Of course we feel it is fair that we should have as much chance as anyone else to decide on common rules! These principles are intuitively appealing, and they help to explain why democracy is so popular. Equality: The idea that everyone should have the same opportunity to influence the decisions that affect people in society. People should be able to control their own lives (within reason).Ģ. Individual autonomy: The idea that no-one should be subject to rules which have been imposed by others. The idea of democracy derives its moral strength – and popular appeal – from two key principles:ġ. Question: If democracy is government by the people, are there any real democracies in the world? Why democracy? A democracy, at least in theory, is government on behalf of all the people, according to their "will". Properly understood, democracy should not even be "rule of the majority", if that means that minorities' interests are ignored completely. Democracy, then, is not autocracy or dictatorship, where one person rules and it is not oligarchy, where a small segment of society rules. There are so many different models of democratic government around the world that it is sometimes easier to understand the idea of democracy in terms of what it definitely is not. The word democracy comes from the Greek words "demos", meaning people, and "kratos" meaning power so democracy can be thought of as "power of the people": a way of governing which depends on the will of the people. "Of the people, by the people, for the people" Status of ratification of major international human rights instruments.Questions and answers about Human Rights.Human Rights Activism and the Role of NGOs.
Introduction to the 2012 edition of Compass.