why is democracy one of the greatest human achievements?
964857
Well, for one thing, it beat the heck out of living in a state of fear over one's own government.  Beyond that, economic freedom let at least some people escape poverty, and democracies do seem both internally more stable and less warlike than more repressive forms of government (According to some historians, no constitutional democracy has ever attacked another one; this is refered to as "democratic peace.")
676175
Elite democracy doesnt really exist. Elite democracy is really elitist and not democracy.
594607
If the twentieth century was the century of totalitarianism, total war, genocide, and brutality, it was also the century of democracy. As Freedom House notes in its latest annual survey of freedom in the world, there was not a single country in 1900 that would qualify by today’s standards as a democracy. By 1950, only 22 of the 80 sovereign political systems in the world (28 percent) were democratic. When the third wave of global democratization began in 1974, there were 39 democracies, but the percentage of democracies in the world was about the same (27 percent). Yet by January 2000, Freedom House counted 120 democracies, the highest number and the greatest percentage (63) in the history of the world.
963788
Yes, I like living in a democracy.Its what hundreds of thousands of good men and women gave their lives for in the TWO world wars. Those people believed they were fighting for 'free speech' and the right to have a say in the running of this country.We have pseudo MPs here;they are dictators (most of them anyway)
73237
Democracy is a form of government where the population of a society controls the government.\n\nWiki has pages of infromation.
452936
Thers this thing called democracy. Theres another great thing called education.\nOne must be given to the public, before the other.
734796
Democracy (literally "rule by the people", from the Greek demos, "people," and kratos, "rule") is a form of government for a nation state, or for an organization in which all the citizens have an equal vote or voice in shaping policy or electing government officials. While the term democracy is often used in the context of a political state, the principles are also applicable to other bodies, such as universities, labor unions, public companies, or civic organizations.............enjoy just dont believe it actually exists!
1065661
People are pursuing happiness and don't really bother about great ideas.\nOnce the people are well fed and entertained they mechanically lose interest in politics, they still appreciate political scandals though but just as an other form of entertainment.\nDemocracy is thus a very fragile political system because it contains the seeds of its own destruction.\nThe democracy as an ideal will probably survive as long as  there are poor and unhappy individuals who will see it as a mean to improving their condition but even on this front democracy is threatened by inventive regimes like Singapour or China who are developping political systems able to provide wealth an entertainment to the mass without conceding political rights.
293425
democracy is the best, but could stand some improvement. it lets the people help decide what they want. beats having a million unhappy citizens
46752
Good point :)\n\nOf course, by "democracy" we usually mean "freedom to vote for the leaders we like". And oh look, Condi Rice cut off aid to the Palestinian government.
495655
That's a very good question.  I would say the quality of a democratic government depends on how democratic the government actually is and also on how capable of making wise decisions the people of the country are.  The ancient Greeks were among the first people to have democratic governments, and in their literature we can read about democratic governments that were disastrous because of the unwise decisions the people made.  That led some Greek philosophers to theorize that the best form of government would be a benevolent dictatorship by a person so wise that they would have preferred not to be in power, but accepted it as their duty, but that because of the instability of that situation, a democracy was the next best thing.  In modern times, we have seen many governments that claimed to be democracies but in reality were dictatorships of a rather less benevolent kind.  The founding fathers of the United States (by the way, I am from the USA) wisely formed a government of checks and balances, where the people of the country had a voice, but no one institution had absolute authority.  I would say that in our country today, democracy is sometimes in danger of being compromised by the influence of powerful business and special interest groups over corrupt politicians, and by the apathy of many voters who are not as informed about political issues as they could be.  But overall, the institutions are sound and democratic, so I would give the U.S. good grades as a quality democracy overall.
1062731
True democracy is by the people, for the people, and of the people.  I'd lean toward the former - if people want to will away their rights, they have every right to do so.\n\nIt's worth noting, however, that hardly any of the successful governments going by the name of "democracy" are true ones - they tend more toward representative democracies and republics.  This is for good reason - a true democracy, partially due to the question you just raised, would be unworkable in nearly all cases.
1007795
democracy-government in which the people directly rule, has maximum tollerance toward religion and cultural identity stresses freedom of speach, stressed importance of innovation and success causses strong economy--draw backs; slow decision making, poor military strength\n\nrepublic-govenment in which elected representatives rule; great tolerance toward religion and cultural identity, stresses freedom of speech, stressed importance of innovation and success causses strong economy--draw backs: mediocre decision making, corruption pressent, weak to mediocre military strength\n\nmonarchy-government in which a hereditary monarchy rules; mediocre to poor tolerance, censored speech, mediocre innovative and sucsess drive makes mediorcre economic strength, good military strength--drawbacks: government does not cause excellent results in any catagory \n\ndespotism-government in which single autocrat rules usualy by being backed by the military and/or a secret police; generaly very low tollerance, heavily censored speach, distribution of wealth to close friends and poor motivation to excel causes economy to suffer, military strong--drawbacks: poor personal freedom causes civil unrest, week economy\n\nconstitutional monarchy-a government where a hereditary monarchy rules only with powers dictated by a constitution; fair to good tolerance, occational censorship of media, good personal freedom causes good economy, fair military--drawbacks:none major\n\noligarchy-govenment in which a council of plutocrats or hereditarily designated members rule; tolerance and free speech depends on benvolence of council, generaly good personal freedoms causes strong economy, weak military--drawbacks: instability of policy\n\ncommunism-govenment in which a premir("representing" the people but not elected by them) directs policy while a politiburo(central party commity) decides issues;no tolerance of religion or cultural identity, heavily censored media, poor personal freedom causes economy to suffer, military strong--drawbacks zero tolerance causes civil unrest, economy weak
631113
Because Democracy is so much fun.  We want everyone to enjoy it. OKAY??!!  Coming to a country near you soon!!!
126533
true democracy is rule by the people.  The US is a republic where some of our officials are elected.  It is far from a true democracy because special interests have a huge influence on the election of officials and how they act when in office.\n\nA true demoocracy would respond to the will of the people and allow for continual social change based on their needs and wants.  It can't be a true democracy without continual political participation of its people.
758330
Really America is a Republic, so Democracy is just a myth..Right now with Bush it's a Dictatorship, and Democracy is once again a myth. Democracy means "For the people, By the people" (Abraham Lincoln), not for the corporations, and the rich people that want to rule.
217471
It is a type of goverment where the people are represented. Democracy is just one type, and I can't say that the kind in England and Canada don't do the same thing. Many times in Indian villages, the chief would listen to his people and act upon what they thought. This is another type of representitive goverment.