The 6 Types Of Democracy And Their Characteristics
Democracy is a type of governance within society that refers to a balance of forces between citizens and the representatives they elect to give them the power to legislate and execute those policies that concern them or seem to be a priority.
Although the concept of democracy is one and unequivocal, there are different varieties and types of State organization, whose differences are especially marked by the exceptional nature of each society, such as religion, territorial character or the present ethnicity of different communities. Next We will see what are the different types of democracy
The term democracy dates back to the beginning of the 5th century, in ancient Greece. More concretely, It is in Athens where the birth of this political system took place , although with very important limitations. “Demos” refers to “people” and “cracy” comes from the etymology “kratos”, which refers to “power” or “government”.
In general terms, democracy constitutes a series of fundamental requirements that make up a variety of civil rights that are distinguished from other political systems. Some of them are suffrage (right to vote), freedom of expression and freedom of political action (being part of power).
The 6 types of democracy
Due to the centuries that have passed since its origin, democracy has been transforming and adapting to the increasingly heterogeneous times of modern societies.
In this article we will review the 6 main most common types of democracy of our times.
It is the most desired type of democracy and is still longed for in overpopulated countries since direct democracy It is usually implemented in spaces with few inhabitants , as this is a system of direct participation, as its name indicates, without intermediaries or representatives. Normally debates and decisions are instrumentalized through the assembly system.
2. Liberal
Liberal democracy is common within the Western world, whose system is defined by the election of rulers by voting (suffrage), those representatives where they are subject to the rule of law, to laws and a Constitution that have emanated from the equal people.
In this type of democracy, citizens enjoy rights and freedoms, both individually and collectively, democratic pluralism, political, social and religious tolerance. Alternation in power is another requirement fundamental of this model. In addition, there is a control system for rulers that monitors the quality of their mandate.
3. Christian Democratic
Christian Democratic democracy It was very widespread in some European countries in the 20th century , in countries like Germany, Ireland or Italy. It consists of governing the laws of public life with the commandments and values of the Christian religion, including Catholics and Protestants.
In this sense, the Christian Democrat ideology usually veers to the right, towards more conservative legislation and towards liberalization of the economy.
4. Indirect or representative
Indirect or also known as representative democracy, It is the most implemented currently Here citizens elect different political profiles (presidents, delegates, mayors, senators, deputies) to represent them in public life and in political decisions.
Partial democracy refers to political systems where the powers of the people are well limited in the political sphere and activities (decision-making power). They meet the basic requirements of any democracy such as elections, freedom of expression and plurality of parties, but fellow citizens do not enjoy real access to State administrations
On the other hand, this type of democracy tends to be personalistic and the party in power has mechanisms to strengthen or increase its executive and legislative capacity above the parliament and the Constitution of the country in question.
6. Popular
It is perhaps the most controversial and complexly natural type of democracy. It is said about popular governments those who have broken their ties with imperialism colonialism or have achieved their independence through popular resistance (armed in some cases) to the invader.
These systems They are socialist and progressive in nature , and the government party holds hegemony, nationalizes companies and opposes Globalization. They were devised by the former Soviet Union, and were implemented in the countries of its influence, called satellite states.
It is a case in which, indeed, democratic elections have taken place. But these have been preceded by events such as a coup d’état, after which the dominant force seeks to legitimize its power through free elections.
In many cases they emerge with overwhelming popular support which, over time, diminishes as the regime remains in power for long periods, failing to fulfill its initial promise of returning power to the masses.
