I- Penser la démocratie: démocratie directe et démocratie représentative PDF

# I- Penser la démocratie: démocratie directe et démocratie représentative ## A- Principes et fonctionnement de la démocratie représentative ### 1- Définition et principes de la démocratie The etymology of the word democracy comes from the Greek, *démos* (the people) and *kratos* ( the power, su...

# I- Penser la démocratie: démocratie directe et démocratie représentative ## A- Principes et fonctionnement de la démocratie représentative ### 1- Définition et principes de la démocratie The etymology of the word democracy comes from the Greek, *démos* (the people) and *kratos* ( the power, supreme or sovereignty). When the term appeared in Athens during the 5th century BC, (in 465 in a tragedy by Aeschylus, *The Suppliants*, written “*mo Kratousa Kheir*” which literally translates to “the sovereign hand of the people”, a poetic transposition of the sovereign power to vote for the law with a raised hand). There are two terms used to represent the supreme power: *archia* which gave birth to *monarchia* and *oligarchia*, and *kratia* which lead to *demokratia*. The Greeks did not use *archia* to describe the sovereign power of *démos* in a democracy because the notion of *archia* relates to a sovereign power marked by a difference in nature or status between the people who command and the ones who obey. In an oligarchy, the minority, whether they are nobles or the riches for example, are, by nature, different than the people who obey, who are not either nobles nor riches. In a monarchy, the King is also naturally different from all his subjects, who can’t become a King. The problem with this concept applied to democracy is that the people who rule and the people who are ruled are, by nature or status, the same: “the people”. This is why the Greeks used an alternative notion to represent the supreme power, which is *Archia*, that conveys the idea of a power that derives its origin and essence from itself, which is precisely the case in a democracy. In general, democracy is defined as “the power [exercised] by the people, for the people, and to the people” (This is a phrase coined by Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States, taken from the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic). “*From the people*", meaning that its origin is within the people. “*By the people*", meaning that the power is exercised by the people themselves, directly or through representatives. “*For the people*", meaning that the power is exercised in the interest of the people. “*For the people*" is not specific to democracy, even dictatorships and monarchies claim to govern in the interest of the people. Democracy’s distinct characteristic is rather “*from the people*” (the origin of the power) and “*by the people*” (the holder of the power). ## a- Equality and the sovereignty of the people The fundamental philosophical or theoretical principles of democracy are equality, identity and homogeneity. This is the result of the assumption that all humans are equal in the rights and the law. Therefore, it is only just that they participate equally in exercising power. That is why it is fair that all members of society participate in exercising power, but that the same people do not constantly rule, and that the power is distributed among all citizens. This is why democracy posits the equivalence between the rulers and the ruled. As Carl Smith, a German philosopher from the beginning of the 20th century noted, “In democracies, dominion, or rulership, must not stem from inequality, therefore not from the dominance or leadership of one person, nor from the fact that the rulers are inherently superior to the ruled in any way” In essence, democracy can be defined as the sovereign power *of* the people *by* the people *for* the people.