Reading and writing fill in the blanks
Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the “people,” a group historically constituted by only a minority of the population (e.g., all free adult males in ancient Athens or all sufficiently propertied adult males in 19th-century Britain) but generally understood the mid-20th century to include all (or nearly all) adult citizens.
By and large, states with democratic governments prevent rule by autocrats, fundamental individual rights, allow for a relatively high level of political equality, and rarely make war on each other. As compared with nondemocratic states, they also better foster human development as by indicators such as health and education, provide more prosperity their citizens, and ensure a range of personal freedoms.