For democracy to flourish and deliver on its promises—including political participation, human

rights, access to justice, a good education, an improved quality of life, a healthy environment,
and personal security—its citizens must be informed, engaged, empowered, and assertive.
Similarly, institutions of governance must be inclusive, transparent, accountable, and
responsive.

Free and fair elections are the foundation of every healthy democracy, ensuring that
government authority derives from the will of the people.

Active participation is a way of working that supports an individual's right to participate in the
activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible. The individual is
an active partner in their own care or support rather than being passive.

Human Rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour
and are regularly protected as natural and legal rights in municipal and international law.

Rule of Law isthe restriction of the arbitrary exercise of power by subordinating it to well-
defined and established laws.

Human Right- a right that is believed to belong justifiably to every person.

Democracy Facts
Democracy is a system that gives every person, with a legal right to vote, the
opportunity to vote for the representatives they wish to make government
decisions. Democracy is meant to give every citizen the ability to vote in
elections in a free society, the protection of human rights, and law that applies
to everyone equally. The term 'democracy' appeared in Greek philosophy and
politics in Athens, and the Athenians established the first democracy in 508-507
BC. The word 'democracy' meant 'rule by the people'. President Abraham
Lincoln defined democracy as "Government of the people, by the people, for the
people."
Interesting Democracy Facts:
In a democracy the people have a say in who governs their society, which can
be changed through elections. In dictatorships or monarchies the power is
held by one person and a revolution or other act must occur to remove them
in most cases.

In a direct democracy every person has a right to vote on all important issues
and decisions. This is difficult with a very large population.

In a representative democracy citizens elect representatives to act on their

behalf in the government to vote on decisions.
Examples of representative democracies include the United States, Canada,
and the United Kingdom.

One of the key elements of a democracy includes the guarantee of human

rights to every person.

A key element of democracy is that there is a separation of the institutions

within, between government, parliament, and the courts of law.

In a democracy there is a freedom of religion, freedom of opinion (in speech,

press, and media), and the right to vote (one person equals one vote).

In a democracy the focus of the government is meant to be on public interest

and it is meant to operate in the absence of corruption.

Democracy is not a perfect form of government as it has many issues that

make it difficult for proper representation of the people. These issues include
the fact that running for office is expensive and this often means only the
wealthy reach office.

Voters in a democracy often are misinformed or uninformed and have no idea

what or who they are voting for.

Often there is corruption within a democracy which can affect voting

outcomes and potentially lead to unfair election practices.

Because democracies are so large and often inefficient, making decisions can
take a long time.

The richest countries in the world are considered to be democracies.

The democracy of countries is measured by several different publications

including Worldwide Press Freedom Index, Freedom in the World, Freedom of
the Press, and the Index of Freedom in the World, among others.

Beyond direct and representative democracies there are also less popular
forms of governance and variations on democracy including a presidential
democracy, semi-direct democracy, constitutional monarchy, republic, liberal
democracy, socialist, anarchist, sortation, consociational democracy,
consensus democracy, supranational, inclusive democracy, participatory,
cosmopolitan, and creative democracy.

One downfall to democracy is the potential for voters to make decisions based
 on poor information or total ignorance.

Some believe that democracy, with its frequent changes in government, leads
to political instability.

Democratic Practices
Kettering research has identified democratic practices that have everyday applications in the life of a

community. Democratic practices are ways citizens can work together—even when they disagree—

to address shared problems.

 

  Ordinary Questions, Extraordinary Opportunities

Democratic practices are variations on the things that happen every day in communities. In order for

these routine activities to become public, citizens have to be involved. Yet this doesn’t mean that

communities have to do anything out of the ordinary—they just have to do the ordinary in different

ways. If the routine business of politics is done in ways that are open to citizens, the routines can

become democratic practices.

These practices are reflected in the ordinary questions people ask one another when something

threatens their collective well-being. Their conversations revolve around such questions as:

 What’s bothering you?

 How does this problem affect you and your family?
 What should we do? What would be the consequences?
 If there are negative consequences to what you propose, do you think we should still do it?
 What is the right thing to do?
 Who else do we need to solve the problem?
 What resources do we need? What do we have that we can use?
 What are we learning?