Define Democracy Essay

Define democracy. What does this definition take into account and what does it leave out?

We have given multiple definitions and various ways of measuring democracy over the semester, but to start, a key characteristic of any democracy are elections that are free and fair, and that are ultimately determined by a state’s populace. In this sense, for a democracy to work there should be universal suffrage, meaning that no group of people are inherently excluded from their right to vote in any given election. And to expand on this, one person in a state always equals one vote, eliminating the possibility of certain citizens of the financial or governmental elite to have more power than an average citizen in electing a ruler. In this regard, the underlying difference between a democratic state and a dictatorship, or any other authoritarian state, is that the rulers are accountable to the ruled in a democracy. For example, as we have talked about in class, the direction and flow of the economy in a state during a President’s time in office will end up effecting how people will vote and if the incumbent will be …show more content…
If there is general sense that the government in a state has a strong structure with the capabilities both in the sense that civil wars and/or rebellions against the government will not take place as well an attack on the state from an external enemy is not likely to happen solely on the premise of expanding territory, because there is a strong, functioning military in place that believe in the national causes. An example in this regard would be Somalia in the early 2000s. Somalia’s lack of a central government resulted in many self declared and highly disputed states within Somalia’s borders such as Somaliland and Puntland, and groups like the