PART 3 | From rotten boroughs to the democracy sausage: how voting became a safeguard against tyranny — and why the ideal vote remains elusive.
In a democracy, three basic protections stand between people living in a democracy and despotic rule.
One is the separation of powers. Power is not concentrated, but shared and balanced between differing institutions. Second is the rule of law. All citizens, rulers and ruled alike, are equally subject to the law. Third, power rests ultimately with the people. Those with power hold it subject to, and temporarily in trust for, the people.
Some democracies added a fourth protection — a bill of rights.