3.1: Defining Democracy and the Characteristics of Democracy
Read this series of articles about democracy. Why did the Founding Fathers believe that direct democracy could not work in America? You should also be able to explain the differences between direct, minimalist, deliberative, and radical democracy.
Boundless Political Science: "Chapter 1, Section 1: Forms of Government: Democratic Governments" URL
Read the section of this article on Democratic Governments.
Read the short section of this article on Theories of Democracy.
Read this article. All democratic political systems represent a basic set of values and principles. In the United States, these values are expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and other significant documents, speeches, and writing throughout history.
Watch this lecture, in which Shapiro takes an in-depth look at democracy and its institutions. According to him, democracy is the most successful at delivering on the mature Enlightenment's twin promises to recognize individual rights as the ultimate political good and to base politics on some kind of commitment to objective knowledge. And interestingly, democracy as a tradition was not made famous by its champions, but rather by its critics. Professor Shapiro guides the class through the writings of Plato, Tocqueville, Madison, and Dahl. He zeroes in specifically on American democracy and such concepts as tyranny of the majority, factionalism, and checks and balances.