Three Basic Types of Democracy
Any form of democracy tries in its own way to ascertain the will of the people and to bring public affairs into line with it. Theoretically this can be achieved by direct participation of all citizens (Direct Democracy) or by a body of elected representatives (Representative Democracy). Within the group of Representative Democracies the focus may be on a strong president (Presidental Democracy) or on a strong parliament (Parliamentary Democracy). As already mentioned, the question is not whether there exist some forms of direct participation or of representation but rather on how much importance they are given in a certain system.
| Direct Democracy | Presidential Democracy | Parliamentary Democracy |
|---|---|---|
| Example: Switzerland | Examples: USA, France | Examples: UK, Germany, Spain, Italy |
| Head of State Any member of government in turn (for one year), no practical importance | The President is head of state and leader of the government | Head of State is a differnent function than prime minister, it may be a monarch (queen/king) or an elected person |
| Government: members with equal rights, elected by the parliament, representing all major parties (not really unanimous, but extremely stable) | President elected by the people nominates the ministers [members of government] | Government elected by the parliament based on a majority, may be dismissed by the parliament (especially when based on a coalition of several parties) |
| Parliament elected for a fixed legislative period, no dissolution; changing coalitions, sometimes even extreme right and extreme left together against the center (though for different reasons) | Parliament elected for a fixed legislative period clear institutional separation of parliament and government (but the officials may cooperate as closely as in the other systems, if they like to do so) | Parliament elected for a legislative period, dissolution and early new elections possible if a clear majority cannot be established |
| Government members need not be members of parliament | Government members need not be members of parliament | Government members must be elected members of parliament |
| Strong position of the people (frequent referendums on single laws) | Strong position of the president (veto) | Strong position of the political parties |
| Laws are created in four steps: 1. Draft by the administration 2. Consultation of federal states, political parties, entrepreneurs, unions and other interested groups 3. Parliamentary debate and final version passed 4. Possibility of a referendum If a strong party or lobby threatens to call for a referendum, the parliament might be inclined to a compromise, the formal consultation process gives the public a clear view of the critical aspects and the pros and cons already at an early stage | Laws are debated and passed by the parliament; lobbyists do not have a formal right to be heared, but do exercise some influence on members of parliament in reality; the president may block a law by veto; as the president is elected as a personality (not only as a party leader) by the people (not by the parliament), he may or may not rely on a majority of the parliament (in practice there have been some periods with a president forced to cooperate with a majority of oppositional members of parliament) | Laws are proposed by the government (being the leaders of the coalition of parties) laws are debated and passed by parliament; lobbyists do not have a formal right to be heared, but do exercise some influence on members of parliament in reality; if there is a solid majority, compromises are sought within the coalition (and may sometimes represent tactics rather than vonviction), the opposition may be ignored until the next elections but then laws may be revoked or changed by a new majority |
| The process of making laws is rather slow, which may be a hadicap with more technically oriented laws (regulating questions of broad public interest but addressing a small number of professionals). Laws concerning everybody's everyday's actions, however, may get more attention and acceptance by the public and therefore be more effective due to the intense public debate. | A strong president may act immediately - but there is a certain risk that he rushes to conclusions he may hardly be willing to withdraw from even if they prove to be unwise from a later point of view. | If there are many small parties in a country, the close dependance of the government on a parliamentary majority may undermine the stability of the government. |
| History shows that from time to time the Swiss people does correct decisions of parliament and goverment that give in too much to lobby pressure, so Direct Democracy seems to offer effective checks and balances. But sometimes it just takes a long time (decades, not years) until a new idea is finally broadly accepted. | The separation of powers - though it might seem very clear in theory - does not automatically provide more effective checks and balances between parliament and government than in a Parliamentary Democracy. | If there are only two relevant parties and one has a comfortable majority, the parliamentary system offers few effective checks and balances. |
II. Non-democratic forms of government:
Tyranny
Despotism
Monarchy
Dictatorship
Totalitarianism
Absolute rule
Authoritarian rule
Autocracy
Theocracy
A. Allows a small area of privacy or allows no privacy at all
B. Allow no parties or only one party
C. May be either military or civilian
D. May be either religious or non-religious (secular)
