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Democracy and Good Governance
5. Conclusions Democracy is a political form of government which can be worked out in different ways. For that reason, we speak about different forms of government. In this chapter, we discussed some aspects suggesting that they are strongly related to democracy. These aspects are representation after the elections, the relevance of the majority rule, the relation between direct and representative democracy, and the topics of transparency and participation. We saw the importance of representative democracy but also the tyranny of the majority. Care for minorities in a democracy is crucial. It is also interesting to consider the different ways of thinking about popular sovereignty and how it is related to the idea of separation of powers. We noted the difference between direct and representative democracy. The questions we need to ask are: What should be the link between the powers of the state and the citizens? Which type of direct democracy is possible and how is it linked with representative democracy? There are different types of direct democracy, because in a representative democracy not all the matters in a state can be carried out by the representatives. There are different opinions about the role of the parliament in a representative democracy. On the issue of transparency, we distinguished between the narrow and the broad notions, which can be summarized as a more or less open functioning of the institutions of the state. This topic of transparency is often related to the following activities of the government: meetings, access to information, and government action. The existing restrictions become significant when dealing with issues of privacy. Direct democracy can be realized—in addition to representative democracy—in different ways. Often it depends on the topic, but citizens’ initiatives and referenda are examples. The objectives of participation can be different: it can be from the perspective of the citizen, but it can also be done for management reasons. For the legitimizing aims of the government, different forms of participation can be very relevant.
