At present, the term “democracy” is commonly used in all mass media. A society built on such principles is considered almost the ideal of all times and peoples. That's just what a democratic regime is in the modern sense of the word, not everyone knows.
Origin of the term
Let’s go deeper into history: the term comes from two Greek words. The first of these, demos, means "people." The second, kratos, translates as "power." Accordingly, a literal translation would probably be understood by V. Ulyanov with his famous slogan “Power to the people!” However, it is certain that anyone who took a history course in an ordinary school knows about this.
It is believed that the democratic regime was invented in ancient Athens. It was a powerful Greek city-state, the heyday of which fell on the VI-V centuries. BC e. Do not forget about the Novgorod Republic with its famous Veche. But the emergence of democracy as a socio-political regime began much later, in the XVII-XVIII centuries. This happened in European countries, from where democracy was later brought to the United States.
Background
The root causes of the establishment of this regime was the rapid development of trade and commodity circulation between different states, as well as the outflow of production and scientific and technological thought to the cities. In addition, the colonial economy also brought its role, which involved the complete reorientation of production. At the same time, many important scientific discoveries occurred that increased the role of transport and made it possible to mechanize production to a large extent.
All this led to the fact that between the hereditary aristocracy and the "new Europeans", who became rich thanks to trade, tension began to build up quickly. All these factors required a complete review of the rights of the third estates, and there was a need to do something with the government. In general, a democratic regime arose in a more or less modern sense.
The figures of European countries in the end were able to defeat absolutism, which by all means prevented the emergence of the middle class, which in the future became the social core of most state regimes around the world.
Principles and Traits of Democracy
Once the well-known A. Lincoln said that democracy means power, elected by the people and serving the people. It must be said that each democratic regime is characterized by some distinctive signs and principles, if not observed, this social formation, in principle, cannot exist. Firstly, the central, fundamental sign is the absolute sovereignty of the people. Among other things, this concept includes several other features:
- The people and only the people can be the only legitimate source of power in the country.
- State power is recognized as valid only if it was chosen by citizens of the country by free and open expression of will in the elections.
- The people have the unconditional right to participate in the fate of the country, and the authorities are always obliged to listen to the majority opinion.
- Citizens themselves choose their rulers, and also have effective leverage over them; may participate in the creation of new mechanisms and norms for governing the country.
- During the election period, the people have the right to change their rulers and carry out a structural change in the state power itself.
- If the authorities abuse the trust of citizens, if there are all signs of tyranny in the country, then the people have the right to prematurely remove the head of state from management, as well as demand new elections, including with the aim of changing the composition and functions of government bodies.
Personality is Above All
Also, a democratic regime is characterized by the fact that it recognizes the primacy of a person’s personality, whose life and dignity should be the highest value. This leads us to the following conclusions:
- Society should not be recognized as a conglomerate of “gray masses”, but as a combination of individual, free-thinking individuals, each of which has the right to their own opinion and freedom of expression.
- In addition, the unconditional priority of the individual over the interests of the state itself should be recognized. It should be noted that at the moment, many political scientists are skeptical of such an interpretation, since, according to it, even the life of a soldier at the time of the fulfillment of a responsible and dangerous combat mission can be recognized as “the highest value”, which fundamentally contradicts the needs of the whole country and bears real danger in terms of sovereignty and statehood.
- It is automatically recognized that every person is already given certain unconditional rights upon birth, which should always be respected. These are the rights to personal freedom and inviolability, as well as to personal life, which should be protected by the state from outsiders.
Sources of rights, their characteristics
It is this “trinity” that provides a free and inviolable life guaranteed by a democratic regime. It is very important to note the fact that every citizen can and should possess such resources that would allow him to lead a decent life. Each person can live in his house, on free land, give birth, raise and raise his children, instilling in them the desire for the same moral ideals and political aspirations (a citizen may prefer a totalitarian, authoritarian, democratic regime).
The source of all these rights is not the state, not society, not even power, but the essence, nature itself. It follows from this that all these rights not only cannot be violated or limited, but they must be withdrawn from national standards in general. In addition, the person has a number of other freedoms and privileges, which are required to be its integral part.
It is only necessary to understand that in any legal state there is a certain line (clearly outlined by law) through which a citizen cannot cross. This also applies to political views: a person can talk about some advantages or disadvantages of any political regime, but he should not and does not have the right to call for the overthrow of the existing government in his favor.
In addition, you need to remember (not all socio-political figures do this) that everyone has the right to reasonably correct criticism of other people (within the framework of the law). But the same one, in turn, must understand that all other citizens can subject him to justified criticism, and there is nothing criminal in this.
What are “individual rights,” what are they?
The very concept of “human right” means the totality of certain legal relationships of individuals in society, as well as their relationship with society itself and the state as a whole. People can not only act directly in relation to their choice, but also have reason to receive some vital benefits.
All rights that provide people with freedom of expression and lifestyle are called “freedoms”.It should be noted that a democratic political regime is based on these concepts: nothing can be removed from it so that the state system can have the right to be called such.
As for certain individual freedoms, they distinguish between negative and positive. The first include the duties of the state, which are aimed at protecting the life and health of citizens from any acts of violence, including unlawful arrests, torture and other violations of the fundamental foundations of the person. The second category includes the mandatory provision of a person with a quality education, medical services and working conditions. There are also personal, political, economic and other human rights.
Key Documents
The basic concepts that a democratic political regime must adhere to and which must follow are enshrined in many UN documents. One of the most important is the Declaration of Human Rights. It was ratified back in 1948. At one time, our country did not accept it, but the document was signed during the reign of the first and last President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev.
This declaration lists the basic civil rights and freedoms, their negative and positive varieties (of which we spoke above). It is especially important that this document is clearly indicated: each person can live with dignity and abundance, without experiencing any limitations in the vital benefits. This Declaration is only part of the international Human Rights Act. In addition to it, the UN adopted and ratified many documents that protect the life, personal dignity and health of every person.
Unfortunately, there is no need to talk about the implementation of all these agreements, and the brutal killings of people in the Middle East are further confirmation of this. All countries that are now mired in the flames of the civil war, at one time signed the Declaration of Rights and other documents.
Pluralism, the plurality of a democratic society
What else is characterized by a democratic regime? Its signs are multiple, but one of the main is pluralism. Simply put, in the socio-political life of the country must necessarily be present several parties, public and political movements organizations, foundations, etc. Important! There is one exception, i.e. authoritarian democratic regime, which is peculiar to some eastern countries.
Practically all norms and principles of democracy can be applied there, but at the same time creation of competing parties is prohibited. But still, this is just an exception. Several parties in modern society are really necessary.
All of them at any given time are in a state of confrontation and natural competition, protecting and defending the human right to self-determination and freedom of expression. Pluralism is the antipode of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. The signs that indicate its existence should include the following points:
- Political actors are plural, but at the same time independent; in the state there is a clear separation of powers.
- There is no political monopoly in the country, expressed in the dominance of a single party.
- This follows from the previous paragraph: in the state must necessarily exist several different parties in power, each of which can defend the views and interests of those voters, thanks to which it came to power.
- A person can not only express his opinion and express his will: the state is obliged to provide for this several methods that encompass all capable citizens.
- The elites must be independent, independent of both the current government and third parties.
- The law allows a wide variety of political views.
In the CIS countries (which is already virtually no longer), there is currently a tendency towards the development of real pluralism. Alas, in the former Central Asian republics of the former USSR, all this is often an empty formality, which hides a rigid totalitarian system.
Regulation, regulation of power
But this is not the only way to describe a democratic regime. It is useless to list the signs, if not to talk about the unconditionally legal nature of power and relations in the society itself, which this government chose. Simply put, all governing activities of the government and the head of state should be carried out in the strict regulatory framework of the law.
This is not only a rigid set of laws and regulations that act as guarantors of observance of universal human values, but a certain conglomeration of provisions that are well understood by every person.
This is respect for every citizen, full recognition of his natural freedoms. In addition, the state, especially the liberal democratic regime, recognizes the basic universal concepts of good and evil, virtues and moral standards. The state should also have such an organization of a political and social regime in which different categories of citizens could live their usual lives without interfering with each other and without conflicting.
What does the legal nature of the regime mean?
So, we examined the average democratic political regime. The signs of it are quite simple, but it is still worth mentioning another important feature of this kind of socio-political system.
The fact is that in such a country all citizens, regardless of their origin and social status, are certainly equal in the face of the law. Belonging to a particular religious denomination, political party, race or nationality, level of education, and other such signs cannot and should not have any effect on the administration of justice.
"The principle of the majority": problems and features
In general, any democratic state regime violates the long-standing principle of many human societies, which proclaimed the primacy of the minority over the majority. Moreover, this principle is far from a quantitative concept.
In addition, there is another extreme. So, the English philosopher K. Popper sees a great danger in the fact that both a totalitarian and a democratic regime can boil down to tyranny because of the same majority power. After all, no one can exclude the possibility that the majority may well prefer to act with illegal methods, brutally infringing on the rights of a minority and even subjecting people of a different race, nationality or religion to total annihilation, which has already happened more than once in the history of mankind.
Guarantees for the minority
It should be recognized that this state of affairs always threatens with a loss of stability, and sometimes even of statehood and independence itself. Therefore, any democratic country is obliged to provide guarantees to the minority. Philosophers and political scientists express this idea as follows: "The power of the majority, which respects the rights of the minority." In particular, this provision is enshrined at the legislative level by recognition of opposition movements operating within the framework of the law.
"Stabilizing structures"
These basic principles are based on any democratic regime of power. However, each person probably understands that all these norms and rules are nothing more than a screen and convention, if the heads of state are not guided by them, are not based on some basic principles. The main pillar on which modern society rests is the right of private property of any citizen.
If we talk about political pillars and the foundations of democracy, we should mention the following "supporting structures": firstly, the same pluralism that guarantees multi-party system and containment of domestic political movements; secondly, this is the rule of dividing state power into three branches. Each of them balances the other. Finally, it is an election system that guarantees the possibility of a change in state power through the free will of citizens.
Finally, all this would not have been possible without the existence of effective laws, as well as a working justice system that makes all people equal in the face of the law. In theory, one can judge both an ordinary citizen and the president, which should ensure containment of some of the aspirations of the ruling elite. Of course, in reality everything is far from being so perfect.
Cases when the top of the power vertical is virtually unattainable for the law are not uncommon in our world. Of course, this must be fought, since this state of affairs inspires a sense of invulnerability and impunity.
Forms and types of democracy
Note that the democratic regime of a country can theoretically exist in one of two forms: direct and representative. If we talk about the history of state formations, then the first variety appeared first of all. Its essence was that the people themselves, not trusting this business to intermediaries, carried out elective and managerial functions. These are the very Athens and Novgorod that we spoke about at the very beginning of the article.
However, such a democracy is obsolete, as it existed at the very beginning of the emergence of this socio-political formation. A maximum of five to six thousand people could participate in the administration of the same city. All of them could gather in a field of a suitable size and solve pressing issues by direct, open voting.
Of course, the modern democratic regime (the features of which we have already described) in this form cannot exist in any way. To begin with, even in a small country several million people may well live. Thus, all modern democracy is representative, when between the people and the authorities are intermediaries in the form of supervisory, controlling bodies.
A direct form of “power” can exist only within the framework of an enterprise, company or social formation, when its members solve pressing issues by open vote.
Is democracy so “sinless"?
Of course, until now, we have only talked about what advantages the democratic regime of the state provides. Alas, nothing perfect exists in this world. Real political and social life often develops according to completely different laws. People rule everywhere, and, as you know, weaknesses and open vices are not alien to them.
It should be noted that the scheme described above is not a concept frozen over the centuries that is not allowed to touch and change. Rather, it is only a guideline for states that are building a truly free and open society, where everyone can freely realize themselves and unleash the potential of their mind and abilities.
Simply put, a democratic regime is a loose concept that can and should be adapted to an existing reality, being guided by its basic, fundamental principles. Once, the Duke of Marlborough even said that he thinks that this type of social structure is the most poor and awkward ... But he immediately added that in this case it is better to immediately forget about other variants of the political system.
