What Is Democracy

A government is a body of people or group which determines and administers public policy. They do so through exercising political power, sovereign power, and executive power over institutions, laws, and customers within a particular state. “Democracy” refers to a method of making decisions for a group which is characterized by equality among those who participate in making essential decisions.

There are four components to this definition. The first is that democracy is concerned with the decision of the collective. That means that decisions need to be made for the group and those decisions bind each member of the group. Second, the definition of democracy covers many groups which are considered democratic. Families can be democratic, economic firms, global organizations, voluntary organizations, transnational organizations, and states. Third, there is no normative weight to the definition of democracy. Lastly, there may be more or less equality required by the aforementioned definition of democracy. This means there can be a formal one-person to one-vote form of equality in an election for an assembly, or there can be equality in the process of coalition building. Democracy can refer to any of the aforementioned political arrangements including the direct participation of those members in a society dependent upon the laws of said society, or the participation of members who are selecting representative who will make decisions.

Natural law is a theory of ethics, a theory of politics, religious morality, and civil law. The theory of natural law in terms of ethics can be applied to law, religion, and politics. In essence, natural law is determined by the universe, or human nature. It is most often referred to as the rules which guide moral behavior, or in this case, an “ideal society”. Positive law is considered man made while natural law is that which is determined by nature. As such, natural law is a major component of critiquing positive law and what requirements define an ideal society. Positive cannot be created or known without the foundation of natural law. As such, natural law can be used to determine legal statutes under natural rights or natural justice.

A democracy is needed as the governing body in order to achieve an ideal society. This is because an ideal society is one wherein the people have a part in their government and the government adheres to the requests of everyone, not one person more than another. This type of equality is conducive to fairness and a utopian, ideal society.