Democratic Politics

For the expansion the definition slightly to add some qualifications -
(i) The rules elected by the people must take all the major decisions.
(ii) Elections must offer a choice and fair opportunity to the people to change the current rulers.
(iii) This choice and opportunity should be available to all the people on an equal basis. and
(iv) The exercise of this choice must lead to a government limited by basic rule of the constitution and citizens’ rights.
You may have felt disappointed that the definition did not refer to any high deals that we associate with democracy.
Various aspects of democratic government and politics -
(i) We discussed democratic rights at length and noted that these rights are not limited to the right to vote, stand in elections and form political organisation. We discussed some social and economic right that a democracy should offer to its citizens.
(ii) We have taken up power sharing as the spirit of democracy and discussed how power sharing between governments and social groups is necessary in a democracy.
(iii) We saw how democracy can not be the brute rule of majority and how a respect for minority voice is necessary for democracy.
(iv) Our discussion of democracy has gone beyond the government and its activities. We discussed how eliminating discrimination based on these is important in a democracy.
(v) Finally, we have had some discussion about some outcomes that one must expects from a democracy.
In doing so, we have not gone against the definition of democracy offered last year. We began then with a definition of what is the minimum country must have to be called a democracy. In the course of our discussion we have moved to the set of desirable conditions that a democracy should have. We have moved from the definition of democracy to the description of a good democracy.