Ryan Gray wrote:
> Hi, I hope someone in this forum can help me use
> lojban to clarify a point. In another forum, there is
> a debate about the difference between "democracy" and
> "representative republic." One faction seems to
> believe that any form of government that elects its
> leaders is a "democracy. Another faction (the one I am
> partial to) argues that, by definition, a democracy
> does not have any protections for individual rights
> and the "will of the people" rules the day regardless
> of whose rights are trampled upon. The argument in
> this faction is that in a democracy a majority of
> cannibals could vote to eat a minority of vegetarians.
> No ones rights would be protected. How would one make
> this distinction in lojban?
"Democracy" is of course a Greek word. In 5th century BC Athens, there was a
boulê and an ekklêsia; the latter comprised all free adult men (the former was smaller) & had some, if not most, of the legislative powers of the state. A
demos was a clan, and every clan was represented in the boulê. In the New England towns in the 17th-18th, laws were passed by, again, all free adult men. -- Nowadays states generally do representative government ("republic"). -- So one could coin a word for each and that would probably cover you. Then the arguments about what country falls into what category can begin. Is Syria the "republic" it claims to be? Is the
U.S.? -- One would also want to coin "absolute monarchy" (e.g., Swaziland?) and "constitutional monarchy". -- i mu'o mi'e komfo,amonan