Social Science

CIVICS
 Chapter 3

Elements of a Democracy
 Democracy
What is Democracy?
A government run by the people is called a
Democracy.
In a democracy, each citizen has a say (or a
vote) in how the government is run, thus
differentiating it from a monarchy or
dictatorship, where one person (the king or
dictator) has all the power

History
The earliest democracy in the world began
with the work of a man named Cleisthenes
(also considered as the Father of Democracy),
in Athens, in 510 BC

Cleisthenes
Elements of Democracy
Participation:
•Participation means ‘ to take part in’.
• In a democracy, every citizen has the right to
participate in the decision-making process of the
government.
•They can also choose their representatives to the People waiting to vote
government in a democracy through elections.
• If people are not happy with the decisions of the
government, they can actively oppose their
decisions by actively taking part through strikes,
protest marches and rallies.
• Some democracies also use referendums as a
method of letting people participate directly in Protest
government decisions.
• The media is also an another powerful tool of
direct participation, where people can express
their opinions on the government decisions. This
often forces the government to change its
decisions. The government has no control over the
media. Media
Accountability:
•Accountability means ‘being responsible for
one’s action’.

•It means that every citizen of India has the

power to hold their representatives accountable
if they are dishonest, inefficient or
irresponsible, or if their actions violate the
fundamental rights of the citizens and can
lodge cases upon them, how powerful they may
be.

•If the elected person turns to be dishonest,

inefficient or irresponsible, independent bodies
like the judiciary and police, which are not Constitution of India
influenced by political leaders to force to obey
them as said in our Constitution.
Conflict Resolution:

Conflict resolution means  ‘the process that makes two or

more parties use to find a peaceful solution to
their dispute’.
No one is above the
•As the Earth has limited natural resources with the demand for
law
each increasing, conflicts arise for the share of each. For
example, many states are locked in the conflict over the issue of
sharing river waters.

•Even conflicts arise between religions or castes like the conflict

between Hindus and Muslims and the rich and the poor. To
resolve these conflicts, bodies like the judiciary resolve the
problems in the court of law in a fair and just manner. There are Justice
many examples where people got a fair an just manner.

•The police is an example of another body which deals with

conflict resolution and maintaining law and order on a daily
basis. If the police was not able to control a situation, they bring
in the army and they make the people feel safe by imposing
curfews, flag marches and so on.
Police
Concern for Equality and Justice:

•Another key element of democracy is the provision of

equality and justice for all its citizens, whether rich or
poor, or whatever by their religious beliefs and so on. All
are equal in the eyes of law, regardless of how powerful
they may be. Equality illustrations
• In India, due to the ‘caste system’, millions of people
were suffering who were considered as untouchables.
Now, the government has bought many laws to prevent
this discrimination.
•And the main problem was the gender inequality and
social evils in India where girls were not allowed to got to
school and were made to work. To fight that, that, the
government has bought many schemes an rules like in
some states, if the parents let their girl child study in
school, the government would give them money and so
on.
Therefore, Democracy stands as a hallmark and most
accepted form of government all around the modern
world.