The Importance of Democracy in a Free World | Teen Ink

The Importance of Democracy in a Free World

July 1, 2021
By Ivaan_155 BRONZE, Zaragoza, Other
Ivaan_155 BRONZE, Zaragoza, Other
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The word democracy, although not being polysemic, has different meanings depending on who you ask. If you ask Google, you will be answered that it is a form of government where the whole population has the right to choose their ruler. That is actually a good definition, as the word democracy itself means “rule by people”. I believe that democracy should be more than that. A good democracy should accept and respect diversity. The citizens in a good democracy should be free and human rights should be respected.

 


The history of democracy is very interesting, it dates back to ancient Greece in the VI century B.C. Athens was the first democracy and, unsurprisingly, the word democracy comes from the Greek words "demos", which means people, and "kratos", which means power. 

 


Measuring how democratic countries are can be hard, but The Economist, a very well-known newspaper, publishes the Democracy Index every year. The Democracy Index gives an average score to 167 countries. It evaluates several points regarding the countries' government and freedom. Depending on what score a country has it will be classified among 4 different categories. These categories are full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, and authoritarian. The Democracy Index 2020 stated that there are 20 full democracies, 55 flawed democracies, 39 hybrid regimes, and 53 authoritarian. Having these data we understand that only 4.5% of the world's population lives in a full democracy and 47,7% of the world's population lives in an "acceptable" democracy, although some of these democracies shouldn't be acceptable in such a modern world, they must be improved.

 


As I have said before, respecting human rights and having liberty of expression are key in a democracy. Millions of people live under the torment of being imprisoned for what they say. Fortunately, organizations as the UN or different NGOs promote freedom and democracy on an international scale. It is our mission to achieve freedom all around the globe, and only with hard work and solidarity, this can be possible.

 


To conclude, only democracies should thrive as a form of government, and we have to be aware of other's situations in their countries. We must cooperate to have a peaceful and prosperous society.


The author's comments:

Thiis article has the purpose of raising awareness of the democracy. 


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