democracy

Democracy is a political concept referring to a society administered by a democratic government, in which all adult citizens have a say in social and political decisions that affect the country. It is widely viewed as the most fair and progressive form of government, since it reflects the will of the majority, while also granting and protecting the rights of minorities.

The way by which individuals can express their will regarding initiatives that affect everyone is voting. A distinction is made between direct democracies and representative democracies. In direct democracies, people vote on policies directly, while in representative democracies, the people elect a number of representatives (which constitute the country's legislature) who then vote on policy initiatives in the name of the people. However, many representative democracies also allow for three forms of direct political action on the part of the people, namely referendum, citizens' initiative and recall.

The referendum is a direct vote in which the electorate is asked to accept or reject a specific proposal. The citizens' imitative is a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters that can eventually force a public vote, or referendum. A recall is a political procedure by which registered voters can remove an elected official from service before their term has expired. Recalls are also initiated via petition.

You'll find bloggers talking about democracy at sites like economist.com and dailycaller.com.

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Original Technorati articles tagged “democracy”

• in Politics
  Historical Election for Egypt
  Thirteen candidates. Two days.
  by eklemens / on May 23, 2012
• in Politics
  Pressure for Military Intervention in Syria Grows
  Assad Seems To Underestimate Opposition to his Regime
  by Mozart99 / on Jan 15, 2012
• in Politics
  Is the Death of the Lokpal Good Riddance or Bad Rubbish for Indian Democracy?
  What broke the fun was the objection Mamta Banerjee raised to a clause permitting the central government to enact anti corruption laws for the states, a promise extracted by Anna Hazare from a parliament under duress which it has no power to deliver.
  by forgevalley / on Dec 30, 2011

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “democracy”

 

• Agriculture Minister Complains that His Staff Don’t Expense As Much to Taxpayers as He Does

  
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  Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is hopping mad . He put a civil servant in Guelph, one Bill Teeter, in charge of a spending review in Ottawa, had him travel back and forth for a year, and in the process let him rack up $100,000 in expenses that were then charged to taxpayers. Now that the number has come out, Ritz ...
  2 hours ago

• Greetings from Afghanistan

  
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  By Jesse Petrilla via email I am at about a 5,000 foot elevation with a fantastic view of the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan. It has been one month since I left Orange County for a tour of duty with the Army, and I look forward to accomplishing the mission here and getting back to work at home soon. In the ...
  1 day ago

• Zuma painting: Spearing the psyche and esteem of a nation

  
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  Private parts are just that. They are private. And even though the president is not exactly a private citizen, his privates have no place in the public arena. Not everyone agrees of course. It is, after all, the way of democracy but it seems even democracy has a nasty divisive side to it. The Spear...
  1 day ago

• Pic of the Day – Egyptian Elections

  
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  Women wait in line to vote in Cairo this week, during the first Egyptian presidential election since the Arab Spring protests that led to the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. Photo: UN Women Arab States / flickr
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• The Learning Network Blog: Egyptians Vote in First Free Presidential Election

  
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  Why is the presidential election in Egypt such an important event?
  1 day ago

• The Filipino People dares 188 Congressmen and Several Senators to file their waivers

  
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  Now that the Highest Magistrate of this country already did what was expected of him, I, along with the rest of the Filipino People who want nothing more than see a cleaner bureaucracy, demand that these 188 Congressmen and several moralizing Senators to also file their waivers on the confidentiality of their foreign ...
  1 day ago

• Myanmar could be India’s next-door energy supplier: Chinese expert

  
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  Beijing, May 25 (IANS) Considering the geostrategic significance of Myanmar, it is crucial for India to befriend the country as it serves as a land bridge to Southeast Asia and because India’s booming economy desperately needs Myanmar’s rich oil and natural gas resources, a Chinese expert has said.Indian Prime ...
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• Arrogance

  
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  Yesterday, in one of the most effective student protests in years, 400 students blockaded a major Auckland street for several hours over cuts to student funding. Bill Englishs response ? "Yes, theres a protest movement out there but whos really listening to them?" English said, in response to a question from the ...
  1 day ago

• France, Germany at Odds Over Eurozone Crisis

  
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  HQ of the Council of the European Union, Brussels (photo: Szilas/wikimedia) European leaders met in Brussels yesterday, and even going in it was clear that the countervailing forces, exemplified most by Germany and France, would not come to any agreements. And that’s just how it turned out : A major rift has ...
  1 day ago

• How it works in PNG

  
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  Last year, Papua New Guineas Supreme Court ruled that the ousting of Prime Minister Michael Somare was unconstitutional and ordered his reinstatement, sparking a constitutional crisis . The government, military and police ignored the ruling, but the crisis simmered on, with a law purporting to give the government ...
  1 day ago

• New Jersey attorney general: NYPD surveillance of Muslims was legal

  
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  New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa concluded on Thursday that the New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they controversially conducted surveillance of Muslim communities, according to the  Associated Press . (more…)
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• Truth Out Today, 24 May 2012

  
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  Thursday 24 May 2012 On the News With Thom Hartmann: More Than 31 Percent of All American Homeowners Are Underwater on Their Mortgages, and More In today’s On the News segment: Europe is now drawing up plans for the departure of Greece from the euro zone, the housing crisis continues, the pharmaceutical industry ...
  1 day ago

• Planet Facebook Owns It

  
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  “Planet Facebook Owns It” is the title of my new column, now on WND. Here’s an excerpt : “The more you hear from your average, financial-markets hater—the more you wish you could transport each one back to a mud hut in a far-away land, where women wear grass skirts, and carry their groceries on their ...
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• Power Ballad - By Haley Sweetland Edwards

  
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  What happens when you mix a trashy Europop spectacle with an oil-soakedCaspian dictator?
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• Howard Rheingold on Congress, Digital Literacy, and Making Political Movements

  
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• Sleepless in Jerusalem - By Oren Kessler

  
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  Egypts presidential elections are keeping Israeli officials awake at night. Will their closest Arab friend soon be an enemy?
  1 day ago

• Confucius Institutes: Göttingen University, for Example

  
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  Tai De is (kind of) corresponding with German authorities, concerning Confucius Institutes in Lower Saxony. Either a guest post by Tai De, or an interview with him, is in the pipeline. Stay tuned. ____________ Related » State Department Directive , May 24, 2012 » No Communists at Deutsche Welle , March ...
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• Cognitive Democracy

  
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  "Heres a paper were working on, which argues that we should (for some purposes at least), think of markets, hierarchy and democracy in terms of their capacity to solve complex collective problems [and] makes the case that democracy will on average do the job a lot better than the other two ways..." Henry Farrell and ...
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• CNN – 8PM ET – Anderson Cooper Interviews Activist Chen Guangcheng

  
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  “In his first in-depth TV interview since his dramatic escape, Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng tells CNN about his departure from China and his continuing concern for family and friends he left behind. Chen’s arrival in the United States last week brought an end to a diplomatic firestorm between ...
  1 day ago

• Door for change ‘wide open’ in Iran, as regime loses cultural Cold War

  
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  Iran has stronger prospects to transition to a liberal democracy than most Arab states, new research suggests, but the Islamic Republic remains “a very grim picture” when it comes to human rights, the Obama administration said today. Nevertheless, the Iranian regime’s failure to impose Islamist ideology ...
  1 day ago

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