The author presents two alternative concepts of democracy: the procedural, which values systems according to the procedures that a government makes use of in its day-to-day functioning; & the substantial, which insists on the political decisions' content as the criterion of a system's democracy. Based on these two concepts, the theoreticians of democracy have construed three different models of democracy (majority, pluralist & consensual); the first two are on the line of the procedural, & the third of the substantial theory of democracy. The advocates of the majority model are of the opinion that a government is primarily responsible to public opinion, ie, the citizens' majority; the pluralists consider democracy to be the government of several interest groups, of which none is powerful enough to impose its interest; the consensual model emphasizes the need for the government to guarantee, through its decisions, human & civil rights. This model also points out the need for protecting national minorities by employing mechanisms that enable their participation in the government. The author concludes that the latter model would best suit the societies of Central & Eastern Europe since they, due to their historical, social & cultural circumstances are not in the position to evolve Western models based on the procedural understanding of democracy. Adapted from the source document.