Democracy is a big word, and like all big words it is given to controversy and misuse.
Since the magazine’s cover story this month and in April will be about local elections and local governments, it may be suitable to discuss what Democracy is. I have no definite suggestion for what it should be – no one does, I would venture – but a discussion about this most popular political concept of our times is never a waste of time.
Broadly, it is “rule of the people, for the people and by the people”, to quote Abraham Lincoln. But where one lays the stress makes all the difference. In ancient China, the idea of “Tianming” – The Heavenly Mandate – signified rule for the people, but as we know its political systems were hardly democratic in any modern sense of the word.
Looking from below, the main problem is the word “people”. No ruler can really be of the people chosen by all the people, and govern for all the people – not all the time, not some of the time, not ever. So this leaves us always with divisions based on ethnicity, class, gender, religion, age and a string of other factors.
