The fundamental beliefs and traits of the traditional liberal theory of democracy are as follows: 

A man is an intelligent animal and has the power to understand his interests and risks. All people are basically same. Government should be formed on the basis of democratic constitutionalism, i.e. theory of limited governance should be followed. People’s desire’ is the basis of the power of government hence government is just a trustee of political power. 

There are definite and fundamental rules of governance, e.g.

1. Governance should be done by people (by people’s representatives), 

2. Theory of majority should be obeyed in formation and running of government, 

3. government should be answerable to the people, and 

4. People’s interests should be the goal of governance.

People should be given individual freedoms and rights and independent and impartial judiciary should be constituted to protect these rights. Free and fair polls should be conducted at fixed intervals and there should be more than one political party, Government should respect the mandate of people.