Modern political democracy is a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives. According to civic republicanism, the state acts legitimately only if it furthers the common good of the political community. . . . Civic republicanism also posits that no individual acting in her political capacity should be subservient to other political actors. Hence, the theory does not equate the public good that legitimates government action with majority rule. Social consensus about what is best for the community as a community , not as the aggregation of individuals private interests, is the defining feature of the common good.
Liberal democracy is qualified democracy.
The ultimate right of the majority to have its way is conceded, but that way is made as rough as possible. The fundamental idea of democratic, political legitimacy is that the authorization to exercise state power must arise from the collective decisions of the equal members of a society who are governed by that power. They insist that no aristocrat, monarch, philosopher, bureaucrat, expert, or religious leader has the right, in virtue of such status, to force people to accept a particular conception of their proper common life. Valuable as democratic participation is in managing the power dimensions of collective activities, it is not the point of the exercise. Oxford University Press.