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protected democracy

protected democracy

1 5.8
A democracy where strong courts and laws protect people's rights and stop attempts to take power
  • noun
  • Formal
translation icon : democracia protegida
  • The "Santiago Commitment" on democracy, approved by the OAS General Assembly in June 1991, demonstrated an emerging consensus desirous of finding new ways to protect democracy.

Examples

  • To maintain stability, the country has established a protected democracy that safeguards citizens' rights.

  • In this region, they are proud of their protected democracy which upholds the principles of freedom and fairness.

  • It is, as I have said, a protected democracy, with an intervention of the Armed Forces that goes beyond its proper role.

    Academic text (1992)
  • High-ranking local party officials secretly supported and protected democracy activists in an unprecedented manner, he said.

    Academic text (1992)
  • It also lent credibility to the demands by opposition political parties and the armed forces that key elements of "protected democracy" be retained.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Thus, the incoming civilian government in Chile was forced to operate within the limits of a new political system intended to institutionalize what its creators called "protected democracy."

    Academic text (1991)
  • Permanent articles of the constitution were designed to ensure a "protected" democracy, one in which the military would continue to exercise a tutelary role over civilian governments in the future through a National Security Council (Drake and Jaksic, 1991; Loveman, 1991).

    Academic text (1992)
  • A protected democracy ensures that all citizens can vote without fear of intimidation or interference.

Antonyms

A system where one person or small group has almost all political power

Surface Forms

Morphology

protected + democracy

The noun phrase 'protected democracy' is compositionally built from 'protected' (shielded) modifying 'democracy' (a form of government), so its core meaning — a democracy that is shielded by safeguards — is directly inferable from the parts. This adjective+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will generally understand the intended sense even if some technical institutional nuances require higher-level knowledge.

Etymology

The term protected democracy comes from the image of a democracy being protected, like a house with locks or a shield keeping out danger. That's why a protected democracy means a system where laws and institutions act as 'safeguards' to keep elections and people's rights safe.