20 January 2015 marks the 750th anniversary of the first parliament of elected representatives at Westminster, the de Montfort Parliament
50 years earlier Magna Carta - or the Great Charter - was sealed by King John in 1215 and established for the first time that everyone, including him, was subject to law
The BBC is broadcasting a day of live events, discussion and debate broadcast from inside Westminster and the BBC Radio Theatre
Highlights include an interview with the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners Lee; live streaming of BBC News meetings; and panel debates from inside the Radio Theatre
Democracy Day is produced in collaboration with the House of Commons and the House of Lords
Have TV shows like House of Cards, The West Wing and Borgen aided our understanding of what makes politicians tick - or have they fostered a cynicism and growing disenchantment with the mainstream parties?
From 17:00 GMT, BBC Radio 4's PM programme talks to politician Lord Dobbs, who wrote House of Cards, and Professor Steven Fielding, author and University of Nottingham political expert.
"Some commentators have argued over the years that, whatever its material growth, China will always be held back by its lack of democracy," writes Jonathan Fenby, China director at the research service Trusted Sources. So is a lack of democracy really a problem for China?
Chinese dissident Wuer Kaixi - who played a prominent role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests - is the guest on HARDTalk at 16:30 GMT. The half-hour interview will be broadcast live - you can watch the webcast on this live page. It will also go out live on World TV and World Service Radio.
Image source, AFPWant to delve some more? You can explore online features, TV interviews and radio reports as part of the BBC's Democracy Day coverage.
Image source, AFPThere was a long queue of voters when polls opened in the Lusaka suburb of Kanyama
Meanwhile, in an example of democracy in action voters in Zambia are going to the polls in a presidential election caused by the death of Michael Sata last year.
The vote is expected to be a close contest between Edgar Lungu from the governing Patriotic Front and Hakainde Hichilema from the United Party for National Development.
Nick Brown emails: It is not democracy that is the problem. It's the outcome of the democratic process. As one example, consider the 'do nothing' Senate & Congress in Washington elected as a result of the campaign money raised from the wealthy and special interests. On the other hand, in the UK, there's the undemocratic Upper House of elitists. What is needed, for every country in the world, is a democratic process that is truly by the people and for the people.
Is drama being controlled by those with a vested interest in politics? Join the discussion on Dramatising Democracy, live now.
When sport mixes with politics. Should competitors express political views, asks the World Service.
Image source, Getty Images
Radio 4's The Public Philosopher, Professor Michael Sandel, speaks to BBC News School Reporters from Lincoln Castle Academy about their views on the voting age, whether political parties were distinctive, and the standard of political debate in Parliament.
What is it that MPs actually do and what really happens behind the scenes in Westminster?
MP Karen Buck tells BBC News School Reporters from Westminster Academy what she thinks is the best thing about her job.
Did you miss the Islam debate? Don't fear, it's on iplayer here.
Follow the debate going on in the BBC's Radio Theatre as playwrights, producers and authors consider how their art informs views on democracy.
Supanut Leepaisomboon in Bangkok, Thailand emails: Democracy is a form of cultural imperialism because it originated in the West and then spread all over the world. Although it worked in many countries, there are places where democracy isn't working, or cannot be applied at all, due to cultural/historical factors. In a number of places, western democracy has been introduced at the expense of localized, traditional style of government that may have dominated a country for centuries.
Image source, AMIT BHASKARAmit Bhaskar, in New Delhi, sent this picture of a rally for Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal.
He says the massive turnout gave a "new angle to the upcoming Delhi election", adding: "The real and true sense of democracy where age, religion, cast, [and] gender broke all the barriers of the true democratic India."
So the Democracy Live team have been running a live page tracking the evolution of democracy since 1215. And there's good news, they've got to 1928 - 713 years in and British women have been given the vote.
Patrick Handscombe in Colchester emails: Political parties are the cause of current political apathy and low election turnouts, and cannot provide or be the cure. The current populist parties are a vain attempt at a solution. Most of the electorate do not understand how our constitution actually works. Most want a Parliament of independent, representative, local, non-professional MPs, and a non-party Government of talents. No constitutional changes are necessary for these to come about. Compulsory voting, proportional representation and mass internet referendums are dangerous red herrings.
Playwright James Graham tells the BBC he enjoys choosing events and issues from the past to look at democracy. Can TV drama change the national debate? Maybe not, he says "But just putting the conversation out there... and having it talked about in the news... can lead us in a particular direction".
Louise Matthews tweets, external: "Free societies are painful but there's no other way" #BBCDemocracyDay
You may have guessed by now BBC Democracy Day has gone global and proving it is the BBC Vietnamese Facebook page which has a lively debate going - as have other BBC language services.
Jonathan Turner emails: The problem with the UK is that we don't have a democracy in the sense that our main Parliament is elected by a democratic electoral system. Our system is designed for a two party state and has almost always elected a majority government on a minority of the vote. It's quite conceivable that we could get a majority government when they have got less votes than the main opposition party. So we have no credibility when telling anyone else they should move to democracy.