Absolute democracy is a hypothetical form of government presenting an extreme of power exercised directly by citizens. It should not to be confused with ''power

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

'' as found in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

political system (in which elective activities for the adjustment of

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

matters are more frequent than in other democracies). Absolute democracy presents a risk that the interests of the majority will be prioritized while the needs of any minorities may be ignored. Although democracy in general strives to make the people content, absolute democracy lacks protections to allow the minority to be heard or acknowledged. As Francis Devine explains in "Absolute Democracy or Indefeasible Right: Hobbes Versus Locke", there was a tension in American politics between absolute democracy and liberalism. Devine explains liberalism as, "the insistence that certain basic human freedoms are beyond abridgment". Absolute democracy lacks protections commonly seen in modern democratic systems. For example, in an absolute democracy there is no requirement for a "

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...

" to vote on any issue (i.e., every issue can be decided by a bare 50% vote). A requirement for a supermajority would be a limit on democracy, while absolute democracies are noted for their lack of such limits. As a result, policies may not be stable or long term, because everything is under scrutiny from the voters and may be overturned with a simple majority vote.

Ideology

An absolute democracy may lead to

tyranny of the majority The tyranny of the majority (or tyranny of the masses) is an inherent weakness to majority rule in which the majority of an electorate pursues exclusively its own objectives at the expense of those of the minority factions. This results in oppre ...

, in which a minority group can be ignored. Absolute democracies function as completely changeable systems where things such as rights and privileges begin to lose meaning, because rights can be voted away at any election.

References

Types of democracy {{government-stub