishes democratic rulers from nondemocratic ones are the norms that condition how the former come to power and the practices that hold them accountable for their actions. [End Page 76]

The public: realm encompasses the making of collective norms and choices...

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Project MUSE - What Democracy Is. . . and Is Not

It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see...""You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?""No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.""Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy.""I did," said Ford. "It is.""So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?""It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.""You mean they actually vote for the lizards?""Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course.""But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?""Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?""What?""I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?""I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."Ford shrugged again."Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happenned to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it.""But that's terrible," said Arthur."Listen, bud," said Ford, "if I had one Altairian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say 'That's terrible' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin. Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

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Quotes About Democracy (1071 quotes)

Cambodias prime minister Hun Sen is close ally of China. Photograph: Heng Sinith/AP

Cambodia has hit back at criticism over its decision to expel a US-funded pro-democracy group, accusing Washington of political interference and describing American democracy as bloody and brutal.

Prime minister Hun Sen, the strongman who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades, has taken a strident anti-American line in the increasingly tense run up to a 2018 election.

The US state department criticised Cambodias decision to expel the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on Wednesday and a statement from the US embassy in Phnom Penh questioned whether Cambodia was a democracy.

In an open letter on Thursday, the Cambodian government asked whether the United States was coming to Cambodia to help or hinder the Khmer people and blamed it for contributing to the rise of the genocidal Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

Cambodians are well aware of what a democratic process means. You do not need to tell us what it is, the letter said, describing US-style democracy as bloody and brutal.

We wish to send a clear message again to the US embassy that we defend our national sovereignty, it added.

Tensions have risen anew in Cambodia, with rights groups and the United Nations expressing alarm and the opposition accusing Hun Sen of persecution ahead of next years election.

After the governments order to expel the NDI and a threat to shut a newspaper founded by an American journalist if it didnt pay back taxes immediately, the US state department voiced concern at the government curtailing freedom of the press and civil societys ability to operate.

Government supporters have threatened to protest at the US embassy in Phnom Penh, the pro-government Fresh News web site reported on Thursday.

The protests are likely to be in large scale against the US embassy in Phnom Penh like in the 1960s because of the American interference in Cambodias sovereignty, it said, citing an anonymous government source.

The spillover from the US war in neighbouring Vietnam in the 1960s and 70s helped bring to power the Khmer Rouge regime, whose rule was marked by the genocide of at least 1.8 million Cambodians through starvation, torture, disease and execution.

Hun Sen, the former Khmer Rouge commander who is one of Chinas closest regional allies, has warned of a possible return to war if his party doesnt win elections.

In a statement on its website on Wednesday the NDI called on Cambodia to reconsider its decision to shut it down. The institute said it worked with all major parties and that its work was strictly nonpartisan.

Kenneth Wollack, NDI president, said the NDI has fulfilled all legal obligations for registration.

Hun Sen has also targeted local media in what rights groups say is a growing crackdown ahead of the election.

Cambodias ministry of information on Wednesday revoked the license of a local radio station for selling air time to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.

The station also rents out space to the US government-financed Voice of America (VOA) English news outlet.

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Cambodia calls US democracy 'bloody and brutal' as charity row escalates - The Guardian

Election daywasn't even over when members of the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) began praising both themselves and the way the poll was organized. This deserved top marks, said a leading politician from the MPLA, which has held power since Angolagained independence from Portugal in 1975.

It is true that Angola's 2017 general elections were noticeably less chaotic than previous ones. Plus there was a marked absence of violent clashes seen elsewhere in Africa, such as in Kenya after the elections held there earlier this month.

But awarding top marks is going too far. For one thing, Angola's National Electoral Commission accredited far too few election observers from opposition partiesto enable effective election monitoring in this vast Central African country. For another, the commission took so long to negotiate the accreditation of observer missions from Europe and North America that they either lost patience and gave up or were only able to send minuscule delegations that were virtually ineffective.

Johannes Beck heads DW's Portuguese for Africa service

Climate of fear

In any case, the organization of the elections was the smallest problem. A bigger one was the lack of opposition voices and critical opinions.

The MPLA dominated media coverage, giving the opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) and other parties little chance to be heard.

Many Angolans were, and still are,fearful of freely expressing their opinion. Those who exercised their constitutional right to demonstrate risked being beaten by the police. Those with links to opposition parties risked ruining their chances of a career either in the government or with one of the numerous private companies controlled by the MPLA.

In Angola, even meeting with friends to discuss a book outlining non-violent methods of resistanceriskslanding people in prison.

On paper, Angola may appear to be a model democracy. But in recent years, the MPLA has succeeded in creating a climate of oppressionin which no real democracy can flourish.

Chance for a new beginning

This was the first time in decades that Angola truly stood a chance of starting anew - after 38years as president, this year Jose Eduardo dos Santos chose not to run for reelection.

For the time being, dos Santos remains the MPLA party leader. This is one reason his successor and newly-elected president, Joao Lourenco, probably won't dare touch the billion-dollar interests of the dos Santosfamily.

Lourenco's career as former secretary general of the MPLA and defense minister of Angola leaves me with little hope that he will usher in democratic change.He may perhaps perform some cosmetic surgery and remove dos Santos'sdaughter Isabel, Africa's richest woman, from her post as head of thestate oil company, Sonangol. This would also appease internal MPLA critics.

But I don't thinkLourenco is likely to end the repression of human rights defenders and protesters, liberalize the media, or allowlocal and provincial governments to hold free elections. He is too much a MPLA man for this.

But if Angola is to really become a functional democracy, such fundamental changes are urgently needed.

True democracy isn't only visible on election day. True democracy needs openness, tolerance and the rule of law every day of the year.

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Opinion: Democracy in Angola is more than just holding elections - Deutsche Welle