The body in charge of directing the executive power of a State is called government. The president, ministers, and other officials are responsible for the administration of the government. Democratic, for its part, is that linked to democracy: the form of government in which citizens hold political power.
A democratic government, therefore, is the one whose authorities emanate from the people, since the can it belongs to the entire citizenry. In this way, people make collective decisions through various participation mechanisms, whether indirect or direct.
Democratic rulers have legitimacy as representatives of the people. This legitimacy is usually linked to free elections that allow people to vote for those who will represent them in different levels of the Condition: this means that the democratic government has a legal origin. With regard to the mandatory nature of voting, this issue awakens endless debates about its consequences on the principles of democracy itself.
The president who heads a democratic government, in this framework, comes to occupy this position when he is voted by the inhabitants of his country. Once in power, his mission is to work for the common good: he does not represent a particular sector nor should he defend the interests of a certain group. His actions, on the other hand, are limited to what is established in the National Constitution (A democratic ruler never has absolute power).
It is important to bear in mind that a government can come to power democratically (free elections) but then exercise that power in a authoritarian or dictatorial, losing its condition of democratic government. The qualification of democratic is dynamic and is linked to developing of political events.
Democracy has its origin in remote times, since we see it in many of the ancient civilizations that based their institutions on the systems that are included under the concept of tribal democracy, characterized by equality and the feeling of community.
One of the best known examples of democratic government is found in certain ancient Greek city-states, particularly Athens around the 6th century BC. C. The cities, which are known by the name of cops, they were not very large or had a high number of inhabitants, and due to these characteristics it was possible Assembly from town. Only free men could participate in it, so that three-quarters of the population was absolutely excluded from this right: women, foreigners and slaves.
If we pause for a moment in this remote case of democratic government, we can see the absurdity of calling an organization that denies power to such a large portion of the world. town: let’s not forget that in the etymology of democracy we have two Greek terms that give us the idea “the power is in the people.”
In this form of democracy there was no representationIn other words, the rulers were not elected by the people; on the contrary, all citizens who met the two requirements set out above passed through the assembly alternately. Furthermore, their sovereignty was absolute. It goes without saying that in the more than two millennia that separate us from that time, the characteristics of this type of government have evolved considerably, although there is still a long way to go.
Already in the twelfth century, the American continent created the Haudenosaunee Democratic and Constitutional League, which was made up of the Oneida, Cayuga, Mohican, Seneca and Onondaga nations. In it, the equal participation of men and women, the division and limitation of power were the fundamental bases. Many thinkers consider this the oldest form of modern democracy.