Democracy is coined from two greek words Demos which means people and Kratos which means rule.
The term has old Greek roots. It means a rule of the people. The term was first mentioned about 2500 years ago in Greece cities. Back then, it was the opposite to the aristocratic form of government. The modern type of democracy developed in the 19th and 20th.
The term appeared in the 5th century BC to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens, to mean "rule of the people", in contrast to aristocracy which means rule of an elite.
The most widely recognized structure in which individuals have the position to pick their administering officials and the first structure in which individuals have the power to settle on enactment.
At a minimum, an ideal democracy would have the following features:
- Effective participation: Before a policy is adopted or rejected, members of the dēmos have the opportunity to make their views about the policy known to other members.
- Equality in voting: Members of the dēmos have the opportunity to vote for or against the policy, and all votes are counted as equal.
- Informed electorate: Members of the dēmos have the opportunity, within a reasonable amount of time, to learn about the policy and about possible alternative policies and likely consequences.
- Fundamental rights: Each of the necessary features of ideal democracy prescribes a right that is itself a necessary feature of ideal democracy: thus every member of the dēmos has a right to communicate with others, a right to have his votes counted equally with the votes of others, a right to gather information, a right to participate on an equal footing with other members, and a right, with other members, to exercise control of the agenda. Democracy, therefore, consists of more than just political processes; it is also necessarily a system of fundamental rights.
- Citizen control of the agenda: The dēmos, and only the dēmos, decides what matters are placed on the decision-making agenda and how they are placed there. Thus, the democratic process is “open” in the sense that the dēmos can change the policies of the association at any time.
- Inclusion: Each and every member of the dēmos is entitled to participate in the association in the ways just described.
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