ABSTRACT
The state is an abstract entity, though a powerful one. Its only palpable existence is the person at its head, president or king/queen that it may be. The conceptualization of government forms starts with Plato's and Aristotle's triad: monarchy or government by one, aristocracy or rule by the best, democracy or rule by the people. Democracy as a method or procedure of government cannot be separated in the citizens' minds from the substantive policies and results it leads to. The path – a logical one rather than a historical sequence – leading from representative government to a full democratic regime goes through still another station, of which we already know some contours: the merging of demos and ethnos. Apologists of democracy tend to believe that it is the best possible choice everywhere and at any time; some go as far as to mark it as an export good.
