... connotations and was associated with 'rule by the propertyless and uneducated masses', where the people governed in their own interests, thus it was seen as 'the enemy of liberty and wisdom. The preferred concept was 'polity', where the people governed in the interests of everybody. The most common type of democracy today is that of representative democracy. It should ideally include 'direct popular participation in government' and work via some kind of 'representative mechanism. It is this kind of democracy that we recognise in many Western democratic governments. The most frequent form of participation is by voting in elections. It is through this system that citizens over the age of 18 have a say about who should represent them in Parliament. The concept of pluralism is relevant to democracy as it also places a great deal of emphasis on the sharing of political power. It is a political philosophy that embraces difference. ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now