19 Facts About Constitutional democracy

Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government.

Liberal Constitutional democracy emphasizes the separation of powers, an independent judiciary and a system of checks and balances between branches of government.

The possibility of Constitutional democracy had not been a seriously considered political theory since classical antiquity and the widely held belief was that democracies would be inherently unstable and chaotic in their policies due to the changing whims of the people.

The conservative monarchists who opposed liberalism and Constitutional democracy saw themselves as defenders of traditional values and the natural order of things and their criticism of Constitutional democracy seemed vindicated when Napoleon Bonaparte took control of the young French Republic, reorganized it into the first French Empire and proceeded to conquer most of Europe.

Opinion is divided on how far Constitutional democracy can extend to include the enemies of Constitutional democracy in the democratic process.

Related searches

In liberal Constitutional democracy, an elected government cannot discriminate against specific individuals or groups when it administers justice, protects basic rights such as freedom of assembly and free speech, provides for collective security, or distributes economic and social benefits.

Constitutional democracy monarchies are present in Northern Europe and some former colonies which peacefully separated, such as Australia and Canada.

One observation is that Constitutional democracy became widespread only after the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of capitalism.

Advocates use this as an argument to support their view that liberal Constitutional democracy is inherently stable and can usually only be overthrown by external force, while opponents argue that the system is inherently stacked against them despite its claims to impartiality.

Rudolph Rummel's Power Kills asserts that liberal Constitutional democracy, among all types of regimes, minimizes political violence and is a method of nonviolence.

Rummel attributes this firstly to Constitutional democracy instilling an attitude of tolerance of differences, an acceptance of losing and a positive outlook towards conciliation and compromise.

Liberal Constitutional democracy has been attacked by some socialists as a dishonest farce used to keep the masses from realizing that their will is irrelevant in the political process.

Constitutional democracy compared electoral success of the same pair of candidates running against one another repeatedly for the same job, as often happens in United States Congressional elections, where spending levels varied.

Persistent libertarian and monarchist critique of Constitutional democracy is the claim that it encourages the elected representatives to change the law without necessity and in particular to pour forth a flood of new laws.

Besides the regular review of governing entities, short-term focus in a Constitutional democracy could be the result of collective short-term thinking.

Constitutional democracy argues that the historical record of levels of taxation in certain monarchies and certain liberal democracies seems to confirm this contention.

Proponents of Constitutional democracy make a number of defenses concerning "tyranny of the majority".

Proponents of Constitutional democracy argue that empirical statistical evidence strongly shows that more Constitutional democracy leads to less internal violence and mass murder by the government.

For liberal Constitutional democracy to be effective, a degree of compromise is required as protecting the rights of the individual take precedence if they are threatened by the will of the majority, more commonly known as a tyranny of the majority.