public opinion lies at the base of an _ and successful democracy
Answers
Explanation:
The origin of term 'public opinion' is shrouded in obscurity. The Greeks and the Romans used parallel expressions. The Romans, however, treated consensus populi in juridical sense as distinguish from present political context. Also, the proverb "Vox populi, vox dei" had gained currency during the middle Ages. In the Discourses Machiavelli, too, compared the voice of the people to the voice of God. The phrase public opinion in its present meaning as the agency for the conditioning of public policy was introduced later into the vocabulary of the European politics through France. Jean Jacques Rousseau was perhaps first to use it on the eve of French Revolution. Today, the literature of democracy symbolizes in fact the rationalization of political behavior in terms of public opinion. To quote MacIver, "This incessant activity of popular opinion is the dynamic of democracy."