Özet:

Democracy, which means the rule of the people, has evolved by means of different applications in different societies throughout history up to the present day. Societies have lived democracy variously according to their socioeconomic, political and judicial structures. Democracy has been evaluated differently from a variety of viewpoints since the time of the ancient Greeks and has gained respectability only in the twentieth century. Having achieved a supreme position as a way of governance today, democracy represents the political regime where human rights are fully recognized. The basic principles of democracy, which are liberty, equality, political representation and the recognition of rights, manifest the fact that democracy cannot be reduced to the mere existence of procedures or institutions. The concept of democracy cannot be grasped correctly if evaluation is made only by taking into account the elements that take place in realist democracy theories, i.e., by looking at the minimum procedural requirements that may be common qualities of some already existing administrative units designated as democratic. Even a moderately successful democracy should involve many other qualities than the existence of these procedural conditions. The pioneers of the modern democracy theories that emerged before the twentiety century are the classical democracy theories that have been discussed until the present day. When analyzed from the perspective of a more advanced democracy idea, it is easy to observe that these theories have some limitations specific to them. While the current democracy theories reveal the shortcomings of the previous ones, a comparative study reflects the failures and strengths of the said theories. The general assumption over the concept of democracy which enjoys wide acceptance and is often disputed at political, academic or social platforms today is t to solve problem. Whereas, if conceived with all its aspects, democracy can also be responsible for the creation of various problems.

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