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There isn't automatically any. A democratic government can be authoritarian, or liberal. Democratic denotes the form of its constitution, authoritarian its manner of government. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive, though their spirit is broadly contrary.

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The theoretical differences between authoritarian and democratic governance are centered on the direction and derivation of power. In authoritarian government the state is comprised the leader and or leadership. Power is derived and disseminated by the force of their hand emanating from top down. In democracy the people, that is the individual citizenry, are the state, and solely hold sovereignty. Through the will and consent of the governed does the government itself derive its power. The people retain the natural right to remove the government and install new ones. The fundamental differences between the two come down to who holds sovereignty.

Narrowed down to the basic difference is that in democratic counties the people can vote for key leaders and they cannot do that in an authoritarian country.

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Wiki User

10y ago
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in authoritarian govt.the state is governed by the authoritarians. in other words, by the people who have power. they make the rules according to their will. on the other hand in democratic govt. the real power vested in the hands of public. they choose their representatives who make the rules for welfare of public.

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Wiki User

13y ago
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An authoritarian state is one in which the organs of state impose the authority of the state on the people. The form of the state is irrelevant, and it may be a monarchy, a democracy, a plutocracy, a kleptocracy, or a theocracy. A Dictatorship is usually an authoritarian state in modern practice, but it is theoretically possible to have a most accommodating dictator and have the dictatorship be functionally equivalent to a monarchy.

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Wiki User

14y ago
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(Apex Learning) The amount of power the government has over the people.

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zarr1s

Lvl 10
4y ago
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Authoritarian governments have permission to do whatever while the US government have limitations on what they are allowed to do and the citizens make most of the decisions.

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Wiki User

13y ago
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In an authoritative government it is run without permission of the people and by one man who uses the resources for himself. Democratic government is run by the people who chose a leader.

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Wiki User

7y ago
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The authoritarian government tells people what to do. The democratic government allows its citizens to decide what to do.

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Wiki User

7y ago
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Q: What distinguishes an authoritarian government from a democratic one?
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