What is a democracy?
Recently, we hear that fewer countries are being run as democracies, that there are more autocratic governments. So, what is the difference between a democracy and an autocracy? An Autocracy is a government system that centralizes the supreme power of the state in a single person whose decisions can neither be questioned nor be subject to controls of any kind. Whoever presides over this is known as an autocrat. The concentrated power of an Autocracy weakens institutions and distances civil society from decision making.
A democracy, on the other hand, is deemed to be the best system of government in the world today. This is so because the system tends to protect the interest of citizens first. Most of the countries of the world still practice a democratic system of government. Did you know that the first democracy was that of ancient Greece, 2400 years ago? The word “democracy” means “rule by the people”; that the citizens govern their nation. They protect and promote their rights, interests and welfare. Each individual must be free to participate in free and fair elections and other forms of participation. In a democratic state or government, the supreme power of the state is vested on the people because they make political decisions that concerns the state either directly or through representatives periodically appointed by them.
In a “Direct Democracy” all the citizens attend the Assembly and take part in the decision-making process, in order to govern the state or the society and was practiced in ancient Greece. Some indigenous communities and some small states still practice this form of democracy where there are not large numbers of people. We are more familiar with “Indirect Democracy” where the citizens through election, elect those who will represent and govern the state on their behalf and replaced the direct democracy in modern times because of increased populations.
