Democracy was first formed by powerful people in city states so they could rule jointly.

It really has not evolved much beyond that. Except in very small countries, today it merely means oligarchy.

While it is often better than despotic, autocratic or monarchy. At the end of the day, the ultimate tests are: how the working classes fare; the happiness index of the majority; how much corruption is in the government; how fair the justice system is; life expectancy; and access to medicine and treatments.