The motif of the article is to discuss problems and prospects of modern democracy. Reflecting on the challenges democracy faces in the modern world and ways of overcoming them, the author comes to the conclusion that in order to preserve democracy as system of people's power, it is necessary to get beyond the frames of the liberal representative model and, equally, beyond the frames of the more democratic model of participation. As he is convinced, democracy as form of government should rest on a broader foundation of democracy as citizens' ""way of life"". Only in this case, the author maintains, democracy may become the ""nutrient medium"" and the basis of general civicism which, in its turn, will influence people's political consciousness and behaviour, institutions of power and its personal bearers.