International Day of Democracy 2023: What is it and why is it important?
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Friday 15 September is International Democracy Day, an event started by the United Nations (UN) that is now celebrated in countries all over the world.
It was first created in 2007, and aims to highlight what's good about democracies, and to encourage people to keep them alive.
The theme for 2023 is 'Empowering the Next Generation', which the UN says is to encourage young people to get involved in democratic processes so they can have their voices heard.
A democracy is a country that asks the people that live there to say how they feel about how it is run.
This is done through things such as elections and referendums.
There are different ways of running a country, such as through an autocracy, where one person makes all the rules.
the UK is a democracy - we vote for people to sit in Parliament, who then represent what we want when it comes to making laws
Why are democracies important?
In a country where only one person has the power, rules can be made that you're not happy with, and you have no choice but to follow them.
However in a system where you have a say, such as in a democracy, there are ways in which you can express that you are unhappy, and things can change.
This can be through voting for new leaders, or protesting.
In fact, the word democracy means 'rule by the people'.
Voting is a key principle of any democratic society
Democracy was created by the Ancient Greeks over 2000 years ago
- Published3 December 2019
- Published23 October 2019
