Three Essays on Democratic Theory and Practice

This dissertation is an attempt to expound on the meaning of democracy as “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” It attempts in three essays to explore the depths of this all-encompassing ‘Lincoln’ definition of popular government. If democracy is government borne ‘of the people,’ how has it evolved and developed with the growth of the nation-state? And if it is crafted ‘by the people,’ what are its ascriptive features and characteristics? And if it is made ‘for the people,’ how is it perceived and practiced by them? The first essay focuses on the origins of democracy and the political revivals that have shaped its present development. It thus undertakes a study of the political systems of Classical Athens and Rome, and performs an analysis of the democratic revolutions that ensued in England, the United States, and France. The second essay explores some model theoretical constructs of representative democracy, as well as the conditions required for its functional practice. The third essay however moves away from theory to empirics, and performs a qualitative case study of democratic practice in Ghana, by which means it attempts to shed light on what Professor Harry Eckstein has called “the improbable combination of circumstances that make democracy work.”