1/? I've seen a few people here mention that some on the right like to say that 'the US is a republic not a democracy.' There is a very nice way to respond to that that I use when students claim that in class. It'll take a thread though:
2/? Shoot forgot to # the last one. #political
O'Neil (2010) has a very useful discussion of democracy. He distinguishes between the Greeks' direct participation and the Roman Empire's republicanism. He then reminds us, "As political rights and institutions have expanded over the centuries, republicanism and democracy-Roman and Greek thought and practices-have become intertwined to produce the modern liberal democratic regime we know today " (O'Neil 2010, 112).
#politics 3/?
He defines democracy as "political power exercised either directly or indirectly through participation, competition, and liberty" (110). In the African context, Abdoulaye Bathily (1994) has made the point that "By democratization we do not mean only political democracy as expressed through multi-party systems as has become fashionable in Africa recently. Genuine democracy derives from the struggles of an Genuine democracy derives ...
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from the struggles of an awakened civil society and public opinion expressing their plural and contradictory discourses through a free press" (70-71). Thus, it is safe to say that the US have functioned as a modern liberal democracy- albeit a flawed one.