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Ĭharacteristics Democracy's de jure status in the world as of 2022: Countries in green claim to be democracies while countries in red do not. Democratic backsliding with a rise in hybrid regimes has exceeded democratization since the early to mid 2010s. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices and The Economist Democracy Index, less than half the world's population lives in a democracy as of 2022. World public opinion strongly favors democratic systems of government. Karl Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, focusing on opportunities for the people to control their leaders and to oust them without the need for a revolution. In most modern democracies, this was achieved through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.ĭemocracy contrasts with forms of government where power is either held by an individual, as in autocratic systems like absolute monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals, as in an oligarchy-oppositions inherited from ancient Greek philosophy. In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic citizenship was initially restricted to an elite class, which was later extended to all adult citizens.

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Western democracy, as distinct from that which existed in antiquity, is generally considered to have originated in city-states such as those in Classical Athens and the Roman Republic, where various schemes and degrees of enfranchisement of the free male population were observed before the form disappeared in the West at the beginning of late antiquity. The term appeared in the 5th century BC in Greek city-states, notably Classical Athens, to mean 'rule of the people', in contrast to aristocracy ( ἀριστοκρατία, aristokratía), meaning 'rule of an elite'. freedom of speech or freedom of association. In the common variant of liberal democracy, the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but the constitution and a supreme court limit the majority and protect the minority-usually through securing the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, e.g. They serve the crucial purpose of inclusiveness and broader legitimacy on sensitive issues-counterbalancing majoritarianism-and therefore mostly take precedence on a constitutional level. Most democracies apply in most cases majority rule, but in some cases plurality rule, supermajority rule (e.g. Today, the dominant form of democracy is representative democracy, where citizens elect government officials to govern on their behalf such as in a parliamentary or presidential democracy. Throughout history, one can find evidence of direct democracy, in which communities make decisions through popular assembly. The notion of democracy has evolved over time considerably.

Features of democracy oftentimes include freedom of assembly, association, personal property, freedom of religion and speech, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights. Who is considered part of 'the people' and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries. In a representative democracy, the people choose governing officials through elections to do so.

In a direct democracy, the people have the direct authority to deliberate and decide legislation. According to the United Nations, democracy 'provides an environment that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in which the freely expressed will of people is exercised.' Democracy (from Ancient Greek: δημοκρατία, romanized: dēmokratía, dēmos 'people' and kratos 'rule') is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state.