The term is usually hijacked by the worst of dictatorships.
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, etc.?
Just like "Democratic Socialism." There WAS a Party of Democratic Socialism recently (PDS=Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus). It was used by the East German ruling SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands=Socialist Unity Party of Germany) after the wall fell. They figured that party that built the wall and murdered people trying to cross it might not get the following they wanted if they kept the old name. Ergo, the Party of Democratic Socialism came into being. It didn't attract too many followers in the West, so they merged with some people from the West and formed "Die Linken," or, simply "the leftists."
Since there are now very few members left that were active supporters of the Wall murders, they can say, "who? us? No wall shooters here!" and get away with it.
Interestingly, German TV interviewed one of the former East German border guards faced with a crowd forming at his border crossing that chaotic even of November 9, 1989, when the news of "unhindered (not their original intention)" passage to West Berlin was announced. He called in that there were thousands of people massing in front of him demanding he open the barriers, saying their own government had authorized it. His C.O. said well, you can't shoot three thousand unarmed people, so let them through. He was asked if he would have fired on unarmed citizens trying to cross to the west if ordered to. He answered, truthfully, I thought, that he was deeply grateful that he never was put to that test, so he never had to find out.
Of course, there's always the Swiss model, but that has only worked in a small compact country with a small enough population and enough resources to take care of its own. It has never been successfully tried in a highly diverse country that spans a continent.
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“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”
