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Welcome to democracy-handbook.org Democracy-handbook.org is a simple, multilingual handbook for all who are interested in developing, maintaining, and spreading democracy. The chapters are short and straightforward, and cover the basics. www.democracy-handbook.org invites you to participate in the translation, in order to make a global Democracy Handbook in as many languages as possible.

Democracy-handbook.org is a combination of expert and user generated knowledge, and you can read the chapters in order or surf around. Feel free to join the development of democracy-handbook.org with translations, comments, and debate. Just keep in mind that this site should be easy to understand for everybody. All pages that have been locked and have the democracy-handbook-logo, have been fact-checked and approved by experts. Read more about it and how you can contribute at About www.democracy-handbook.org.

Democracy-handbook.org is written for citizens in existing democracies and people in non-democracies. Therefor some chapters have more than one point of view: How can you contribute to democracy, if you live in one? And where to begin, if you don't?

Democracy-handbook.org consists of six parts:

• Introduction to Democracy a reflection on the values and concepts upon which democracy rests and must continue building.
• Democracy's Institutions and Premises introduces the concrete elements of a solid democracy.
• Democracy – The First Time is about the cultural development from early hunter-gatherer societies to Greek democracy and how Europe developed under the Romans, and later during Christianity and Islam.
• Democracy – The Second Time covers the democratic development in Europe and the US from the Renaissance to today. The chapters on the history of democracy are longer than the other chapters on www.democracy-handbook.org. Hopefully these historical chapters provide an understanding of how hard it was for democracy to develope.
• Threats Against Democracy focuses on the many things that obstruct development of democracy, and which undermines democracy from within or from the outside.
• The Future of Democracy - How can you participate in or initiate democracy where you live?

Introduction to Democracy

• Why Democracy is So Important and Cool
• Democracy is Rule by the People
• Freedom, Egality and Safety
• Humanism and the Individual
• What Democracy is Not
• 14 Definitions of Democracy

Democracy’s Institutions and Premises

• About Institutions and Premises
• Government, Home, and Civil Society
• A Constitution
• A Legislature Elected by the People
• A Government Backed by a Legislative Majority
• Secret Ballots
• A Community Governed by Law
• Impartial and Independent Courts
• The Prosecution and the Police
• A System of Checks and Balances
• Constitutional Court, Administrative Court, The Legislature’s Ombudsman
• A Free Press
• Open Debate
• Infrastructure and Freedom of Movement
• The General Public
• Open Administration
• Local Politics and Participatory Democracy
• Political Issues
• Political Parties and Ideologies
• Private Property
• A Working Population
• A Middle Class
• Secure and Recognized Borders
• Schools and Education
• Universities and Science
• An Educated Population and Culture

Democracy – The First Time

• About the Emergence of Democracy in Antiquity
• Hunters and Gatherers - the Supremacy of the Spirits
• Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Egypt - Government by Law
• Judaism - the Emergence of the Individual
• Greece - The First Democracies
• Rome - the Triumph of Pragmatism
• Christianity - the Takeover of Dogmas
• The Reformation - the Faith Divided
• Islam - Rise and Fall
• Summing up: Democracy the First Time

Democracy – The Second Time

• About the Emergence of Modern Democracy
• Humanism and the Renaissance
• The Enlightenment
• Revolutions, Human Rights and the Constitutions
• Representative Democracy
• Democracy in 20th Century Europe
• Education, Cultivation, Paideia, Bildung
• The Women
• Misgivings About Democracy - Farewell to Individuality
• International Law and International Cooperation
• Civil Rights, Apartheid and Democratic Hypocrisy
• Summing up: Democracy the Second Time

Threats Against Democracy

• About the Threats Against Democracy
• Totalitarian Ideologies
• Totalitarian Religion
• Political Violence and Terror
• Violent Gangs, Mafias and Private Militias
• Corruption
• Racism and Totalitarian Nationalism
• Totalitarian Capitalism, an Uncontrolled Market Economy
• Trade and Globalization
• Trafficking
• The Totalitarian Business World
• Corporatism
• Technology Without Ethics
• Bread and Circuses
• Superficial and Shallow Media
• Intellectual Poverty I - The Universities and Politics
• Intellectual Poverty II - Lack of Philosophical Training
• Intellectual Poverty III - Innovation
• Intellectual Poverty IV - Disillusion
• Conspiracy Theories
• Subversion of the Physical Community
• Differing Realities
• A Lack of Education and Cultivation
• The Arrogance of Might, Newspeak and Spin
• Politics Turned into Legalities and Economic Considerations
• Terrorism and Fear of Terrorism
• Censorship
• Serious Adversity
• Monarchy and Autonomous or Alternative Communities
• Laziness
• Summing Up: Threats Against Democracy

The Future of Democracy

• About the Future of Democracy
• Freedom and Security
• Freedom with Responsibility
• Willingness to Listen and Keeping an Open Mind
• Good Democracy and Bad Democracy
• Political Ideologies
• The Media
• Business
• Cooperatives
• The Public Schools
• General Education
• International Cooperation
• Legalize Drugs
• Spreading Democracy
• The Opportunities of Civilizations
• Religion and Democracy
• Judaism and Democracy
• Hinduism and Democracy
• Buddhism and Democracy
• Catholicism and Democracy
• Islam and Democracy
• Protestantism and Democracy
• Religion in a Democratic Society
• Family Planning and Women’s Rights
• The Future
• Your Experiences and Ideas

Contents.

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