ABSTRACT
The seeds of modern democracy took root during the Age of Enlightenment. Some contemporaries think of democracy in procedural terms only, whereas others insist that it also includes important philosophical content. The most basic idea in democracy is that people are essentially equal, and thus each person has a right to have a say in who governs and how they do so. Legitimate political power comes from the people, and government, therefore, is legal only when the governed consent to it. The act of popular consent to government is explained by the theories of popular sovereignty and the social contract.
