16 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

The distribution of power is also affected by the growth of
population which has occurred since Aristotle's time. In a Greek
democracy all the adult men, except slaves, met to decide policy;
there was no election of Members of Parliament, since every
citizen was a Member. Mere numbers make this impossible
to-day, so that the power to govern—i.e., to make and carry out
laws—must be entrusted to a few. There remains, however, the
power to choose, criticise, and change—in a word, to control the
Government; it is the position of this power which determines
how modern States should be classified. When the power of
control belongs to the whole people, the State is a democracy;
where they have not this power, the State is a dictatorship. Most
modern dictatorships entrust the power of control to a highly
organized party, in which one man holds a leading position;
but how far this Leader has supreme power, and how far he
must consider the views of other members of the party oligarchy,
none but those members themselves can say with certainty.

Finally, when one attempts to classify States, two precautions
must be taken. The first is that one should not be misled by
empty forms. Elections, and the existence of parties opposing
the Government, are not evidence of democracy, if the Govern-
ment is determined to hold its power and will use force if the
election results are unfavourable; some South American and
Balkan States have the forms of democracy but the reality of
dictatorship. Secondly, there are States whose Governments are
a mixture of dictatorship and democracy. In Poland, for example,
the firmness with which a military group clings to its power
makes it difficult to call the country a democracy; but the people
may criticise and even influence the policy of the Government
to an extent which would be impossible in Germany, There is
a vital difference between democracy and dictatorship; but
between the States in each class there will be lesser differences,
and degrees of freedom. It is more important to know how the
Government of a State works in practice, than to decide what
label to place upon it. After an examination of the working of