--- On Thu, 26/2/09, Kristofer Munsterhjelm <[email protected]> wrote:
> Juho Laatu wrote: > > --- On Tue, 17/2/09, Fred Gohlke > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> Whether or not the US is a democracy is a semantic > >> question. > > > > I use this term roughly so that a country > > is democratic if people are able to make > > change x if they are determined to make > > x happen. There should be no fear of coup, > > revenge, police or other serious personal > > problems. This is the lower limit, not a > > definition of a perfect democratic system. > > This is somewhat offtopic, but consider a country where you > have a ruler who makes decisions in a dictatorial manner, > but where those decisions can be opposed by a supermajority. > Would such a country be democratic? The supermajority of the > people could make x happen (or at least make not-x not > happen), yet their influence is very slight. I wouldn't classify this country as a democracy since being able to veto the decisions is only half or less than half of the requirement. The citizens should decide what to do, not just approve the proposals. The supermajority requirement could still fit in if it was reasonable. > > Perhaps democracy is a scale, not a point, with direct > democracy on one end and "elected kings" on the > other? An elected king would be one who rules with absolute > power for as long as he lives (unless he resigns), except > that when the old king resigns or dies, there's an > election for the new king. This system almost falls within the definition of democracy that I gave. In the definition I said that "people are able to make change x". In this case that change would not be possible if the king lives longer than his subjects. Maybe the definition should be read to say also "within reasonable time". Some real life examples for comparison. - A strong president (strong enough to form the government) with sufficient support in the parliament etc. is close to an elected king for n years. - In Europe there have been some successive votes on joining EU or on accepting the constitution of EU. This has been close to allowing the citizens to veto the wishes of the rulers n times until the wishes of the rulers will be implemented. Juho ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
