Democracy as an institute of people’s government: national and international experience

The sovereign people exercise political power through their elected representatives. Democracy places the origin of political power in the collective will of citizens and is based on respect for their freedom and equality. It is clear that the exercise of political sovereignty in a democratic society requires that the people really consist of citizens. Democracy, as a political regime, requires that the people concerned consist of educated, autonomous, and free citizens, and that society be organized in a liberal way that allows for political pluralism through the possibility of free and open information and the existence of checks and balances. In a democratic society, citizenship is also a source of social ties. This term is used today to refer to any political system in which the people are sovereign. Democracy can also describe a form of society, a way of governing itself adopted by an organization or a system of values. Publicity consists in the fulfillment by the individual of his duties to the community in society. It implies devotion to public affairs, due to which everyone, claiming autonomy and freedom, believes that he should integrate into the national community and cooperate in public life. In a democratic society, power should be exercised for the people, that is, in their interests, in the common interests of the entire people, and not in the interests of dynasties, oligarchies or influential groups. On the basis of these foundations, democracy is carried out through the delegation of power to representatives of the people, elected by universal suffrage. Electoral right is a privileged instrument of exercising power by citizens. Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as «the government of the people by the people and for the people.» Thus, the governed are simultaneously rulers. The question is how, having delegated power to their representatives, can the people retain control?