Conditions Essential for the Success of Democracy

Holding an election is easy; almost any country can do it once. Making democracy actually work, year after year, election after election, requires a great deal more — and several democracies that started with a functioning vote have since collapsed into authoritarian rule, which is exactly why this topic exists.

In two minutes

The success of democracy depends on conditions beyond the mere holding of elections: an informed and participatory citizenry, a free press and independent judiciary, constitutional constraints on power, a reasonable degree of economic and social equality, and a political culture that accepts the outcome of fair elections even when one's own side loses.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Political Science – II: Foundations of Political Obligation on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.