Matematica e Democrazia

The concept of Democracy is one of the most complex in human culture. While it is based on suggestive ideas like the participation of all people to political and civic life and the protection of human rights it also acts mostly with an oversimplified instrument like the majority rule on a single choice. It is no surprise therefore that its realization encounters difficulties at many levels especially with representing minorities and dealing with participation of people without a basic education. In this short note we present the involvement of mathematics within this concept, from the work of Condorcet to its recent development. Democracy is an effective government form to be founded on a suitable basic level of literacy of all the citizens. We claim that, among the literacy tools, those of mathematical nature have been the most unfairly neglected and that a robust knowledge of basic probability must surely be included.