ABSTRACT
The concept of democracy derives from a compound of two ideas, equality and individual liberty. Democracy means sometimes a conception of society as society should be, and sometimes a particular method of government. Democracy can only be understood in modern times in its historical context and by relation to the period which gave it birth. It is a revolt against the claims of hereditary privilege to the sole exercise of power. Democracy is contemporary with the growth of capitalism. For the gaps in democratic thought are instinct with risk and confusion. The growth of democracy is contemporary with the development of nationalism. Some democracies contain different ethnological groups. Switzerland has a fairly even division between its French-speaking and German-speaking inhabitants; in other countries, like Britain, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Czechoslovakia, the division is more unequal.
