democratic principles
Governance by consent
Democratic principles are the foundational ideas underlying democratic governance: popular sovereignty, majority rule balanced with minority rights, equality before the law, and accountability of leaders to citizens.
The phrase appears in political discourse about what democracies should protect: The court's ruling upheld basic democratic principles.
Often invoked when those principles seem threatened: Critics argued the law violated democratic principles.
- voting rightsEntitlement to elect officials
- constitutionalismGovernance bound by fundamental laws
- checks and balancesConstitutional power-limiting framework
- equal rightsIdentical legal protections
- minority representationPresence of underrepresented groups
town hall meetings · universal suffrage · whistleblower protections · rule of law · activism · term limits · civic participation · judicial review · due process · consent of the governed · human dignity · civil society · separation of powers · judicial independence · public engagement · legal equality · vote · voice
- enlightenmentVoltaire, Rousseau, Locke, Kant, Montesquieu
- Grundrechtehuman dignity, right to life, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion
- Japanese Constitutionconstitutional amendment, popular sovereignty, bicameral legislature, House of Representatives, constitutional reform
- constitutional lawConstitution, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment
- constitutionsbill of rights, constitutional amendment, constitutional reform, clause, clauses
- German governmentBundestag, Bundesrat, executive, legislative, judicial
democratic principlesautocratic rule
Governance by unchecked authority
authoritarianism · totalitarianism · dictatorship · tyranny · despotism
democratic principlescensorship
Official content restriction
political persecution · thought control · political repression · repression · subjugation
democratic principlesrule by decree
diktat · manufactured consent · disenfranchisement · voter suppression · rigged elections