Comparitive politics Democracy - Assignment Example

This is during the cold war era that was a conflict between the US and the Soviet Union. The economy of Soviet Union was closed, and it was not democratic. Statistics reveals that in the periods of 1950s, in every four countries, one was a democracy (Peter Mair, 80). However, with the passage of time, most countries began to adopt democratic styles of governance. An example is Portugal, when it sought to introduce democracy in the year 1974. The period beginning 1974 is referred to as the Third Wave democracy.

This period saw an increase in democratic transitions in Latin America, Europe, and the Asian Pacific countries like Taiwan and South Korea. Eastern European countries also began to introduce democracy and this is after Soviet Union collapsed. By the period of 1990s, there were approximately 100 democratic countries in the world. This brings us to the query, what is democracy? Democracy refers to a form of government whereby all eligible citizens of a state, are allowed to participate in its political process (Peter Mair, 82).

The participation of citizens in this political process could either be direct or indirect. Most democratic states in the world have an indirect participation of their citizens. This involves a situation where their citizens elect a representative to either the parliament, or an institution of governance. This system is popular in Europe, with countries such as United Kingdom and France having a parliament, comprising of elected officials. The United States also has this type of system, with its senate and congress comprising of elected officials.

Democracy is therefore a term used to denote a concept referred to as the rule of the people (Peter Mair, 82). Theoretically, democracy is a term that refers to the majority rule, in practice, this notion is false. An example is the Athenian traditional society, whereby only a selected group of people could participate in the political process. This is while