ABSTRACT
While nearly all first-world nations are democracies, the constitutional arrangements and voting systems vary. Nevertheless, key elements such as free elections to the legislatures and free speech are necessary. Parliaments responsive to the popular will are the result, which therefore address issues of poverty or the standard of living of ordinary people that voters require. Governments are judged, often harshly, and dismissed from office. Wider ideals such as freedom and equality mean that all democratic systems are ‘approaching democracy’ rather than simply implementing it, because of the wide scope for argument about how to apply such ideals.
