Democracy is a core value of the United Nations. The UN supports democracy by promoting human rights, development, and peace and security. In the 75 years since the UN Charter was signed, the UN has done more to support democracy around the world than any other global organization. The UN promotes good governance, monitors elections, supports the civil society to strengthen democratic institutions and accountability, ensures self-determination in decolonized countries, and assists in the drafting of new constitutions in post-conflict nations.
United Nations activities in support of democracy are carried out through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), the Department of Peace Operations (DPO), the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), among others.
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The values of freedom, respect for human rights and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy. In turn, democracy provides an environment for the protection and effective realization of human rights.
For several years, the UN General Assembly and the former Commission on Human Rights endeavoured to draw on international human rights instruments to promote a common understanding of the principles and values of democracy. As a result, in 2000, the Commission recommended a series of legislative, institutional and practical measures to consolidate democracy. Moreover, in 2002, the Commission declared the following as essential elements of democracy:
The Secretary-General made working with and for young people one of his top priorities. He appointed the first Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth, mandated with the task of developing a UN Youth Strategy. The UN General Assembly in March 2015 adopted Education for Democracy, a resolution encouraging all UN entities to use education to promote peace, human rights, and democracy. The resolution encourages Member States to integrate education for democracy into their education standards.
The General Assembly proclaimed 15 September as the International Day of Democracy. The observance provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Only with the full support of the international community, national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be realised to the benefit of all and everywhere.
Democracy (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: dmokrata, dmos 'people' and kratos 'rule')[1] is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state.[2] According to the United Nations, democracy "provides an environment that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in which the freely expressed will of people is exercised."[3]
In a direct democracy, the people have the direct authority to deliberate and decide legislation. In a representative democracy, the people choose governing officials through elections to do so. Who is considered part of "the people" and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries. Features of democracy oftentimes include freedom of assembly, association, personal property, freedom of religion and speech, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.
The notion of democracy has evolved over time considerably. Throughout history, one can find evidence of direct democracy, in which communities make decisions through popular assembly. Today, the dominant form of democracy is representative democracy, where citizens elect government officials to govern on their behalf such as in a parliamentary or presidential democracy.[4]
Although democracy is generally understood to be defined by voting,[1][8] no consensus exists on a precise definition of democracy.[15] Karl Popper says that the "classical" view of democracy is, "in brief, the theory that democracy is the rule of the people, and that the people have a right to rule".[16] Kofi Annan states that "there are as many different forms of democracy as there are democratic nations in the world."[17] One study identified 2,234 adjectives used to describe democracy in the English language.[18]
Democratic principles are reflected in all eligible citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to legislative processes.[20] For example, in a representative democracy, every vote has (in theory) equal weight, and the freedom of eligible citizens is secured by legitimised rights and liberties which are typically enshrined in a constitution.[21][22] Other uses of "democracy" may encompass direct democracy, in which citizens vote on issues directly.
One theory holds that democracy requires three fundamental principles: upward control (sovereignty residing at the lowest levels of authority), political equality, and social norms by which individuals and institutions only consider acceptable acts that reflect the first two principles of upward control and political equality.[23] Legal equality, political freedom and rule of law[24] are often identified by commentators as foundational characteristics for a well-functioning democracy.[15]
In some countries, notably in the United Kingdom (which originated the Westminster system), the dominant principle is that of parliamentary sovereignty, while maintaining judicial independence.[26][27] In India, parliamentary sovereignty is subject to the Constitution of India which includes judicial review.[28] Though the term "democracy" is typically used in the context of a political state, the principles also are potentially applicable to private organisations, such as clubs, societies and firms.
Democracies may use many different decision-making methods, but majority rule is the dominant form. Without compensation, like legal protections of individual or group rights, political minorities can be oppressed by the "tyranny of the majority". Majority rule involves a competitive approach, opposed to consensus democracy, creating the need that elections, and generally deliberation, are substantively and procedurally "fair"," i.e. just and equitable. In some countries, freedom of political expression, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press are considered important to ensure that voters are well informed, enabling them to vote according to their own interests and beliefs.[29][30]
It has also been suggested that a basic feature of democracy is the capacity of all voters to participate freely and fully in the life of their society.[31] With its emphasis on notions of social contract and the collective will of all the voters, democracy can also be characterised as a form of political collectivism because it is defined as a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in lawmaking.[32]
Republics, though often popularly associated with democracy because of the shared principle of rule by consent of the governed, are not necessarily democracies, as republicanism does not specify how the people are to rule.[33]Classically the term "republic" encompassed both democracies and aristocracies.[34][35] In a modern sense the republican form of government is a form of government without a monarch. Because of this, democracies can be republics or constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom.
Democratic assemblies are as old as the human species and are found throughout human history,[37] but up until the nineteenth century, major political figures have largely opposed democracy.[38] Republican theorists linked democracy to small size: as political units grew in size, the likelihood increased that the government would turn despotic.[39][40] At the same time, small political units were vulnerable to conquest.[39] Montesquieu wrote, "If a republic be small, it is destroyed by a foreign force; if it be large, it is ruined by an internal imperfection."[41] According to Johns Hopkins University political scientist Daniel Deudney, the creation of the United States, with its large size and its system of checks and balances, was a solution to the dual problems of size.[39][pages needed]
Athenian democracy took the form of a direct democracy, and it had two distinguishing features: the random selection of ordinary citizens to fill the few existing government administrative and judicial offices,[47] and a legislative assembly consisting of all Athenian citizens.[48] All eligible citizens were allowed to speak and vote in the assembly, which set the laws of the city state. However, Athenian citizenship excluded women, slaves, foreigners ( / mtoikoi), and youths below the age of military service.[49][50][contradictory] Effectively, only 1 in 4 residents in Athens qualified as citizens. Owning land was not a requirement for citizenship.[51] The exclusion of large parts of the population from the citizen body is closely related to the ancient understanding of citizenship. In most of antiquity the benefit of citizenship was tied to the obligation to fight war campaigns.[52]
Athenian democracy was not only direct in the sense that decisions were made by the assembled people, but also the most direct in the sense that the people through the assembly, boule and courts of law controlled the entire political process and a large proportion of citizens were involved constantly in the public business.[53] Even though the rights of the individual were not secured by the Athenian constitution in the modern sense (the ancient Greeks had no word for "rights"[54]), those who were citizens of Athens enjoyed their liberties not in opposition to the government but by living in a city that was not subject to another power and by not being subjects themselves to the rule of another person.[55] be457b7860
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