Topic+1+-+Democracy

 What is a “Democracy”?

During the course of our lives there are many **decisions** we make on our own as individuals, such as what to eat, when to go to sleep, or what to watch on TV. But there are also decisions we must make as members of a group, be it our family, our school, our neighbourhood or our country. In these situations we must find different ways of making decisions. For example, we can allow one person in the group to decide everything, or we can try to agree on things together. **Democracy** is a system in which people decide matters together, or **collectively**. It is a system that can be applied to any of the groups mentioned above. In this unit, however, we will be looking at democracy as a system by which nations are **governed**. The word “democracy” was invented by the ancient Greeks, who were the first people known to take this idea of **collective decision-making** and turn it into a system of government. They combined their words “demos” (people), and “krates” (rule) to form “democracy”, or “**rule by the people**”. So, in a democracy, the people rule. They are sovereign, meaning that they are **the highest authority in the land**. This contrasts with other forms of government, such as **fascism** and **communism**, where sovereignty rests with an individual or a small group. People living in a democracy are generally more **politically free** than those living under other systems of government, because they can exercise more **control** over the way they are governed. Modern democratic countries, like New Zealand, Australia , the United Kingdom and the United States of America , use a system of government known as “representative democracy”. Under this system, the people **elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf**. Every few years an election is held, and the people get the chance to **vote** for representatives. The candidates (people wishing to become representatives) at these elections are usually members of a **political party** – an organisation of similar, but not necessarily identical, views about how the country should be run. Successfully elected representatives go on to form a parliament. If, once elected, the representatives do not act according to the people’s wishes they may be **voted out of office** at the next election. __** Keywords and Ideas **__ __:__

collectively elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf governed collective decision-making rule by the people political party voted out of office the highest authority in the land decisions fascism democracy control communism vote
 * politically free

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