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Democracy : The Misunderstanding Of Democracy

Decent Essays

Deven Moron
November 12, 2014
Professor Helligso
Government

Democracy: The Misunderstanding

If you ask the average American citizen what democracy is, you’ll probably hear an answer that relates to having rights and freedoms, and being able to vote for who you want. In reality, only part of this statement is actually true. Yes, living in a democracy means you are given the choice to vote, but it does not immediately grant you rights and liberties. Most people assume this but are outright wrong, and don’t realize the difference between an illiberal democracy and a liberal democracy, which is rather significant. A liberal democracy is what we live in here in the United States of America. We are granted freedoms that not all countries have, and we are given the right to vote as well. This type of government obviously stresses the idea of liberalism, which puts emphasis on individualism and self-freedoms. Liberalism is really what separates the United States from a number of countries, especially those that have illiberal democracies. This is the true difference in democracies around the world that most people don’t come to recognize. Illiberal democracies are present in a significant amount of the world’s 118 democratic governments, and have been increasing over the last seven years. This type of government is considered a growth industry and has increased from twenty-two percent to thirty-five percent in the last seven years (Zakaria 23-24). An

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