Month: February 2023

Indirect form of democratic selection and nomination of leadership and public officials is mainly identified with Lenin’s concept of democratic centralism. It involves election and nomination of party and public officials from below in a pyramidal structure of party formation, i.e., democratic election and nomination of officials and leadership. However, decisions, orders and policies flow… Continue reading Democratic Centralism

This is characterised by the democratic tradition, which considers ‘rule of the people’ as the basis of democratic participation. ‘Rule of the people’ may obtain through direct or indirect participation. This includes direct democracy of Athenian type and indirect democracy of liberal variety as they obtain in Anglo-American and many developing countries.

Marx, Engels and Lenin and subsequently, Gramsci, Miliband, Poulantzas and Althusser apply this terminology to designate the operation of democracy in the context of liberal and capitalist economy. Democracy as a form of government is treated as class government dominated by the capitalist or the bourgeoisie. It is an arm of exploitation of the workers… Continue reading Bourgeois or Capitalist Democracy

Before we discuss the various theories of democracy, let us see how has the term democracy been characterised by different adjectives. A variety of names, adjectives and ornamentations are associated with term democracy. This is due to classification and grouping of democracy differently either due to different theoretical perspective or self-styled leadership and elite donning… Continue reading Forms of Democracy

cIn classic sense, democracy means the rule of the people, either directly or through elected representatives. Cleon, the Athenian politician and general who was killed during the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) defined democracy as ‘that shall be democratic which shall be of the people, by the people, for the people.’4 This was the definition, which Lincoln used in… Continue reading Meaning and Definition of Democracy

For many, democracy is a guarantee of freedom, equality and popular rule. But for some, it is the rule of the ignorant and the average person in which number counts, not merit.1 Democracy is understood in a variety of ways. The Athenians in ancient Greece led by Pericles celebrated democracy, Plato rejected it as the… Continue reading Introduction