Why is the rule of law important to modern democracies
Democracy - A short introduction
the word democracy comes from the Greek
words of demos which means people and
Kratos which means power or rule so
democracy basically means the rule of
the people democracy first started as a
direct democracy in Greek cities notably
ancient Athens where people came
together to speak about their concerns
and opinions in front of rulers of the
city-state and directly voted on new
rules and laws here is considered as the
birthplace of democracy for the very
first time decisions were made by the
people instead of rulers but sadly the
ancient Greeks did not see all people
equally slaves women children and the
people who did not have a land weren't
allowed to vote this is what we call a
flawed democracy today after the Greeks
lost their power and influence in the
first century AD their early forms of
democracy were also fading away until
the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 which
prevented the King of England to do
whatever he wanted and said that even
the king had to follow the country's
rules and laws which were written in the
Constitution today most democracies are
indirect or representative which means
that you can't vote for a new law
yourself but you can vote for people who
then become lawmakers and present your
interests but democracy isn't just about
voting it's about everything to protect
the best interests of the people no
matter what is their race gender
political opinion or religion these
interests can be human rights quality of
life infrastructure and many more modern
democracies divine power into three
different branches the legislative the
people who make the law the executive
the people who make sure that you obey
the law and the judiciary who judge you
if you commit a crime these three are
independent and work following the
process checks and balances which means
all the work must be clear and fair and
very important the people who have power
also must follow the law and not exceed
their authority
in addition a democratic government must
work in a way that reflects the wish
feeling desire and values of the society
that it governs this is also known as
the general will which is a concept
developed by the famous Swiss
philosopher jean-jacques Rousseau one of
the problems of democratic voting is
that the biggest groups of people always
have the most power and that's why a
good democracy also has laws to protect
the rights of its smaller and weaker
groups a democracy where the majority
chooses to separate expel or injure its
minority is not a functioning democracy
so what do you think now about democracy
Winston Churchill once said democracy is
the worst form of government except for
all those other forms that have been
tried from time to time do you agree
you
