[gkya]

Plato compares different forms of government in the Politician dialogue (oligarchy/aristocracy, tyranny/monarchy, democracy; 302-303), where the democracy is described as the least effective form of government among all when good and honest instances of each are compared, and the least harmful one when bad and corrupt instances are compared. That's because it's static given how much effort and involvement it takes to even decide on minutia; and big, important decisions are very hard to make. Today this definition seems relevant and partly true to me, and I believe it is mostly an acceptable trade-off given the tendency to corruption of those who are in power (I have this vague thought that this tendency is probably a part of the stereotype of the politically-successful person).