Liberal democracy: Difference between revisions

'''Liberal democracy''', also referred to as '''Western democracy''', is a [[political ideology]] and a [[form of government]] in which [[representative democracy]] operates under the principles of [[liberalism]]. It is characterised by [[elections]] between [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|multiple distinct]] [[political parties]], a [[separation of powers]] into different [[branches of government]], the [[rule of law]] in everyday life as part of an [[open society]], a [[market economy]] with [[private property]], and the equal protection of [[human rights]], [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]], [[civil liberties]] and [[political freedom]]s for all people. To define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a [[constitution]], either codified (such as in the United States)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harpin |first1=Russell |title=Liberalism, Constitutionalism, and Democracy |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford}}</ref> or uncodified (such as in the United Kingdom), to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the [[social contract]]. After a period of expansion in the second half of the 20th century, liberal democracy became a prevalent political system in the world.<ref name=":0">Anna Lührmann, Seraphine F. Maerz, Sandra Grahn, Nazifa Alizada, Lisa Gastaldi, Sebastian Hellmeier, Garry Hindle and Staffan I. Lindberg. 2020. Autocratization Surges – Resistance Grows. Democracy Report 2020. Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem). [https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/de/39/de39af54-0bc5-4421-89ae-fb20dcc53dba/democracy_report.pdf]</ref>

 

 

Liberal democracies usually have [[universal suffrage]], granting all [[adult]] citizens the right to vote regardless of [[Ethnic group|ethnicity]], [[sex]], property ownership, race, age, sexuality, gender, income, social status, or religion. However, historically some countries regarded as liberal democracies have had a more [[Suffrage#Forms of exclusion from suffrage|limited franchise]]. Even today, some countries considered to be liberal democracies do not have truly universal suffrage as those in the United Kingdom serving long prison sentences are unable to vote, a policy which has been ruled a human rights violation by the [[European Court of Human Rights]].<ref>[https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/FS_Prisoners_vote_ENG.pdf Factsheet – Prisoners' right to vote] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807231112/https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/FS_Prisoners_vote_ENG.pdf |date=7 August 2020 }} European Court of Human Rights, April 2019.</ref> According to a study by Coppedge and Reinicke, at least 85% of countries provided for [[universal suffrage]]. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Coppedge |first1=Michael |last2=Reinicke |first2=Wolfgang |title=Measuring Polyarchy |date=1991 |publisher=Transaction |location=New Brunswick}}</ref> [[Voter identification laws|Many nations]] require positive identification before being allowed to vote. For example, in the United States 2/3 of states require their citizens to provide identification to vote. <ref>{{cite web |title=Voting requirements |url=https://www.usa.gov/voter-id |website=USA Gov |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> The decisions made through elections are made not by all of the citizens but rather by those who are members of the electorate and who choose to [[Participatory democracy|participate]] by [[Voter participation|voting]].