Democracy: Origins, Structure, and Models
The Democratic State of Law
This refers to the rule of law, from a legal standpoint. The state, in which the exercise of power by political entities occurs, is governed in all its manifestations by legal rules. These rules respond to certain values that ensure the rights and freedoms of citizens against the state itself. We must make two clarifications regarding the concept of the Rule of Law:
I– The concept of the rule of law is more comprehensive than the Constitutional State. In reality, it does not require the existence of a written Constitution to speak of the rule of law (e.g., England). However, the existence of a written Constitution is consistent with the idea of the rule of law because it establishes the basic rules to govern the state and all its members.
II– The second distinction is between the rule of law and a democratic state of law. The difference between the two is that in the latter, the people are the legitimizing subject of political power, justifying popular participation in the design and reform of laws, the legislature, including the Constitution itself. The democratic state of law is, therefore, a participatory state where citizens hold sovereignty and can participate in its exercise through the government or the judiciary. Spain is, in this sense, a social and democratic state of law, as incorporated in its Constitution.
Definition and Structure of Democracy
Democracy is the political system that guarantees the participation of citizens in the policy-making organs of the state. For sociologist Salvador Giner, democracy is the “most rational system of government, in which political apathy is reduced to a minimum and citizens have a degree of responsibility, intelligence, and uncommon political will.” Abraham Lincoln gave this definition: “Democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The basic elements of a democratic political system are: the Constitution, the division of powers, political pluralism, and freedom of expression. Throughout history, the concept and practice of democracy have undergone many changes, and we cannot talk about democracy with only a brief definition. This is because democracy is inseparable from the political regime in which it fits, the social classes in society, political or religious ideology, the historical development of the country or nation, etc.
Origin of Democracy
Democracy emerged in Athens in the 5th century BCE. Etymologically, it means “government of the people.” However, from its birthplace in Athens, democracy has evolved and taken on very different meanings. In ancient Greek civilization, democracy had a very different meaning than it currently has. The primary characteristics required for a person to be an Athenian citizen were to be a natural-born male, free, and from Athens. Those who did not meet these conditions could not participate in the government of the polis (city). In this way, women, foreigners, and slaves were excluded. The Athenian model of democracy had its zenith in classical Athens under Pericles. Although in the Roman Republic some commoners had access to the Senate, in neither case can we speak of democracy in the modern sense of the term. We can say that the exercise of real democracy, as a government emanating from the people and for the people, as Lincoln said, arises in opposition to the old regime of the European absolutist monarchies of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. The maximum exponent of this confrontation is the French Revolution of 1789, with the cry of “liberty, equality, and fraternity,” which toppled the old aristocratic nobility that had governed the fate of their servants, sometimes under the guise of the purity of their royal lineage, sometimes under a sort of divine mandate.
Models of Democracy
The term democracy is polyvalent, meaning it needs to be accompanied by an adjective to have a precise definition and to know what type of democracy we are talking about. Thus, one can speak of economic democracy, worker democracy, bourgeois democracy, organic democracy, representative democracy, direct democracy, social democracy, political democracy, etc. Considering solely the criterion of participation rate, we can group the existing models of democracy into the following types:
- Direct Democracy: Applied in ancient Greece, citizens participated directly in government institutions (council) and the assembly (ekklesia). It is also currently applied in the Swiss cantons.
- Representative Democracy: Exercised in modern states. Citizens elect their representatives to vote in state institutions (parliament, autonomous regions, municipalities, etc.).