In the understanding of the Democracy Barometer project, democracy rests on three principles: freedom, control and equality.

Freedom

Freedom refers to the absence of heteronomy, and freedom rights are above all rights which protect an individual from infringements by the state. Historically, the most important of these rights under a secure rule of law have become one of the minimal conditions for democratic regimes.

EQUALITY

Equality - particularly understood as political equality - means that all citizens are treated as equals in the political process, have equal rights to influence decision-making and have equal access to political power.

CONTROL

Freedom and equality can be seen as the most fundamental and driving principles in the development of modern territorial states. The two principles interact and can constrain each other but they are not generally irreconcilable. Guaranteeing as well as optimizing and balancing freedom and equality are the core challenge of a democratic system. The third principle, control, serves to equilibrate this unstable balance. However, control has two different meanings in democracies. On the one hand, citizens ought to control their representatives in the government in order to secure freedom and equality. This control can be exercised vertically by means of elections or horizontally by constitutional checks and balances. On the other hand, responsive governments mut be able to act, which requires a certain amount of autonomy. The executive should be limited by the democratic process and jurisdiction.