I usually use "democracy" to describe a situation where there are regular transfers of power through reason, persuasion, and cooperation and not through violenc

I usually use "democracy" to describe a situation where there are regular transfers of power through reason, persuasion, and cooperation and not through violence or the threat of violence. I'm not sure that it applies to this case about your neighbor, unless you are stopping them through a threat of violence, in which case it is certainly undemocratic.