What is Democracy?
1. Voting (Universal Suffrage) and ability to run for office |
2. Free and fair elections |
3. System of checks and balances |
Increased Democratisation after 1945
Almost all wealthy, industrialised countries adopted Democracy |
As well as most of the poor Asian, Eastern European, African and Latin American countries |
Less Democratic breakdown compared to 1920/30s, Greece, Chile, Pakistan |
Liberal Rights and Democracy
Must Democracy be Liberal? Individual freedom and human rights |
Liberal Democracy - Is it Democratic? How Liberal is it? How stable is it? |
The Backslide of Democracy
Freedom House's Freedom In The World 2018 |
US withdrawal from the protection of global democracy |
Pointing to events such as the fall of Robert Mugabe's democratically elected regime in Zimbabwe |
Rise of authoritarian influence of China and Russian aggression challenging Democratic powers |
Challenges to Democracy
It has not all been smooth sailing - challenges to transition successfully from regimes |
Early 2000s Orange revolution in Ukraine, where elections were shown to be rigged, massive protests and the eventual violent riots after the next regime change |
Rise of Populist, Authoritarian leaders such as Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil |
Specifically right-wing populism which tends to challenge Liberalism with elements of xenophobia and racism which directly contradict the liberal rights of the individual |
Unsustainable debt-financed democracy leads to high social costs for minority groups, more spending on debt than social infrastructure for those who need it. eroding trust in the system |
2019 UN report COVID-19 and the Looming Debt Crisis, showed than 1 in 8 countries spend more on debt than social infrastructure like healthcare and education |
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What Democracy has come to mean
Original Greek interpretation of direct male political suffrage, and further developed by thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke and Rosseau (directly led to French Revolution) |
French Revolution, democratic despotism of Napoleon when the people favoured authoritarian leaders |
Propaganda, rule of law, violence, counter to freedom of speech |
Reflecting the tendency of illiberal democracy, liberalism originally meant to contain democracy by making sure only the politically educated citizenry should have participation, public rights and institutions, freedom |
Prosperity does not equal freedom, Thomas Mann said we should not teach the classical definition of Democracy |
Liberalism
Adam Smith classical economic liberalism |
State should only enforce the economic side, while protecting values and institutions |
Free, fair, contested elections |
Separation of powers and branches of government |
Market economy, rule of law |
Protection of human rights and freedoms |
Limits on the authority of government through constitution |
Illiberal Democracies
Fareed Zakaria in 1997, where governments are democratically elected but proceed to violate the rule of law, freedom of speech and basic rights and liberties |
Nominal democracy on the rise, only surface level democratic standards, eg North Korea, Russia, Cuba, |
Allows them to hold onto power eg Russia where political opponents and dissidents are openly persecuted |
Specific form of Populism that adheres to the heteronormative and protects the majority and the elite |
Possesses democratic principles on the surface, some might even have democratic institutions, but freedom, rule of law, rights and liberties become secondary or unimportant |
More of a threat to representative vs nominal democracy |
Eg of Viktor Orban, Hungarian president |
Tension between democracy and freedom, Liberalism as an ideology allows minorities to challenge/interfere in the running of the country, they are not needed |
Allowing market liberalism to provide welfare for minorities but ok for majority working class, dont need migrants |
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Democracy as Participation
Rousseau underscored the idea that a good political system allows its citizens the freedom to participate in political life (social contract, political will) |
People were free only when they were actually voting to choose their leaders or actively discussing proposed legislative changes |
Dahl (1989) defends participatory democracy (Polyarchy and necessary institutions) |
To replicate in the modern world the virtues of the political system invented in Athens in classical times where the the assembly of all full citizens were encouraged to attend, participate and vote (come together in a republic and discuss) |
Participation is good for both the individual and society, thus we should seek it out |
To choose the rules and people that govern us, expression of human desire and need for civic equality |
French revolution as a clear and extreme example of participation and equality |
Fukuyama (1992) and Hegel argue that the radical ideas of the French revolution secularised the need for political equality |
A need for some formal way to enshrine and institutionalise the concept of equality of the people's will, which does not belong exclusively to religion, as civic equality meant everyone possessed the understanding and desire to congregate and debate issues for the common good |
Dahl
In Dahl's 1961 Who Governs, he analysed the political system of his community, New Haven, he construed it as a reflection of the US, 2 strong parties with a long history and a similar historic progression from the aristocracy to party rule with people of varying economic and ethnic backgrounds |
A variety of leaders in different fields, social, political, economic, with goals that did not overlap |
The economic difference prevented equal political participation from all citizens, and led to a questioning of whether any government could be fully democratic, along participatory demo lines, but he still believed it was important to have free market as opposed to full govt control |
in 1989 Democracy and its Critics, he noted how fully participatory democracy was only possible in a small community such as Athens, and even then women and slaves could not vote |
Political thinkers came to accept that representation was the only way to sustain democracy in a larger country (elections) |
Though Dahl appreciated the rise of many democracies in the latter half of the 20th century, from Eastern Europe to South America, he doubted whether any country could meet all of democracy’s goals, nonetheless he was impressed that the vision of equal political governance between people |
In 1971 Polyarchy, he described the 'ideal' democracy in the form of necessary institutions, where political power was held by different social organisations and civil groups that were able to work independently |
Universal suffrage and the right to run for public office • Free and fairly conducted elections for all adults • Availability and observance of the right to free speech and protection to exercise it • The existence of and free access to alternative information (not controlled by government) • The undisputed right to form and to join relatively autonomous organizations—in particular, political parties (and, crucially, parties in opposition) • Responsiveness of government (and parties) to voters • Accountability of government (and parties) to election outcomes and government. |
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