The evolution of democracy: challenges and diverse concepts in human history
By Mariia Orudzhova
The history of humanity demonstrates that democracy has intensive development, and nations adjust to emerging trends. If some changes associated with the formation of information societies contribute to democracy, the growing economic, social, and cultural differentiation erects new barriers to democratic regimes, testing their strength. It turns out that democracy creates conditions under which people can establish a decent life, elect their own government, and exercise control over its activities (Sartori, 2000).
There are many concepts of democracy. At the same time, different bases are considered for the classification of democratic concepts (Tavadov, 2000). One of the criteria based on which the concepts of democracy are classified is what has priority in exercising power: an individual, a social group, or a people as an integral community. Depending on this, all concepts of democracy can be divided into three large groups: 1) Pluralism, 2) Individualism, and 3) Collectivism.
The main idea of the first group of theories of democracy—the pluralistic concept—is the idea of the group—the actual creator of politics. The idea of pluralistic democracy's proponents derives from the fact that contemporary society is divided into a wide range of groups. The disadvantages of this concept include exaggeration of the group interests of citizens and insufficient consideration of the impact of the power of capital (Truman, 1971).
The second group of concepts of democracy are individualistic and liberal concepts. The most characteristic features of this group are the recognition of the individual as the primary source of power and the priority of individual rights over the rights of the state. The disadvantages of this group of concepts are that the boundlessness of freedom leads to a deepening of social inequality.
As we can see, different concepts of democracy exist and compete. Studies of the problems of democracy occupy an essential place in modern Western and, in recent years, domestic political science (Garner et al., 2016). Therefore, the classification of various concepts of democracy is always conditional One way or another, only democracy gives people the right to build a life in their "image and likeness." This is what attracts millions of people to democracy, which has become a "fashionable garment of modernity" and is the form of organization of power that, according to the overwhelming majority of researchers, has no worthy alternative both in the present and in the future.
References:
Garner, R., Ferdinand, P., & Lawson, S. (2016). Introduction to politics. Oxford University Press.
Sartori G. The Theory of Democracy Revisited. Chatham-N.Y., 1987.
Tavadov G.T. Political science: Textbook. — M.: FAIR-PRESS. - 416 p. 2000. (n.d.).
Truman David B. The Governmental Process. Political Interests and Public Opinion. NY: Knopf, 1971.