The Essence of Democracy

We currently view democracy in so many different contexts that it becomes difficult to establish its true essence. How can we judge it as a political system when it is claimed for such diverse polities as the USA, UK, Russia, Egypt and even Syria ? I suggest we can distil it down to two basic principles. These can apply whatever the nature of elections or the system of government or of the society in question. These are : 1. The losers of elections accept the authority of the winners to govern. 2. The winners take into account the interests of the losers when governing. All stable and successful democracies display these qualities. All 'failed democracies' do not. Just two other comments : First, this is particularly important when the winners are actually a minority. This applies to the UK (as a result of the electoral system), and also to many of the fledgling democracies we see struggling out of their chrysalises today (slightly mixed metaphor – sorry). Second, the USA actually foresaw the problem and institutionalised the solution in 1787 by introducing their system of checks and balances to esnsure that minority interests could not be trampled on. http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/Colleges/Government---Politics.aspx?mRef=CNM01.