Democracy vs Halacha

A reader writes:

The topic you broached, the disengagement plan, will be the subject of
of a conference at Bar Ilan Univ. on Tuesday (23 bTevet). �The Disangagement Plan: Democracy versus Halakha?� (4-8 pm, Feldman Bldg) should be interesting because it features speakers from many sides (Effie Eitam, Yedidya Stern, Rabbis Daniel Shiloh, Yoval Sherlo, Yaakov Blidstein & others).I am bothered by the title they gave this conference – as if it is Democracy and Halakha may be mutually exclusive.

Actually, that raises a new and different issue which I also think is worth discussing: the tension between democracy and halacha. Clearly, halacha can thrive in a democracy – but there truly is a tension and it seems to me that it is nigh impossible to create an halachic democracy without redefining core issues – like who gets to participate and who gets to make decisions and what are the parameters within which the democratic process is allowed to have any influence.