“Democracy is a system of government by which political

sovereignty is retained by the people and either exercised directly by citizens or through their elected representat-ives. It is derived from the Greek - popular government" which was coined from ‘people’ & "rule, strength" in the middle of the 5th cent BC to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens.[2]

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n political theory, democracy describes a small number of related forms of government and also a political philosophy. Even though there is no universally accepted definition of 'democracy',[3] there are 2 principles that any definition of democracy is required to have. The first principle is that all members of the society have equal access to power & the 2nd that all members enjoy universally recognised freedoms & liberties.

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Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where as much decision-making authority as practical is shifted to the organization's lowest geographic level of organization.[clarify] To cite a specific hypothetical example, a national grassroots organization, such as an NGO, would place as much decision-making power as possible within a local chapter instead of the head office.

The principle is for democratic power to be best exercised it must be vested in a local community instead of isolated, atomized individuals. As such, grass-roots organizations exist in contrast to so-called participatory systems, which tend to allow individuals equal access to decision-making irrespective of their standing in a local community, or which particular community they reside in. As well, grassroots systems also differ from representative systems that allow local communities or national member-ships to elect representatives who then go on to make decisions.

The difference between the 3 systems comes down to where they rest on & different axes: the rootedness in a community (i.e. grassroots versus national or international); and the ability of self-appointed individuals to participate in the decision-making process (i.e. participatory versus representative.) Many anarchists advocate all decision-making made by grassroots democracy as opposed to the state with agreements between communities made by voluntary federations. In a number of countries mass movements have been built on this basis, for example From Wikipedia

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Consensus democracy is the application of consensus decision making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterised by a decision making structure which involves and takes into account as broad a range of opinions as possible, as opposed to systems where minority opinions can potentially be ignored by vote-winning majorities[1]. Consensus democracy also features increased citizen participation both in determining the political agenda & in the decision making process itself. Some have pointed to develop-ments in information & communication technology as potential facilitators of such systems.

Consensus democracy is most closely embodied in certain countries such as Switzerland, Lebanon, & Belgium, where consensus is an important feature of political culture, particularly with a view to preventing the domination of one linguistic or cultural group in the political process - Wikipedia,

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