One of the pillars of democracy is the principle of trias politica a third share of political power state (executive, judicial and legislative) to be realized in three types of inter-state institutions freelance (independent) and is in a distinguished rank parallel to each other. Alignment and independence of the three types of state institutions is necessary for these three institutions could watch each other and control each other based on the principle of checks and balances.
The three types of state institutions are government agencies that have authority to establish and implement the executive authority, the agencies held a court of competent judicial authority and popular representative institutions (parliament, for Indonesia) who has the authority to run the legislative power. Under this system, legislative decisions made by society or by a representative who shall cooperate and act in aspirations of the people they represent (constituents) and are chosen through a process of legislative elections, in addition to appropriate laws and regulations.
In addition to the legislative elections, many decisions or important outcomes, such as presidential elections of a country, obtained through a general election. Elections are not required or not should be followed by all citizens, but by some residents are eligible and voluntarily following the general election. In addition, not all citizens are entitled to vote (have the right to vote).
Sovereignty of the people in question here is not in the sense of sovereignty is only choosing the president or members of parliament directly, but in a broader sense. An election of the president or members of parliament directly does not guarantee the country as a democracy because the sovereignty of the people choose their own president directly are just a few of the many popular sovereignty. Although its role in the democratic system is not great, a general election is often called the democratic party. This is due to the old ways of thinking from some people who are still too high put the idol, not a good system of government, as a fair queen's dream figure. Yet no matter how well a leader of the country, its life will be much shorter than the lifetime of a system that has proven capable of developing countries. Many democratic countries only give the right to vote to citizens who have passed a certain age, eg age 18 years, and who do not possess a criminal record (eg, prisoners or former prisoners).
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History and Development of Democracy
The term "democracy" comes from Ancient Greece that precisely expressed in ancient Athens in the 5th century BC. The country is considered as an early example of a system associated with the law of modern democracy. However, the meaning of this term has changed over time, and the modern definition has evolved since the 18th century, along with the development of a system of "democracy" in many countries.
The word "democracy" comes from two words: demos meaning people, and Kratos / cratein which means the government, so it can be interpreted as the government of the people, or the more we know as the government of the people, by the people and for the people. The concept of democracy into a separate key word in political science. This is because democracy is currently touted as an indicator of a country's political development.
Democracy occupies a vital position in relation to the distribution of power within a country is generally based on the concept and principle of trias politica with state power derived from the people should also be used for the welfare and prosperity of the people.
The principle of trias politica sort this becomes very important to be taken into account when the facts of history records the powers of government (executive) is so large it was not able to establish a just and civilized society, even the government absolute power often lead to violations of human rights.
Similarly, excessive power in the other state institutions, such as excessive power of the legislature determines its own budget for salaries and allowances of its members without regard to the aspirations of the people, will not bring good to the people.
In essence, each state institution should be accountable not only the (accountable), but there must be a formal mechanism for realizing the accountability of all state institutions and mechanisms capable of operationally (not just in theory) limit the power of the state institutions.
