Questions tagged [democracy]

For questions about democracy, a system of government in many countries involving citizens voting, as opposed to dictatorships and other forms of government where normal people don't have control of what it does.

Democracy is a form of government literally meaning by the people, but existing in a wide variety of forms, such as direct democracy or parliamentary democracy. For more information, see Wikipedia.

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How can democracy not be the rule of the poor?

Democracies are based on political equality. All individuals have equal weight in electing representatives. Parallel to the process of bringing individuals into the political arena of equal footing, we find growing economic inequalities. A small…
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Clarification on Ranked Choice Voting Tie Breaker Algorithm

Suppose we are running a Ranked Choice vote between 6 candidates: Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher Mark Hammill James Earl Jones Frank Oz George Lucas There are a lot of website that propose the rules - I've chosen at…
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Has sharia ever been introduced by democratic means?

Sharia, as defined by its Wikipedia article, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Views on the compatibility of Sharia with democracy differ. From the same article: Legal scholar L. Ali Khan argues that "constitutional orders founded on…
gerrit
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Does this "kind" of decentralized government even have a name?

Related to the problem of political ignorance, I was thinking about a goverment system as described below, and I want to know if this or something similar even has a name ("decentralized goverment" doesn't fit because it usually means territorial…
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why does south africa educate their population about gay rights, if the population itself doesn't want that?

to provide evidence about the populations attitude towards LGBT rights: Although the Constitutional and legal system in South Africa theoretically ensure equality, social acceptance is generally lacking, especially outside of urban areas in the…
uuu
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How do the people in a one-party dictatorship take out their frustration at their government?

If there are some political parties in a country, the nation can take out their frustration at their government by changing the political party at the polls. However it can't do it in a one-party dictatorship. How do the people in a one-party…
Yuuichi Tam
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What is "democracy through strength"?

Some political scholars suggest "democracy through strength" for certain countries. I would like to know what democracy through strength is and why it is recommended for certain countries. What are the prerequisites for such model of…
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The causal relationship between economic development and democracy

Some politicians claimed that there is a causal relationship between economic development and democracy. However, India is a democratic society but their economic development is extremely poor. Is the politician's theory wrong? How can you explain…
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Is there any evidence that democracy is linked causatively with improved outcomes?

Is there any evidence that democracy is causatively linked with improved outcomes such as happiness and wealth? And is there any data on the nature of the link? For example: do greater levels of democracy deliver greater levels of these benefits?
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What alternatives exists to Democracy Index?

I am aware of the Democracy Index. What it lacks that I am interested in is more information about what type of political system each country has, and the connection to its democratic level. I would, for instance, like to have the ranking include a…
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Is there a rigorous way to compare how democratic organizations are?

Is there a rigorous way to compare how democratic organizations are? Can we say with any authority, for example, whether the parliamentary democracy of the UK, at some arbitrary point before european political union, was more (or less) democratic…
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Are there any sources that quantify the liberal democracy shrinkage / recession?

Just caught a fragment of a political discussion on the radio and one person was telling the the liberal democracy is threatened and mentioned that some percentage related to liberal democracy diminishing in the past years. Doing some research the I…
Alexei
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Is there any rational alternative besides the Democracy?

At the moment the most spread system in the world is the democracy with different accents, some parliamentary, some representative, other presidential, etc. But recently I have asked my self if exist any political system currently being used but…
Alberto Bonsanto
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Is the definition of democracy a non-optimal set of laws?

I've been reading the definition of Democracy given by the social contract of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The objective of democracy is not to do the best laws, but to choose the laws shared by most of the people. So for the laws that are really far…
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Does political exclusion also exclude free speech?

Among all states that exclude their citizens from political participation, e.g. by shielding their law makers from the necessity of periodic elections, none tolerates freedom of expression among its citizens; all systematically censor or suppress…
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