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Comment by Youden | Hacker News Reader

> If you're making deals with a government that is undemocratic, you're making a deal with the government, but not with the people.

I think a better way to phrase "a government that is undemocratic" as "a dictatorship".

The idea that democracy is the only system of government that can possibly represent the people is a horrendously American view of the world.

To show an example that counters the "everything that isn't democracy is oppressive" claims I usually hear, have a look at Lichtenstein (which admittedly is partly democratic but is also a constitutional monarchy), where the people voted to give the monarchy _more_ power and refused to curb it in a referendum: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18649156

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Your Lichtenstein example is nonsense. Liechtenstein is not "partly democratic" but fully democratic. It has a monarch as Head of State (like the UK and others), and an elected parliament that enacts the law. It is also a direct democracy, where voters can propose and enact constitutional amendments and legislation independently of the legislature. The fact that the prince got a few more veto powers in 2003 does not change anything about the fact that it is democracy, and - equally important - people have full freedom of speech.

> where the people voted to give the monarchy _more_ power and refused to curb it in a referendum

This is democracy. The people voted for a strong executive and to be represented by the monarchy. Nobody gets that vote in Uzbekistan.

It's a democratic process yes but the country is still a constitutional and largely functional monarchy.

Democracy is an indicator of whether the people are represented but it is not the definition.

I think a better indication of whether a government represents its people is whether the government acts according to the people's wishes.

At one end of the spectrum is Switzerland, where the people can choose to directly override any government policy by referendum (or propose an action of their own).

At the other end of the spectrum is a government like North Korea, where the people have zero say.

Somewhere in the middle you see most Western democracies.

> a better indication of whether a government represents its people is whether the government acts according to the people's wishes

How do you measure the latter? That’s the essence of democracy.

There are many democratic systems. Constitutional republics are democratic because the monarch must answer to the public. Dictatorships featuring leaders for life with limited options for sidelining or recalling are not democratic. The latter describes North Korea, China and certain African and central Asian states.

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