What is democracy? - Concepts - Chapter 1 Class 9 Political Science - What Is Democracy? Why Democracy - Political Science

• 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 that depends on the will of the people .

A SIMPLE DEFINITION

• Governments that are called democracies are a government that is chosen by the people.
• Democracy is a form of government in which rulers are elected by the people.
• This definition allows us to separate democracy from forms of government that are not democratic.
• Take the example of Myanmar where the army rulers were not elected by the people.
• Those who happened to be in control of the army became the rulers of the country.
• People had no say in this decision. Dictators like Pinochet (Chile) are not elected by the people.
• This also applies to monarchies.
• One should always remember that democracy is people’s rule .