Explain what you understand by the term "Liberal Democracy"

Essay by chester_LPB, January 2007

download word file, 4 pages 3.7

It is believed that democracy is the most valued and also the vaguest of political terms in modern world. The ancient Greek word "democracy" means rule by the demos which can be translated as "the people". However, the whole idea of "people power" could be defined and understood in different ways. The simplest form of democracy as known as "majority rule" has the simplest condition which is the universal franchise. It means that all people over some age (18 in many countries) have the right to vote so that having the power to create and destroy a government to be described as democratic. The universal franchise usually comes along with the condition of a regular, free, fair and open election. For example, if the elections took place every 20 years so the power of people who participate in to vote will be reduced significantly. Moreover, if there is any cheating during the time of election such as using intimidation to force the people to vote for any favour side then the country could not be described as truly democratic.

Another factor for simple democracy is participation of the citizen during the election. If the turnout rate is decreasing after year and year, the system could be broken. That is because the voters are not bother due to the obvious result or several parties are having just the same ideas. A vote is of little importance if there is no-one to vote for.

Frankly speaking, the "simple democracy" still creates a problem which is the power of the majority is too big so that they could use power to discriminate the minority. For instance, the power of Adolf Hitler led him to become a tyrant and then spreading fascism all over the world. This problem leads to another form of democracy...