INTRODUCTION

The term democracy first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the
city-state of Athens during classical antiquity. The word comes from dêmos '(common) people'
and krátos 'force/might/rule'. Under Cleisthenes, what is generally held as the first example of a
type of democracy in 508–507 BC was established in Athens. Cleisthenes is referred to as "the
father of Athenian democracy".

Athenian democracy took the form of a direct democracy, and it had two distinguishing features:
the random selection of ordinary citizens to fill the few existing government administrative and
judicial offices, and a legislative assembly consisting of all Athenian citizens. All eligible
citizens were allowed to speak and vote in the assembly, which set the laws of the city state.
However, Athenian citizenship excluded women, slaves, foreigners (μέτοικοι / métoikoi), and
youths below the age of military service. Effectively, only 1 in 4 residents in Athens qualified as
citizens. Owning land was not a requirement for citizenship. The exclusion of large parts of the
population from the citizen body is closely related to the ancient understanding of citizenship. In
most of antiquity the benefit of citizenship was tied to the obligation to fight war campaigns.

Athenian democracy was not only direct in the sense that decisions were made by the assembled
people, but also the most direct in the sense that the people through the assembly, boule and
courts of law controlled the entire political process and a large proportion of citizens were
involved constantly in the public business. Even though the rights of the individual were not
secured by the Athenian constitution in the modern sense (the ancient Greeks had no word for
"rights"), those who were citizens of Athens enjoyed their liberties not in opposition to the
government but by living in a city that was not subject to another power and by not being
subjects themselves to the rule of another person.
DEFINITION: Democracy may be defined as a system of government in which all qualified
adult citizens share the supreme power directly or through their elected representatives.
“Democracy is a system of government based on popular consent. It is a government which is
derived from public opinion and is accountable to it”.

Abraham Lincoln, whose definition of democracy has become axiomatic defined it as “the
government of the people, by the people and for the people”. The term democracy has in another
occasion been described as “government by the consent of the governed” i.e. Government with
the approval of the people being governed. The fusion of two Greek words `demos` (people) and
`kratia` (rule or government) gave birth to the word democracy (government or rule of the
people). Democratic system of government therefore started in ancient Greek city states.
Such government is representative of all people and interest within the state and is described as
open government because, it permits freedom of speech and ideas. Democracy allows the people
to choose and reject their leaders and their programmes when such are no longer serving the
interest of the people. Democracy is regarded as the best form of government that can be adopted
in a country.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRACY

The beginning of the idea of democracy is associated with the city-states of ancient
Greece. The word itself is derived from the Greek “demokratia”, from demos `the people`, and
kratos, `rule`. Greek democracy was direct democracy in which the whole citizen body formed
the legislature, and in which the representative system was unknown. This was possible because
of limited size of the ancient state which was generally confined to a city and its rural
surroundings. Furthermore, women were disenfranchised and there were numerous classes of
slaves who enjoyed no rights at all. Ancient democracy recognized the equality of citizens, but
failed to develop a general conception of the equality of mankind.

Greek democracy was a brief historical episode which ad little direct influence on the
theory or practice of modern democratic states. From the fall of the Greek city-states to the rise
of the modern constitutionalism, there is a gap of about 2000 years in the theory and practice of
democracy. The successor states were tribal of feudal kingdoms which became largely
transformed into absolute monarchies. This was the situation down to the time of the American
and French revolutions.
The development of modern democracy can be traced to the following factors:

FACTORS THAT LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN DEMOCRACY

1. Religion: The underlying ethical basis of theology is the conception that all men are
created equal, and that government exists for the purpose of protecting them in the
exercise of certain basic rights. The universe was the creation of an omnipotent god
whose perfect and unchanging will was binding on all his creatures. These laws were not
the product but the source of legitimate authority.
2. Disintegration of State Authority: the modern practice of democracy is a consequence
of the disintegration of state authority which followed the fall of Rome- a strongly
centralized state, fully capable of imposing its will on the subject population. In the tribal
and feudal monarchies which replaced it, power was much more widely dispersed. Kings
could only act with the consent of their subjects after summoning a great council of
representatives. These gatherings were the origin of modern parliaments.
3. Historical Writings: The writings, propositions, eloquent and uncompromising defence
of writers such as John Locke, J.J Rousseau, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, J.S. Mill, to
mention a few, were decisive contribution to the theory of modern democracy. For
example, Locke stated that property (life, liberty and estate) is a national right of man.
Moreover, governments are created by a social contract designed for the preservation of
that right, and when rulers violate the terms of the contract, society has a right to dispose
and replace them. The best way to present abuse is to separate the powers of government
in such a way that legislative and executive powers can never fall into the same hands.
Locke`s theory was popularized by Jean Montesqiueu who added a third power, the
judicial, to those that ought to be kept separate

According to J.J Rousseau, in his work, The Social Contract, no law is legitimate
unless it is an expression of the general will, a consensus of the whole community. No
man can enjoy full moral responsibility unless he assembles with his fellow citizens at
periodic intervals, and personally vote on every act of legislation and government to carry
out the law. The government thus created must be wholly subordinate to the general will
as expressed in the popular assembly.

4. THE AMERICA REVOLUTION: The provided a framework for the first major
experiment in constitutional democracy. The colonies, constituting the United States of
 America, came in the course of time to demand vast legislative and fiscal powers. These
claims were rejected by royal governors who are agents of the British government. A
constitutional crisis erupted and led to a declaration of independence. When the
controlling hand of Britain was removed, the democratic forces in American life were
free to seek expression. What most Americans wanted was not only constitutional, but
democratic government, and this was the ultimate significance of the American
Revolution
5. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: The second great landmark in the history of modern
democracy was the French revolution. Ever since the 16 th century, France had been an absolute
monarchy. The French were perfectly contented with this system as long as they believed that
monarchs could be persuaded to use their power in the interested of reform. When that hope was
disappointed, the reformers transferred their attention to the people and began supporting the
principal of popular sovereignty. The French revolution was successful in undermining the
traditions of the ancient regime and in foresting the ideal of a society based on liberty, fraternity
and equality
6. The Decline of colonialism And The Raise of Nationalism: After world wars I and ll, the
number of democracies, whether constitutional or totalitarian, steadily increased. These
were few parts of the globe where democracy of one sort or another was not the generally
recognized principal of political legitimacy. This development was the outgrowth of the
separate but closely associated phenomena, the decline of colonialism and the rise of
nationalism.

TYPES OF DEMOCRACY

1. Direct/ classical Democracy: This is a form of democracy where the right to make political
decision is exercise directly by the right to make whole body of citizen, acting under
procedures of majority rule.
2. Modern/ Representative/indirect Democracy: Citizen exercise the right to make political
decision, not in person, but through representatives chosen by and responsible to them.