Democratic Government

Concept of Democratic government:

Contemporary political theory literature uses the term democratic government to refer to a complex set of formal institutions and actors representing the state that has the monopoly of legitimate power. A democratic government is characterized by its ability to make decisions and its capacity to enforce them in a legitimate institutional frame (Stoker 2000; Eggerston 1990). In this understanding, a democratic government embraces all elected and appointed policy actors or public officials, who represent the. executive, legislative, and judicial bodies, as well as the civil service with its numerous internal departments and agencies and its state-owned and/or controlled enterprises.1 Besides these governmental institutions, there is a highly fragmented maze of nongovernmental organizations and private stakeholder groups that are directly or indirectly involved in the complex process of governmental decision making. They include the private sector—corporations, business associations, and lobbying organizations—and organizations such as political parties, civil society organizations, grass roots movements, think tanks, academic organizations, the media, and social networks.

 Today there exist a broad range of theoretical definitions of democratic governance.2 Many are based on historical derivations of how governments and their democratic agendas evolved over time (see subsection 2.1.1). Most of the contemporary understandings, however, overlap in many aspects and can be grouped around the three following:

domains of policy, politics, and polity (Pleasant Breeden 1972)

1  A policy is a deliberate collective agreement about substantive principles according to which decisions are made. In a democratic system, these principles relate to the distribution of power among institutions of government; the legitimacy and authority of state institutions; rules and norms that determine who holds power and how decisions are made about the exercise of authority; relationships of accountability among state officials and between these officials and citizens; and the impact of institutions and policies on public welfare and human rights.

 2    Politics represent the democratic processes by which decisions are made. These decision-making procedures focus on the tasks of a government to determine which and how public goods and public services must be delivered to best match citizens’ preferences and needs. 

  3    A polity refers to a government’s organization and its institutional and administrative bodies, which fulfill its responsibilities of delivering public services and public goods. This includes the management of the administrative and fiscal affairs of the state.

 In summary, democratic governments are the legally and politically responsible final decision-making and implementation bodies that are composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial bodies as well as a multitude of civil service departments, agencies, and state-controlled enterprises. Democratic governance refers to the collectivity of governmental and other nongovernmental and private stakeholder organizations as well as social networks and international donor and development institutions that are openly or covertly involved in the governmental decision and implementation process. These decisions are about the implementation of democratic principles (policy), delivery of governmental task (politics), and managing appropriate governmental institutions (polity)

Blindenbacher, Raoul; Nashat, Bidjan. The Black Box of Governmental Learning (p. 46). World Bank. Kindle Edition.