Democracy

1. Free and fair elections
Regular elections without fraud or state manipulation.
2. Universal participation
No exclusion of adult citizens from voting or office-holding.
3. Respect for civil liberties
Protection of expression, association, and access to information.
4. Responsible government
Elected leaders govern without control by unelected actors.

A simple classification between being democratic or not

A more complex classification in which democracy is seen as a spectrum and is measured with degrees of contestation, participation and liberties.

Regimes that are neither democratic nor authoritarian.

• Parliamentary vs Presidential
• Majotarian vs Consensus

• Indirect election of the chief executive
• Limited separation of powers
• Clear separation between the government and the state
• Flexible terms in office

• Popular election of the chief executive
• Clear separation of powers betwen executive and legislature
• Unified executive: president is both head of state and head of government
• Fixed terms in office

A system where political power is concentrated and the party or coalition that wins the majority governs with few constraints and limited power-sharing.

• Disproprtional electoral system
• Two-party system
• Single-party governments
• often unitary state

A system where political power is broadly shared across multiple parties and institutions, often through coalition governments and strong mechanisms of power-sharing.

• Proportional electoral system
• Multiparty system
• Coalition governments
• often federal state

• The democratic transition (What causes dictatorships to adopt a democratic regime?)
• The democratic breakdown (What causes weak democracies to slide into dictatorship?)

• Social explanations
• Institutional explainations
• Actors and Groups
• International environment