session 6 - Democracy

Democracy is determined by many different elements: culture, wealth, equalities, education, and some will say, religion. Religion as a determinant of democratic development has been extensively studied and many arguments have been presented supporting the claim that religion hinders democracy, while others are less convinced.

All of us say, democracy is good, democracy is right, but as a first step to fully understand the concept, we should define the term democracy first.  As the U.S President Abraham Lincoln(1809-1865) defined democracy as “ Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adults citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law. It also tends to cover social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political freedom.

Hence Democracy is a commonly known word all over the world. Most of the political movements in the world have made it their goal to establish this system in their respective countries. Democracy is the most popular and accepted political system in the modern world. Yet, there exists some difference of opinion among the Islamic groups on democracy. Democracy and human rights have occupied very important position in the political agenda of many of the Islamic parties. However, some of the parties and people do not accept it.