Why was this article written?
Democracy is often poorly understood. It involves far more than simply voting for a government. Many definitions of democracy already exist, and many websites list democratic principles. I include here one such list from Liberty.eu.
My aim was to produce a set of single-sentence tests that could help readers judge whether a policy, action or situation is democratic. The idea was to create statements that could be applied repeatedly across different cases: by looking at the available evidence, one could assess whether what has happened is democratic or undemocratic. I thought this would be more practical than longer descriptions of each principle, which can explain the reasoning but may be too broad or imprecise for assessing behaviour and decision-making. However, once written, the principles themselves felt rather dry and difficult to read. I am therefore grateful to (name to be provided), who has grouped and summarised them into clusters as a more accessible companion to the main list.
Liberty’s 14 principles of democracy
1. Participation of citizens
By its very definition, democracy allows the people a voice in charting the course of their government and their future. In direct democracies, this can mean citizens vote directly on the laws they live under. In representative democracy, it means they get to choose who represents them and have a free voice to express their opinions and desires. In either case, citizen participation is the foundation that makes democracy strong.
Participation is not just voting on election day, although this is surely its most notable form. But equally important are public debate, town meetings, and peaceful protests, among other things. Each of these are forms of participation that help make people informed when it does come time to mark a ballot. Citizens’ groups and civil society help make sure people have the ability to do all of these things and should be supported to ensure greatest participation.
2. Equality
It is not only important but necessary that all people are treated equally in a democracy. This means that they are not discriminated against because of their ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. It also means that people have equal access to the free enjoyment of their rights – for example, equal access to the voting booth. And when it does come time to vote, it means that every vote counts the same – your vote is just as valuable and counts just as much as the wealthiest or most powerful person in your country. That’s the most fundamental element of equality in a democracy.
3. Accountability
People entrust powers to those they elect, and they are tasked to use those powers to enrich their communities. Politicians are accountable to the people, must act consistent with their will, and have a duty not abuse their power to enrich themselves and their friends. When authoritarian governments take control of the newspapers and news channels, when they hamstring and harass civil society groups, it becomes all too easy to keep corruption and abuses of power out of the public eye, and this makes it harder for the people to hold the government accountable on election day.
4. Transparency
In order to make informed choices at the ballot box, voters have to know the score. They have to know if their government is making good decisions or its policies aren’t working, if it’s following the rules or plundering public money. Transparency means government actions are clear to the people, as are the results and outcomes. Information of the government should, with few exceptions, be available to the public upon request, journalists and people alike should be able to ask their politicians questions, and groups that work on transparency should be free to operate.
5. Political tolerance
Although majority rule is at the heart of democracy, this does not mean that the minority is forgotten. In a true democracy, the rights of all citizens are equal and must be respected regardless of who’s in power. And even though their views may not have carried election day, they still have the right to continue to share those views to other citizens and the government. And this is healthy, if not necessary. Democracy thrives on openness and richness of thought; by suppressing the rights and freedoms of the minority, the majority holds itself back.
6. Multi-party system
Citizens must have a choice on election day. That means that more than a single political party is able to freely participate in an election campaign and be an option for the people. And when opposition parties do win, there is a transfer of power and renewed public debate on how to steer the country forward. If there’s just a single party then it’s most probably a dictatorship, although some countries have managed to develop democratic systems under the rule of a single party.
7. Control over the abuse of power
Democracy can only survive if everyone buys in – the citizens through their support on voting day and all other times of year, and politicians by playing by the rules and working to improve the lives of everyone. Abuse of power occurs when a government decides it is above the law, when politicians believe a different set of rules apply to them, when the levers of the state are moved to favour only a certain segment of society at the expense of others, or when public money is funnelled into accounts of corrupt leaders and their friends. We see this often in the world’s “democracies” and increasingly so in Europe too.
There are ways to insulate democracy from such abuse, but there is no way to protect it completely. Diffusing powers across different branches of government helps to hold them all to account, for example. Protecting free and fair elections are also important. This includes protecting independent media so citizens can get good information in the lead up to voting, and means protecting election laws to make sure the process is fair.
8. Freedom of economy
In a democracy, a person should be able to decide what they want to do with their life. As long as they follow the rules, it’s not the government’s place to tell them what they must study or what job they must take or what they must grow. Economic freedom is important in order to develop strong communities and strong national economies.
9. Bill of rights
Another way to protect the people from abuse of power by the government is through a bill of rights. This is a list of the rights and freedoms people have, such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. As a bill, the document is a part of law, and many countries have enshrined it into their constitution. So when someone thinks their government is violating their rights, they can turn to the courts for help.
10. Human rights
Many of the rights protected by a bill of rights are what are called human rights. These are rights people are supposed to have regardless of the country they live in, but democracy in particular is supposed to protect and promote these rights. Human rights like freedom of expression, free association, and freedom of assembly are also cornerstones of democracy and in fact allow its proper functioning.
11. Free and fair elections
Change should be considered a natural and healthy feature of democracy. As the government exists to serve the people, and public opinion shifts all the time on all sorts of issues, it is only natural that elections will produce different results at different times. So it is essential that these elections occur freely and fairly. This means that people are given good and accurate information before voting, and that they are free to discuss and debate it. It also means that on election day, people have equal access to the polls, that everyone’s vote has the same value, and that all votes are counted. Moreover, elections shouldn’t come irregularly or be called whenever it suits the government.
12. Free courts
Even in a perfectly functioning democracy, disputes will arise. In these situations, it’s important that both sides have equal access to an independent body that can resolve the dispute. In democracies, this is the judicial system. Judges are a bit like referees – they’re an independent body that is supposed to apply the rules the same to all. A football match would be a sham if the ref was picked by one of the teams, and democracy is similarly shambolic when the government packs the courts with its friends or disregards judicial decisions.
13. Accepting election results
When elections don’t go the way of those in power, they must accept them and step down. The peaceful transfer of power defines the democratic process. Losers of elections must accept defeat, and though they can and should continue to openly share their ideas and participate in public debate, they must accept that their positions do not at present have majority support.
14. Rule of law
Democratic societies operate under the rule of law. This essentially means that a nation’s laws apply equally to all people, and everyone, especially the government, must play by the rules. It means that the rights and freedoms and democratic processes described above are respected and nurtured. And it means that the laws are also enforced in a fair and consistent way, and there’s an independent body, like the courts, to settle disputes that do arise. Liberties recently published its shadow report to the EUon the current rule of law situation across the bloc, finding a number of concerning trends across many member states.
The role these intersecting principles play in upholding democracy is illustrated when they are ignored or trashed by unscrupulous politicians, as seen today in Hungary’s illiberal democracy. Orban’s political party has, over the years in power, attacked the freedom of independent media. When there is no access to critical media outlets, this directly affects the efficiency of accountability in a democracy. If the accountability chain does not work, the upper level of the rule of law is also disrupted thereby creating a domino effect eroding the principles of democracy in Hungary. All these abuses lead to a form of democracy that is less free, and keeps the current party and its main players in power.
Introduction
Humanity progresses through social evolution and through the communication of ideas to them coalescing into a single unified paradigm that gains widespread acceptance. A pre-democratic, pre-Athenian world where hierarchical systems were ruled by the ones who had power from land ownership and could afford to pay for armies, was universal. From these emerged successful societies when the rulers allowed their subjects to be free thinkers and have a say. The creativity that emerged allowed everybody to flourish. From this beginning, in its rudimentary form, democracy has seen two and a half millennia in which it has gone through cycles of growth and regression to the position we find ourselves in today.
2026 and we see that democracy is under attack from both external threats and from within. With the global situation, both environmental and geo-politic as it is, the stakes have never been higher.
Democracy is misunderstood. It is much more than simply having a vote and the ability to elect, although in the eyes of many that is how it is perceived. If it was only that, many authoritarian regimes would consider themselves as democratic. There would be no sham elections. Foregone conclusions would be acceptable.
Life is complex and multi-faceted. By necessity we have to narrow our interest and efforts to what we are able to manage. As individuals we are the centre of our own lives, and that is also true for everybody else. Over the horizon and around the world in all directions are many personal life centres. Just because I stand on Planet Earth and the centre of my life is where I stand, it does not make my personal centre, ‘The Centre’. The democrat appreciates that each personal life has the same validity as every other personal life. The democrat realises that from a global perspective we all have prejudices and biases from which we cannot escape. With emotional maturity the democrat recognises that everybody is different, but everybody is also equal.
Working for democracy are many good people trying to make life better for everybody, not just themselves. Even within the democracy movement there are many different aspects and we have to specialise. What is lacking is the cohesion that unifies the pro-democracy movement into one organised whole, where its sum is much greater than the sum of the individual parts. This is not just about having an umbrella organisation to bring together all the pro-democracy groups, but a unified concept of what democracy is and something that all democrats can adhere to. This document is trying to achieve that.
In the simplest possible terms, it aims to define democracy, its values and what it stands for. It is arranged as a list of single sentence qualitative statements. The document is devoid of specific issues and examples. This is deliberate. Specific issues can be measured against the list of statements to see if it stands up to the test of being pro-democratic or not.
These principles and values have been derived so that it is clear what democracy is, what it entails and conversely to recognise when a given situation is not. All democrats should be able to subscribe and commit themselves to these values, even if there are some areas due to personal or local circumstances that may give rise to difficulty.
With autocrats often showing scant regard to preserving democracy this is arguably the most important strategic battle that humankind faces. Strong democracies internationally will result in a safer and healthier world.
The principles and values of Democracy are:
- Democracy is a system of government established by the national constitution.
- Democracy is a system of government in which the citizens are sovereign.
- Democracy is as relevant to locality decision making as it is to whole populations.
- Democracy is a system of making decisions that is free and fair, and with out fear or favour.
- Democracy is not just about giving citizens the vote, but it is about encouraging them to have a say at all levels of decision making over issues that affect their lives.
- Democracy is about understanding the responsibilities and strata of decision making and those decisions that need to be taken internationally, nationally, regionally, locally and by the individual.
- Democracy is about setting up the structures that allows decisions to be made at the appropriate strata of government.
- Democracy is about understanding when consultation is required with higher and lower strata.
- Democracy is about understanding when a joint decision needs to be made with a neighbouring jurisdiction within the same strata level.
- Democracy is above politics.
- Democracy concerns itself with the process by which political decisions are made, not the decisions themselves, except when those decisions are relevant to democracy itself.
- Democracy is about all being equal, regardless of status, occupation, race, religion, creed, age, gender, disability and orientation.
- Democracy welcomes Diversity.
- Democracy requires a system of law, order and justice.
- Democracy is about having the respect for and developing those institutions that promote and support democracy.
- Democracy supports the concept of universal human rights.
- Democracy aims to maximise the personal freedom of all its citizens.
- Democracy aims to maximise the potential of all its citizens.
- Democracy aims to maximise the health of nature, the environment and the planet.
- Democracy is about understanding the views and wishes of the electorate and for the elected to turn these views into actions on behalf of the whole electorate.
- Democracy is about the responsibility to present arguments in a manner that is balanced, truthful and fair.
- Democracy is about the minority acknowledging and respecting that there is an alternative prevailing majority view.
- Democracy is about the majority acknowledging and respecting the minority and that there is a minority point of view.
- Democracy is about the majority acknowledging that they still have responsibility for the care of the minority.
- Democracy is about free speech and the freedom to express oneself safely and freely without duress.
- Democracy is about taking the privilege of free speech and using it responsibly.
- Democracy has a responsibility to uphold and promote the truth and to reflect accurately on the world as it is.
- Democracy is about having a free and responsible press to disseminate the news along with views and opinions in true and proper balance.
- Democracy is about giving everybody equal access to the institutions and processes of democracy, regardless of their means or status.
- Democracy mandates that those who make the decisions are accountable to those on whose behalf the decisions were made.
- Democracy demands the transparency of the consequences or outcomes of who does what, when and why.
- Democracy demands that, when mistaken decisions are made, those on whose behalf they were made have a duty to hold the decision-makers to account.
- Democracy is about the right to demonstrate peacefully and legally
- Democracy has built within itself, the ability to correct mistaken decisions.
- Democracy is not to be taken for granted.
- Democracy is a privilege, a responsibility and a duty to be upheld.
- Democracy should not be used as a means to manipulate the population, either for self-interest or against democracy itself.
- Democracy is about having in place protection for Democracy and the institutions of Democracy.
- Anything that is contrary to the above is undemocratic.
A summary of the above
Summarising to 12 Core Principles of Democracy
1. Constitutional Sovereignty – Citizens are the ultimate authority, governed by a constitution.
2. Multi-level Governance – Decision-making power at every level, from local to international.
3. Free & Fair Process – Elections & decisions conducted without fear, favour, or manipulation.
4. Universal Participation – Every citizen has an equal voice in matters that affect their lives.
5. Equality & Inclusion – All people are equal, regardless of race, gender, age or belief.
6. Rights, Law & Justice – Human rights and equal access to justice are non-negotiable.
7. Personal Freedom & Potential – Individual liberty and opportunity for every citizen to thrive.
8. Majority Rule, Minority Rights – Majority governs, while protecting minority views & welfare.
9. Truth, Accountability & Transparency – The duty to communicate honestly and in balance.
10. Environmental Stewardship – Bearing responsibility for the health of nature and the planet.
11. Self-Correction & Resilience – Mechanisms to correct mistakes & protect from subversion.
12. Civic Duty – Democracy is a privilege and responsibility, never to be taken for granted.