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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RicoJPA" data-source="post: 1968758" data-attributes="member: 437556"><p>There are libraries filled with answers to the first question.  There is no quick, easy summation.  It would necessarily be overly broad, and fallacious.  The second question is answered with a literal translation of the Greek roots demos = the people, kratos = ruler.  It is government by the people.  However, pure democracy tends to turn into mob rule.  Not only that, but the modern usage of the term conflates a pollitical system with an economic system, and people often say they want to spread democracy, when they really mean that they want to spread a free market economic system.  In most current "democracies", the representative forms of government are actually far more similar to republics; however, they are distinguished from ancient republics by carefully wrought systems of checks and balances.</p></blockquote><p></p>