democracy

Etymology

From Middle French democratie (French démocratie), from Medieval Latin dēmocratia, from Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokratíā). Surface analysis: demo- (“people”) + -cracy (“rule”)

noun

1. (uncountable) Rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives (representative democracy).
   And the essential value and power of Democracy consists in this,—that it combines, as far as possible, power and organization ; THE SPIRIT, MANHOOD, is at one with THE BODY, ORGANIZATION. [....] Democracy is Government by the People. 1866, J. Arthur Partridge, On Democracy, Trübner & Co., page 2
   The period, that is, which marks the transition from absolutism or aristocracy to democracy will mark also the transition from absolutist or autocratic methods of nomination to democratic methods. 1901, The American Historical Review, American Historical Association, page 260
   A century ago there was in the Old World only one tiny spot in which the working of democracy could be studied. A few of the ancient rural cantons of Switzerland had recovered their freedom after the fall of Napoleon, and were governing themselves as they had done from the earlier Middle Ages…. Nowhere else in Europe did the people rule. 1921, James Bryce Bryce, Modern Democracies, The Macmillan Company, page 1
   On this day in 1977, Taiwan witnessed a watershed moment in its march to democracy: the Chungli Incident. Violence broke out on the night of the largest-yet elections in the country’s history. Some 10,000 people took to the streets in protest following reports of election fraud on the part of the ruling Kuomintang. 19 November 2017, “Today in History”, in Radio Taiwan International, archived from the original on 2022-09-10
2. (countable, government) A government under the direct or representative rule of the people of its jurisdiction.
   Of course, the Russians think it is something else because they say the Russians have a democracy and it is plain that their government is not what the Americans regard as a democracy. March 16 1947, Edwin L. James, “General Marshall Raises the Ideological Issue”, in The New York Times
   In 1900 not a single country had what we would today consider a democracy: a government created by elections in which every adult citizen could vote. 2003, Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, W. W. Norton & Company, page 13
3. (countable) A state with a democratic system of government.
   The United States was founded as a republic, not a democracy. 2018 March, Yascha Mounk, “America Is Not a Democracy”, in The Atlantic
   Israel is not a democracy, as these elections proved once again. Democracy is the rule of the people, not the rule of one people over another. 2019-4-28, Hagai El-Ad, “What kind of democracy deports human rights workers?”, in Yoni Molad, transl., +972 Magazine
   After almost four decades of authoritarian rule, South Africa became a democracy in April 1994. 2002, Victor G. Hilliard, “The Role of Human Resource Development in South African Public Service Reform”, in Administrative Reform in Developing Nations, Praeger, page 179
4. (uncountable) Belief in political freedom and equality; the "spirit of democracy".
   As states of the human spirit democracy, righteousness, and faith have much in common and may be cultivated by the same means... 1918, Charles Horton Cooley, “A Primary Culture for Democracy”, in Publications of the American Sociological Society 13, page 8
   It must further be admitted that he provided a successful interpretation of democracy in its philosophic aspects when he conceived democracy as a general outlook on the universe... In Bakunin's conception of democracy as religious in character we trace the influence of French socialism. 1919, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, The Spirit of Russia: Studies in History, Literature and Philosophy, Macmillan, page 446
   The spirit of democracy means, above all, liberty of choice for human beings... democracy, in both its individual and collective forms, is the main engine of the eternal human striving for justice and prosperity. 1996, Petre Roman, The Spirit of Democracy and the Fabric of NATO - The New European Democracies and NATO Enlargement, page 1