A democracy is a political setup that a human group accepts in order to live together and which comes into being when the sovereignty of a country is put into practice. The basic idea of a democracy is this: sovereignty is in the hands of the people and everyone is free and equal before the law. In other words, all the inhabitants, all the citizens have the same rights and obligations without any kind of distinction.
he birth of democracy is linked to Greece, when the country’s men began to meet together to make decisions. Today, democracy is the most widespread political setup of states and the world’s main states are organised as democracies. The essential characteristic of this political system is individual freedom and people being free to choose their leaders through elections.
That has a direct consequence: everybody, all the citizens, have the right to participate in politics. One person, one vote: this is the characteristic of equality. Democracy and freedom, too, go hand in hand. The civil, political and social rights enjoyed by citizens have become the basis of modern democratic society. But nowadays, because it is impossible for all the citizens to participate in all the decisions, most democratic systems function by means of representation. This is called representative democracy. Therefore, people participate mainly through these representatives. These representatives are organised into political parties. In some special situations the people themselves, in other words, all the inhabitants, decide directly: in referendums…
Democracy is also based on the following: division of powers and constitution.