The meaning of democracy: what is the best definition of democracy

Nowadays, we don’t have the time to spend an entire day deliberating about political matters and ideas. The vast majority of us goes to work everyday in order to acquire a livelihood, but we still analyze and discuss world problems, sometimes involuntary, when watching the news, at the bar or even at a family meal. Politics – just like sports – is a good way of starting and maintaining a conversation with a complete stranger. People who lived in the ancient Greece didn’t have any time concerns, so, that’s why the first democratic system arose here. The citizens of Athens all gathered in a public space called “ Agora” (meaning “ gathering place” or “ assembly”) and discussed cultural and administrative issues and voted the solutions they came up with. At that time, everyone had a voice and a word to say and this concept is now known as “ direct democracy”. But there are plenty of reasons for which this democratic system cannot possibly work in the modern world.

First of all, the average country population around the world is 34 020 600, so, besides the fact that there are no places with the ability to gather that many people, this enormous number is composed of many different cultures and religions, resulting in at least as many opinions and needs. Therefore, mitigating the problems is far more complicated than it was in the ancient Greece. Adding the lack of time, it became easier for us to let certain people dedicate their lives to learning politics, debating problems and solving them in our place. Then, we just have to vote (for one party or another) at regular intervals – few years; and that is what we call “ indirect democracy”. But The Iris has a population far from the immense 34 million we talked about before. Thus, we decided to adopt a democratic system named “ liquid democracy”.

The concept is simple: every inhabitant of our space settlement (i. e. 21 years old and above) has two choices – engaging in the organization as an active delegate or passing his/her vote to an already declared delegate. Considering our population of around 10 000 people, this democratic system should bring plenty of benefits. It builds a stable society, by creating links based on trust between our residents, also giving anyone the possibility to either express their opinions or not involve at all.