ABSTRACT
Aims of the chapter
To analyse various mechanisms through which people exercise their agency in the public space.
To examine the complexity of democratic decision-making and its consequences for development outcomes.
To understand the intricate relationship between economic, social and political processes.
Key pointsAn effective democracy requires more than free and fair elections and majority rule. It also requires key political institutions and basic political and civil rights, such as freedom of speech, association and information.
Democracy has intrinsic, instrumental and constructive value.
Economic and social rights, on the one hand, and political and civil rights, on the other, are intimately related.
Political equality is a basic requirement for democracy. Economic, social and political inequality tend to reinforce one another.
Careful attention must be paid to the quality of the democratic process, particularly with respect to the inclusion of all voices in the exercise of public reasoning.
