Degrees of democracy

Here on the island, people are very happy that they are a democracy. All adults are allowed to vote, and they even respect basic human rights. This is as good as it gets, they believe. They don't even want to trade with islands that are not democratic. So, that's the first thing they check out, when they get in touch with a new island.

The people of the nearby volcano island are very surprised to hear that they are not considered democratic. So, they send a representative here to this island, to prove that they indeed are democratic too. Not democratic? At least the newspapers get to write what they want on our island! Helloooo, you don't even have free elections -- you have one single party!

Yes-yes. But we have referenda, about pretty much everything instead! Oooooh! I wish we had a democracy detector! Then I could show you how wrong you are!

Wow! But, wait a moment. What's this? A scale. Can't it just say "democracy - yes or no?" Well, that's not how it works.

Democracy isn't just one thing, that you either have or don't have. It's more complicated. Open that device up and have a look for yourselves. This democracy detector seems to have five different sensors. The first one there, senses electoral process and pluralism.

That means there are free elections, where all adults can vote, for anyone they like, without being pressured and without fraud... . ... .that elections are open, so anyone can run... . ... .and that there are several real alternatives to choose from when voting. But democracy is much more than just a system for voting. That second little thing, that's the human rights-o-meter. It reacts if a country is limiting Freedom of speech, Freedom of the press, Religious freedom, the right to proper judicial process, Or any of the other basic rights. Then, we have another little indicator there: It gauges how well the government and administration work.

How well the people voted in as representatives, are following the decisions, and implementing the laws, that the democracy has agreed on. If they're not doing this well, then it doesn't matter how the people vote. And that tiny blue thing, that's a political culture appraiser. For a democracy to work, it needs the majority of people willingly to accept it. Democracy requires a political culture where both politicians and voters trust their democratic system.

Everyone needs, for example, to accept the results of an election, even if they are on the losing side. That last little thing, measures political participation. For democracy to work, it takes a lot of people who are engaged and active, reading, debating, thinking, having opinions, and going to vote. If not, the real political power doesn't come from the entire people, but only from that small group, who is active. Okay, let's measure!

Eeeh. Okay. None of us got full marks. That's right. And that's how democracy works -- it's never 100 percent.

There must be something wrong with the meter! And... it's not absolutely true that democracy consists of exactly those five things, right? Correct again. There are several different ways of judging democracy, and none of them is an exact science.

And things like this change with time. A hundred years ago, there were almost no societies allowing women to vote, but still they could call themselves democratic. But, even if there are no absolute answers, it's still important to measure, argue for, and develop the aspects that together form our democracies.