Democracy
In the present day, Democracy usually means majority rule, usually by means of a vote. The most common form of Democracy found today is that of Representative Democracy, where voters choose parties, candidates, etc, to represent their interests in government.
- Majority Rule
- The power to make decisions lies with those candidates, parties, resolutions, etc, which have the most people supporting it.
- Representative Democracy
- A form of democracy where the voting body elects representatives and gives them agency to act on their behalf.
- Direct Democracy
- A democracy in which the voting body itself deliberates and votes on decisions directly as opposed to going through intermediary representatives.
Among the problems of either types of democracy, representative and direct, is that the minority is forced to have to accept whatever decisions the majority has made, regardless of the harm these decisions cause them. This is in contrast with consensus where a decision is not made for so long as there are strong opposition, or a lack of enthusiastic support, for a given candidate or decision.