As a form of social life democracy is around for over 2,500 years. The development of democracy is noted to be as a large-scale process in the XXIst century, that became a factor determining the totality of social and legal relations in the world. The today’s democracy as a form of socio-political system of the state, acquired a form different from the democracy that emerged in Athens and which was perceived as perfect and equated to the goddess, whose sanctity was not in doubt and did not allow encroachment. We believe that the transformation of democracy requires reflection.

The purpose of the article is to generalize the researchers’s views of different historical epochs on the democracy phenomenon.

The democracy, at the time of its inception, was the ideas bearer of the concept of socio-political order, in opposition to the pyramidal-hierarchical social relations. The democracy is also noted to not be approved throughout the history of its existence, which is confirmed by the statements of Plato, Aristotle, Churchill W. and others. However, it is also pointed out that at present the change of attitude to democracy is conceptually fixed, so a variable number of democracy assessments, as well as democracy as a phenomenon itself, have acquired considerable variants.

Conclusions. In contrast to the limited classical democracy definition in modern philosophical discourse, this concept is quite broad and has nuances that are emphasized by researchers. Experts proves that democracy is always built in a particular society, thus acquiring unique features. According to researchers, it is a process that requires time, patience and the ability to use the result.

In addition, it cannot be achieved by giving only the right to choose, nor as a recipe to “write”, it requires knowledge and skills, which are the result of experience with mistakes and victories. This was emphasized by both ancient highly intelligent youth and modern researchers.

Key words: aristocracy, democracy, people, power, polyarchy, democracy waves.

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