Qualifiers of Democracy

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 The main reason for all these freedoms and rights within modern democracy, which actually limit the power of the people within it, is that the liberal concept of representative, constitutional and limited government is prior to the concept of democracy, both historically and logically ,within the modern Western political tradition, the main source of modern democracy. When we say ‘democracy’ we are in effect using a shorthand expression for ‘liberal democracy’.

 Liberal democracy is not the only qualifier for democracy – there are many different versions and varieties of the principle. Some of these have to do with the simple question of range, method or function. Hence ancient Greek democracy was a form of direct democracy, where the members of the polis took direct votes on what should be done. Some Swiss cantons still operate today with this method, and some townships in New England still exercise a residual form at town meetings. But generally speaking modern democracies, because of the numbers and distances involved, and the exigencies of the modern economy, are representative democracies, where the electorate elects representatives, who are the ones who actually vote on policy decisions. Referenda and ballot measures in various American states [and also in many European states] are attempts to replicate the direct popular control of direct democracy, but the popular will is mostly shown by voting for ‘representatives’, ‘delegates’ or ‘deputies’ to vote in legislative assemblies, or presidents and chancellors to exercise executive power, representing the popular will.

Some other ‘democracies’

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Local democracy refers to popular decision-making at the communal level; federal democracy to multi-layered structures of political power whether sovereignty is split between regional states within the federal whole and between the federal and the regional state level.

Parliamentary democracy refers to democratic systems that place popular sovereignty in an elected assembly, while presidential democracy is a system that puts most power in the hands of an elected chief executive. 

Aleatory democracy, where power is distributed by lottery, was quite popular in ancient Athens, and is still present in many modern democracies in the method used to select jurors for court trials.

Participatory democracy is more a definition of hope than reality, but describes systems where the whole populace takes an active role in government, much as was the Athenian, ancient ideal.

Monitory democracy is a term coined to describe the prevalence of non-governmental organizations and watchdogs in today’s democracies trying to keep elected governments on the straight and narrow.

Banyan democracy describes the intricate complexities and contradictions within India’s democratic system, which more generally might come under the heading of pluralist democracy, democratic systems created to manage apparently self-contradicting diversity of many kinds.

Genuine People's Democracy (vs) Democracy of Opportunism

Democracy for the people (vs) Manufactured Democracy

Limited Democracy in welfare state (vs) Unlimited Democracy in Tyrannical state

Controlled Democracy for people (vs) Uncontrolled Democracy for few

Sovereignty (vs) Subservient

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கே.எஸ்.இராதாகிருஷ்ணன்.

22/8/2017.