1. Dear VARAKASHI: Lets discus the forms and practices of democracy so that you see how bogus and undemocratic your ban on by-elections with the connivance of @ZECzim means to the study and practice of the discipline

2. Forms/practices of democracy: There are many models of democracy, but lets limit the thread to direct or participatory and liberal or representative democracies.

3. Due to colonial history, especially in former British colonies, foreign democratic models have been adapted into existing governance systems. These models come with challenges and inherent contradictions.

4. This is another important dual distinction between models of democracy (Held 1996). The first is direct or participatory democracy, which refers to a more open and inclusive system of decision making on public affairs in which citizens is directly involved.

5. This is different from liberal or representative democracy, which is defined as a system of rules embracing elected officers, who undertake to represent the interests of citizens within the framework of the rule of law, (Held, 1996).

6. At a national level, representative democracy is the more popular version, with elected officials representing their constituencies in parliament and other government structures.

7. In Africa, most countries appear to follow a mixture of participatory and representative democratic models in terms of the structures of the state and the system of governance of various governments.

8. Advocates of representative or procedural democracy, however, caution that if elections remain a non-competitive sham and an occasion on which to smash opponents of the incumbent government, some procedural analysts reject elections as a criterion for democracy. VARAKASHI!!!

9. Nonetheless, if elections contribute significant governance changes, it is also suggested that they maybe a sign of the presence of democratic practices (Tilly, 2007: 8).

10. Schumpeter (in Hyland, 1995: 44) affirms that a state is governed democratically if governmental office is allocated on the basis of competitive popular elections. This contrary to what ZANU PF and its puppets in @DMwonzora, Khupe are doing in the recalls of MPs

11. Schumpeter postulates that the idea of administering credible polls that offer citizens varied choices in an environment where civil liberties are not obstructed are characteristics that all democracies have in common that non-democratic forms of gov lack and aspire to have

12. Schumpeter submits that: ...the democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people' s voter, (Schumpeter in Hyland, 1995:44).

13. These views clearly show that democracy is a contested concept and that the practice of democracy also comes with specific problems. In discussing procedural democracy, Huntington (1997) argues that elections can be perceived as a barometer for defining democracy. VARAKASHI

14. In his view, democracy might be understood as a means of constituting authority and of making it responsible.

15. A modern state, observes Huntington (1997) could be perceived as having a democratic system if its most powerful political officers are chosen thru fair, honest, periodic elections in which candidates freely compete for votes in a system that allow universal suffrage

16. According to this definition elections are the essence of democracy. From this follow other characteristics of democratic systems.

17. Free, fair and competitive elections are only possible if there are some measure of freedom of speech, assembly, and press, and if opposition candidates and parties are able to criticize incumbents without fear of retaliation, (Huntington 1997: 3). Thats democracy VARAKASHI

18. What is posited above is important, but elections alone cannot adequately define the elusive concept of democracy. In trying to answer this riddle, Diamond has elaborated a key distinction between liberal democracy and electoral democracy (in Huntington, 1997: 3).

19. Liberal democracies do not only have elections. Diamond argues that all liberal democracies have restrictions on the power of the executive, independent judiciaries to uphold the rule of law; protect individual rights and freedoms of expression, association...

20... belief and participation, consideration of minority rights, limits on the ability of the ruling party to bias the electoral process, effective guarantees against arbitrary arrest, and minimum state control of the media.

21. Most electoral democracies lack these safeguards and hence the practice of democracy is almost always imperfect.There are other more radical interpretations of democracy, as seen in Macpherson (Hyland, 1995:45), who offers a humane perspective on democracy.

22. For Macpherson, the maximization of democracy consists in the egalitarian maximization of human power, where power is appreciated in the broadest sense of human potentialities to engage in meaningful activities.

23. Macpherson further points out that democracy, is only achieved when all members of a community have, in an egalitarian manner, achieved maximum development of their potentialities, intellectual, aesthetic, moral, productive and emotional, (in Hyland, 1995: 45).

24. This thread contends that in some African States, such as Zimbabwe, electoral processes are used as part of what Nyamnjoh (2005: 48) describes as “face powder democracy” – a mockery of rule in favour of political elites at the expense of the rights of citizens.

25. Such superficial democratic forms lack a democratic culture and come with no respect for the fundamental civil and political liberties of citizens. This African critique of democracy is based on history and experience, especially in the postcolonial context.

26. Despite these contested definitions, meanings, types and variants of democracy, as well as its application I contend that democracy is a desirable form of government,as scholars like Fukuyama (1992), Held, (1996) and Hyland (1995) argue.

27. However, the gap between democratic theory and practice is a matter of continuous debate. Scholars are also sometimes influenced by their own background and society, as seen from the radical African critique.

28. In the absence of alternatives to democracy, Held (1996) and Hyland (1995) have both argued that democracy is significant as a form of rule because it celebrates diversity and tolerance.