Ask a Teacher

Search



what do you mean by democratic government?
The definition of the word "democracy" is government by the people. "Demo" means people. "Cracy" is government. The United States is a limited democracy, since we elect leaders and representives to make laws for us, rather than voting on each issue ourselves, which would never work.

The Founding Fathers of our country did not use that word specifically because they based most of their ideas on English common law and the writings of people like John Locke. True democracy goes back to the time of ancient Greece, when Athens had close to a true democracy. Although of course, women and slaves could not vote, and they made up a large percentage of the population.

A democracy is different from governments such as an absolute monarchy, a dictatorship, or an oligarchy in that in a democracy the citizens have a clear voice in their government, either direct or indirect.


comments powered by Disqus