ABSTRACT
In an age dominated by the progress of science and its applications along so many fronts, we are bound to wonder whether a poet's declaration that democracy is the most appropriate system for the modern age accords with the findings of the social sciences. On the basis of the evidence so far available, no conclusive determination can be made either that democracy is the form of government which nature or natural selection ordains or that nature commands us to live under some more authoritarian system of rule. Democracy alone offers all citizens the opportunity to express and protect their right to autonomy by engaging in the process of self-government. When the principle of autonomy is made the basis for collective self-government, democratic societies face two options, which are often combined. One option is majority rule, the other consensual rule or power-sharing.
