Democracy is a type of state system in which people's power becomes dominant. The main signs of democracy are the free will of the citizens of the country, their equality, the elective basis of the authorities, the accountability of state bodies and the separation of all structures of power.
Law is the main form in which all the principles and norms of a democratic system are implemented. It is represented by a system of laws governing the life of society. A modern democratic society is significantly different from historical democracy. It is based on the political views of the Enlightenment and the New Age.
There are models of democracy that have many subspecies. In total, there are about 550 of them. The theory of this type of structure of society is divided into a large number of concepts and a number of models, but the main ones that currently exist are only two - they are radical democratic and liberal democratic. They arose when trying to find a solution to the Hobbes problem. What was it like? Its essence can be represented as follows: a person entrusted himself to a social status agreement, that is, he entrusted the authorities to manage it, but the state should guarantee him the observance of rights. In this regard, the question arose of maintaining the freedom of a person living in a particular society. How to do it? The answer to this question was before the authorities.
Politicians saw human freedom in different ways. Liberal democrats asserted that freedom is a human right to moral autonomy. Society in this case acted as the sum of all citizens with their autonomy, having a common interest. This kind of state model of democracy limited freedom, because it was based only on the law. In this case, the branches of government must have had clear boundaries. It is noteworthy that the principle of voting was based on the results of the majority choice, but at the same time, minority rights were necessarily protected.
Radical-democratic views were based on the fact that a rational person could exist outside of society, however, being in it, he becomes a social being. The radicals put in the first place a public man who believed that the common good is a priority over the laws of the state, over law. The principle of separation of powers, which was welcomed by liberals, was denied by citizens of radical views.
In addition to the above, in modern science there are other models, whose representatives see in different ways how a democratic society should develop.
For example, J. Schumpeter believed: the democratic principle of the device is needed in order to be able to make political decisions by fighting among competitors for electoral votes, and classical democratic theory did not adhere to this opinion.
The scientist and politician D. Held identified the following signs of democracy: the system of industrial society, strong executive power, healthy party competition and restrictions on decision-making in politics.
E. Downe believed that signs of democracy must be present in the governance process, namely in elections, in formed coalitions, in the party struggle for votes, in the non-interference of the elected party in the use of the rights of the opposition.
Despite the fact that there are many of its models, it is possible to single out the main signs of democracy in society: a variety of views and interests of citizens, free access to party formations, free suffrage, control over the work of the government, taking into account the majority opinion while observing the interests of the minority and peaceful resolution of conflicts .