Alright then class let us begin. Today we will begin learning about the 3 themes of the 20th century. That means on the muggle calendar from 1900-2000. A century is considered to be 100 years. Now throughout the ages many advances have been made but most consider the 20th century to be the most forward advancing century of them all. In this class we will be discussing the theme of democracy, something that is very important to billions of muggles out in the world.

Can anyone give me a definition of democracy? (Hint: The person who answers first isn't necessarily going to earn the house points, I am looking for a well-rounded informative answer not just one sentance. This will apply to all questions here on in.)

Christy put her hand in the air quickly to respond...

No need to raise your hand, please speak freely.

After entering the classroom, Vicky took a seat at a desk at the front.She thought about the question and then raised her hand

"Democracy is a state of goverment where every each person have rights and is able to have an opinion.It's the exact opposite thing of oligarchy.Rich and poor people have the same rights, the same treatment.When a country has democracy, everyone can express their point of views, their problems...Democracy it's not about self-interests, it's about...respecting each other."she said remebmering the things she'd read in books and the things her father'd told her

'Democracy is a government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether is be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences' said Christy without any doubts.

After listening to Christy's answer Caleb proceeds, "Democracy is a form of government where different voices are heard. They may be heard as individuals, in a direct democracy, where everyone may vote. They may be heard through representatives, as in the example of America, which has a Representative Democracy. The issues are raised through individuals elected to represent their constitiuents. In democracies, the emphaisis is, as Christy said, on the individual, not the government." Caleb finished and wiated to see if anyone else would answer.

Sarah raised her hand "Democracy is literally "rule by the people." It is the political orientation of those who favour government by the people or by their elected representatives, everyone in a democracy had equal rights and is allowed to have their say by voting."

Democracy means independence of people of our nation. It pays them liberty to live the way they want to be for developing free man kind full of social and human rights for the protection of civilized nation.
In other words democracy is the voting by people for the rights they want

Nadia listened attentively at both muggle studies professor and the answers given by students, before raising her own hand, "Originally the word Democracy came by a word conjunction meaning 'rule of the people' that intends to express the idea of a 'goverments by people' in the city-state called Polis. It appeared on the ancient culture of Athens, Greece b.C., before the Roman Empire and, different from today's democracy, all cityzens had the right if not the obligation to participate of politics in assembly.

"Today, possibly because of the growing number of cityzens there are, the practice had been replaced by one though representative elected by people. Either directly or indirectly, voting has become the only representation of our voice into the country assembly." Nadia sighed. "Particularly I feel that indirect voting is a rather excessive disgression from Democracy original idea.

"Don't get me wrong, Greek Democracy had its may flaws, especially from the fact that only a minority were citizens while the rest were women, childs and slaves. But an idea of a goverment by people, where the real power is on the people and not the representatives, as understood by Russeau, seemed to have been forgotten over the years to the point we don't understand our own rights."

Nadia lowered her hand, feeling that she might have spoken more than she should have.

Anila jumped as several people answered the professor at once. Well, they got it covered, she thought, writing down notes.

Hebe spoke freely, "Democracy, a government derected by the people. "

Before Amaris had even a chance to raise her hand several answers had been given. She shrugged and scrawled sloppily in a piece of parchement. Surely she could answer the next question.

Noel listened to all the other students answers carefully, and decided not to speak, she couldn't think of anything else to add.

Dru rested her head on the table and listened to other people's answers. This was nothing like Professor Shwmae's claases. She really missed that woman. 'Maybe I'll see her in Hogsmede,' She thought, attempting to think positivly. 'Don't get your hopes up,' was her mind's response.

Alex walked in the classroom and moved swiftly between the rows of seats. She took a seat at the back of the classroom. Taking out her quill and parchment she glanced up at the teacher, awaiting for instructions or maybe even questions. The persons she really recognized from the whole classroom were Amaris, a sixth year Gryffindor friend of hers and of course, Nadia. She squinted again and noticed Noel, another friend of hers, from her second year at Hogwarts. She gave them all a small smile. Half-wondering where Astoria was, she shrugged to herself and turned her gaze back on the Professor.

Hearing the Professor's question, she thought for a moment and than spoke. "Well, I think that democracy is a government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives," she said, simply. It was a bit short, yes, but it just made it easier for them to learn and remeber. And besides, that was the basic concept of the word.

But then .. she remembered the Professor's hint about the answer. If we actually looked for winning housepoints, we defintley needed a longer answer than the one that she just said. She blinked for a few seconds, and then she added: "Democracy is a form of government in which policy is decided by the preference of the majority in a decision-making process, usually elections or referendums, open to all or most citizens. It is now commonly used as a synonym for liberal-democratic systems in nation-states. The meaning of the qualifier 'liberal' in this context is subject to some variance, but includes protections for individual liberty and often includes private property rights (see below and the main article Liberal democracy). Definitions of democracy have in any case broadened to include aspects of society and political culture in democratic societies, which are not specifically a 'form of government'. Most liberal-democracies are parliamentary representative democracies, but there are many varieties of democracy, some still hypothetical. The term 'democratic' is also used in a looser sense, to describe participatory decision-making in groups or organisations." She stopped for a second and took a long, deep breath. Then she continued.

"Since there are other forms of government, the preference for the democratic form is itself an ideology, and a source of conflict. Despite its historical importance, there is no separate name for this ideology, it is referred to as 'pro-democracy' or simply 'democracy'. It is a universal ideology: most supporters of democracy consider it to be the only ethically legitimate form of government, and believe it should replace all other forms of government. Democratisation is the replacement of these non-democratic forms by a democracy, and the historical impact of modern democracy consists mainly in successive democratisations of nation-states. If it continues, this process will make the liberal-democratic nation-states the standard form of human society - a fundamental transition, since they are a historically recent innovation," after saying all this, she all of a sudden needed a drink of water. Her mouth was dry. Alex, however, did not know if the teacher would let her go out. Sighing, she decided she migh as well add to her definition.

"The word democracy originates from the Greek δημοκρατία (demokratia). The components of the word are δημος (demos), the people; κρατειν (kratein), to rule; and the suffix ία (ia). The term means 'rule by the people'." She sounded a bit like she had just swallowed a book, but at this point she did not care anymore. If she knew the whole answer, she might as well as it. After she finished talking, she leaned back in a her seat, and took a deep breath. She did not know if she would be able to speak for the rest of the class today.

Perhaps her answer was too long? Ah well, the longer it was, she would get more house points. Or so she hoped. Staring around, she noticed a few other people giving answers as well. Truth was, they were all pretty good. Feeling the need to add more to her answer she opened her mouth to talk again, but then suddenly stopped, realizing that she had nothing else left to say. She blinked repeatedly and sat quietly in her seat while waiting for the Professor to talk again.

Lee sat at his usual seat that he occupied at the back of the classroom. He recognised this Professor as the healer last term and the Professor of the same subject the term before. Wether the Ministry were absent or not Muggle Studies would still not intrest him as much as his other studies. He came here to learn as much as possible and obviously sacrifices had to have been made. He twirled his quill in his hand taking a few notes here and there.

Km came into class and sat in the middle of the classroom.She heard the teacher say.''Can anyone give me a definition of democracy''Then kim said''A goverment in which the supreme power is vested in the people and excerised by them directly or
indirectly through a system of representation involving periodically free elections ''said kim.Then she wrote notes of what other people we saysing.Then studied for the next ?.

Jinxed, a first year, also knew the answer; but being shy, didn't raise her hand or speak. After all, it is her first class ever, and she doesn't know anyone. She takes out her quill and parchment and decides to acclimatize herself with her surroundings before piping up in class. She listens to the excellent definitions given by her classmates, silently applauds their knowledge and vocabulary, and takes extensive notes.

Astoria walked into the classroom and moved carefully around the desks so she wouldn't run into anything. She had to be graceful in the presence of high society, but when she wasn't in the presence of high society, she was quite the klutz. (sp?) She looked around for someone she knew in the classroom to sit next to so she wouldn't be as bored as she would if she was around someone she didn't know. To her relief she saw Alex so she placed her things down next to the girl and took a seat.

She looked at the teacher for the class curiously. She realized that this woman was the healer last term and now she's a teacher. She was going to answer the question, but a bunch of other people had already answered the question so she decided to wait on the next question.

Cherry entered the muggle studies classroom, looking around to see if there was anyone she knew. But there were only several students, mostly Slytherins, which she remember from the year before, and sadly, she didn't know either of them.

So she took a vacant seat and sat down as the lesson was about to begin. The smell in the class itself seemed to show how much things had changed from the previous year. When she had first entered the classroom the year before, you could clearly see the annoyed look on Shwmae's face as students were being late, whenever anyone tried to stand up to what was actually a student's right, and when she absolutely loved the power she had over the other students. But overall, she hadn't been to terrible, at least to me, Cherry thought.

Now she looked up at the new Professor, wondering what she'd be like. She knew that up till the previous year, she had been the Hogwarts healer, but since she had had no reason to go in the Hospital Wing, she hadn't actually met her.

As the Professor asked the first question, a tirade of answers ensued, and she decided that she wouldn't add anything, because there was nothing she could think of which hadn't been said already. So she waited for the next question.

Iphigeneia was very impressed by the answers her classmates had given. Clearly she was with an erudite group of students. There was, however, one more point about democracy she wanted to bring up.

"While it is true that a Democracy is a form of government where the people decide through voting how they should be governed, I don't agree with some definitions that it necessarily means independence and liberty for the people being governed. In the end, there will still be a minority on whom the majority will is imposed - clearly they may not feel independent and at liberty; yet they accept the majority will as part of the contract of living under a democracy. This willingness to accept the majority will is, I think, the heart of democracy and is where the charm of democracy lies."

Adz, although she knew the answer, realised that she would look stupid if she answered a question several people had already answered. Instead she wrote her answer on a piece of parchment, in her neat loopy writing -

"Democracy - a government where the people share in directing the activities of the muggle state, as distinct from governments controlled by a single class, select group, or autocrat. It has also been expanded to describe a philosophy that insists on the right and the capacity of a muggle, acting either directly or through representatives, to control their institutions for their own purposes. Such a philosophy places a high value on the equality of individuals and would free people as far as possible from restraints not self-imposed. It insists that necessary restraints be imposed only by the consent of the majority and that they conform to the principle of equality throughout the muggle population."

Adz, unsure of whether or not that sounded too brainy, hastened to cover it up. She didn't want people thinking she knew too much about muggles - or anything really - she had fought so hard to come up with a 'bad girl' reputation....

Kristal's hand shot up in the air quickly and spoke with her hand still raised. "Democracy, a government by the muggle people where the people either directly hold office or indirectly elect the representatives and leaders by periodicly held, free elections and make important decisions. Majority rules. The policy of democracy was first founded by the Greeks who decided that power was too much for any one man to hold. A Government by the people, for the people - as Abraham Lincoln said. It also is the rights and independance of the people. Also, democracy is the principles of social equality and the respect for an individual within a muggle community." She hoped she didn't miss something and nervously let her hand drop to her side.

Terry sits in the seat next to Lee and listens attentively to the answers her fellow students are giving. She's always been fascinated by the muggle world even though she comes from a pure blood family. With the accident at Kings Cross Station this term, she even more interested in learning more about their world.

" By definition democracy is government by the people; rule by the majority. A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through the system of respresentation, usually involving periodically held free elections. This form of government usually has many levels including city and county representation, state or provencial representation, and finally national representation. The governments of Canada, Great Britain, and the United States are good examples of democracies."

Hippie quickly walked in and sat down next to another Ravenclaw girl. She pulls out her note book and waits to take down notes.