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DEMOCRACY
In the original Greek literally ‘rule by the people’. In the Greek world, political organization was usually centred around ‘city states’ and male citizens had equal rights to participate in government. The Greek concept of citizenship implied that citizens must become actively involved in government, not just vote for representatives. In modern usage the term has become narrowed to mean a system of government where citizens have equal legal rights to vote in free elections. See: AUTOCRACY / MERITOCRACY / PLUTOCRACY / .

Last updated 2002--0-9-


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Athabaca University ICAAP

© Robert Drislane, Ph.D. and Gary Parkinson, Ph.D.
The online version of this dictionary is a product of
Athabasca University and
ICAAP

*This social science dictionary has 1000
entries covering the disciplines of sociology, criminology, political
science and women's study with a commitment to Canadian examples and
events and names