What Democracy Is
Modern Political Democracy – is a system of governance in which the rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives. 1. System of Governance – is an ensemble of patterns that determines the method of access to the principal public offices which includes but not limited to: * Characteristics of Actors admitted to or excluded from such access. * Strategies that actors may use to gain access * The rules followed in the making of publicly binding decisions
Note: To work properly, the ensemble must be institutionalized – that is to say, the various patterns must be habitually known, practiced, and accepted by most, if not, all actors. Furthermore, the preferred mechanism of institutionalization is a written body of laws undergirded by a written constitution or any other informal or traditional basis. * These forms, characteristics and rules are bundled together and given a generic label e.g. democratic, autocratic, despotic, dictatorial, tyrannical, totalitarian, monarchic, aristocratic, etc…

2. Rulers – persons who occupy specialized authority roles and can give legitimate commands to others. What distinguishes democratic rulers with others are the norms and conditions of how the former came to powerand the practices that hold them accountable for their actions.

3. Public Realm – encompasses the making of collective norms and choices that are binding on the society and backed by state coercion. * Note: The contect of public realm can vary a great deal across democracies, depending upon pre-existing distinctions between the public and private, state and society, legitimate coercion and voluntary exchange, collective needs and individual preference. Example: i. The