ABSTRACT
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As many political scientists have noted, democracy conquered the world in the twentieth century
(Bellamy, 1987; Dahl, 1989, 2000; Holden, 2000; Shapiro and Macedo, 2000). It might be an
exaggeration to say that democratic practices have become the dominant form of government, but
democracy has, over the years, become a legitimate point of reference for political regimes and
popular movements throughout the world. However, the concept of democracy is a heavily
contested concept. The meaning that has been applied to the concept of democracy has changed
throughout history, and different models of democracy have competed at any given moment of time
(Bobbio, 1987; Dahl, 2000; Held, 1989; Holden,1993). Nevertheless, a rather distinct institutional
model of democracy has obtained hegemony in the global community: representative democracy
or, as Dahl and Lindblom (1953) term it, polyarchy. The main features of this institutional model
for processing democratic decision making are competition between political elites, accountability
through general elections, a free press, and a private sector based on a market economy.
