Commonwealth vs Democracy - What's the difference?
commonwealth | democracy |
A form of government, named for the concept that everything that is not owned by specific individuals or groups is owned collectively by everyone in the governmental unit, as opposed to a state , where the state itself owns such things.
Approximately, a republic.
(uncountable) Rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives (representative democracy).
* 1866 , J. Arthur Partridge, On Democracy , Trübner & Co., page 2:
* 1901 , The American Historical Review , American Historical Association, page 260:
* 1921 , James Bryce Bryce, Modern Democracies , The Macmillan Company, page 1:
* 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 24:
(countable, government) A government under the direct or representative rule of the people of its jurisdiction.
* 2003 , Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad , W. W. Norton & Company, page 13:
(uncountable) Belief in political freedom and equality; the "spirit of democracy".
* 1918 , Charles Horton Cooley, “A Primary Culture for Democracy”, in Publications of the American Sociological Society 13 ,
* 1919 , Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, The Spirit of Russia: Studies in History, Literature and Philosophy , Macmillan,
* 1996 , Petre Roman, The Spirit of Democracy and the Fabric of NATO - The New European Democracies and NATO Enlargement ,
As a proper noun commonwealth
is the commonwealth of nations, a loose confederation of nations based around the former british empire.As a noun democracy is
(uncountable) rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives (representative democracy).commonwealth
English
(wikipedia commonwealth)Noun
(en noun)- May 19, 1649' ''Be it declared and enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authoritie of the same That the People of England and of all the Dominions and Territoryes thereunto belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed to be a '''Commonwealth''' and free State]] And shall from henceforth be Governed as a '''Commonwealth and Free State by the supreame Authoritie of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliam[ent] and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers under them for the good of the People and that without any King or House of Lords. [[s:An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth, Act of the Long Parliament.
Derived terms
For example, the official name of Australia is Commonwealth of Australia'. It is applied to four states of the United States, to wit, the '''Commonwealth of Pennsylvania''', the '''Commonwealth of Kentucky''', the '''Commonwealth of Massachusetts''', and the '''Commonwealth of Virginia'''. Also used by self-governing, semi-autonomous units such as the ' Commonwealth of Puerto Rico .democracy
English
(wikipedia democracy)Noun
(democracies)- And the essential value and power of Democracy' consists in this,—that it combines, as far as possible, power and organization ; THE SPIRIT, MANHOOD, ''is at one with'' THE BODY, ORGANIZATION. [....] ' Democracy is Government by the People.
- The period, that is, which marks the transition from absolutism or aristocracy to democracy will mark also the transition from absolutist or autocratic methods of nomination to democratic methods.
- A century ago there was in the Old World only one tiny spot in which the working of democracy could be studied. A few of the ancient rural cantons of Switzerland had recovered their freedom after the fall of Napoleon, and were governing themselves as they had done from the earlier Middle Ages[...]. Nowhere else in Europe did the people rule.
- Everyone who wanted to speak did so. It was democracy in its purest form.
- In 1900 not a single country had what we would today consider a democracy : a government created by elections in which every adult citizen could vote.
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- As states of the human spirit democracy , righteousness, and faith have much in common and may be cultivated by the same means...
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- It must further be admitted that he provided a successful interpretation of democracy' in its philosophic aspects when he conceived '''democracy''' as a general outlook on the universe... In Bakunin's conception of ' democracy as religious in character we trace the influence of French socialism.
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- The spirit of democracy' means, above all, liberty of choice for human beings... ' democracy , in both its individual and collective forms, is the main engine of the eternal human striving for justice and prosperity.