Democracy: What is It?

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Democracy What is It?

• February 26th, 2004

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Democracy Basic Elements

• consent of the governed (process)
• free and fair elections in which government can
  be defeated
• equality of political rights
• protection of individual rights (outcome)
• freedom of speech (including free press)
• civil liberties

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Democracy Basic Elements

• basic elements
• consent of the governed (process)
• protection of individual rights (outcome)
• when is a political system democratic?
• continuum
• can have more or less of the two values above
• the point at which a system is a democracy is
  contestable
• some systems are obviously democracies
• some systems are obviously non-democratic
• some systems are in between

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Democracy -- A Process
Opportunities for Mass Participation
LOW
HIGH
Representative (Delegate) Democracy
Direct Democracy
Participatory Democracy
Representative (Trustee) Democracy
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Democracy -- The Outcomes
Protection of Individual Rights
Low
High
Communitarian Emphasis on General Welfare of the
Community
Libertarian Emphasis on Limited Government and
Rights of the Individual
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MODELS OF DEMOCRACY
Individual Rights/Limited Govt
Liberal Democracy
High Mass Participation
Low Mass Participation
Elite Democracy
Majoritarian Democracy
General Welfare
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Models of Democracy

• majoritarian democracy
• most important goal is maximizing mass
  participation
• high mass participation will result in decisions
  being made that maximize the general welfare

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Models of Democracy

• elite democracy
• most important goal is the general welfare
• requires an elite capable of pursuing the
  long-term interests of society
• actually values low mass participation

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Models of Democracy

• liberal democracy
• most important goal is protecting individual
  rights
• does not prefer low mass participation but may be
  willing to accept it

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Models of Democracy

• majoritarian democracy
• most important goal is maximizing mass
  participation
• high mass participation will result in decisions
  being made that maximize the general welfare
• majoritarian democratic critiques of other models
• elite democracy there is no such thing as an
  elite that is not self-interested and will look
  after the good of the general masses
• liberal democracy emphasis on individual rights
  is used to limit government in order to protect
  small, priveleged groups

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Models of Democracy

• elite democracy
• most important goal is the general welfare
• requires an elite capable of pursuing the
  long-term interests of society
• actually values low mass participation
• elite democratic critiques of other models
• liberal democracy undue focus on individual
  rights limits governments ability to pursue the
  general welfare of the community
• majoritarian democracy masses are too
  uninterested, incompetent or, at worst, dangerous
  to be given control over decision-making

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Models of Democracy

• liberal democracy
• most important goal is protecting individual
  rights
• does not prefer low mass participation but may be
  willing to accept it
• liberal democratic critiques of other models
• elite democracy if unchecked, elites will use
  power to infringe the rights of individuals
• majoritarian democracy if unchecked, majority
  will infringe the rights of minorities (tyranny
  of the majority)

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Models of Democracy Viewing Democracy Over Time

• elite democrats
• the masses will always be incapable of making
  decisions for the long-term common good
• liberal democrats
• elites and the majorities will always be prone to
  infringing individual rights if given the chance
• majoritarian democrats
• elites will always be self-serving
• masses can learn over time to become better
  democratic citizens if given a meaningful
  opportunity to do so
• elite and liberal democrats would argue that the
  risk is too great

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CLASSIFYING DEMOCRACIES

• within a range of models incorporating some
  minimum amount of meaningful citizen input and
  some minimum protection of basic rights, there
  are different models of democracy
• choice of models is completely normative
• there is no right model
• the best model of democracy is contestable

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CLASSIFYING DEMOCRACIES...

• typology of models of democracy as a map for
  comparing democratic systems
• tells us what to look at in undertaking
  comparisons
• emphasizes the relative nature of models of
  democracy
• democracy as a concept is multi-faceted and
  complex
• forces the consideration of two questions
• to what degree are different political systems
  based on different models of democracy?
• to what degree do different political systems
  look like their underlying model of democracy in
  practice

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Things to Remember...

• there is no one, single, accepted model of
  democracy
• within a range of basic elements (consent of the
  governed, protection of individual rights),
  democracy means different things to different
  people

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The State of Democracy

• In the Contemporary World

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The State of Democracy

• Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2002
• political freedom
• freedom to form political parties
• open competition in free and fair elections
• civil liberties
• personal freedoms (e.g. speech, press)
• religious, ethnic, linguistic rights

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The State of Democracy

• total countries192
• electoral democracies121 (63)
• 198740
• free countries89 (46)
• many countries are electoral democracies without
  being free!!

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The State of Democracy Over Time
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The State of Democracy Over Time
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The State of Democracy Over Time
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The State of Democracy Over Time
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The State of Democracy Over Time
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The State of Democracy Over Time
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The State of Democracy Over Time
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The State of Democracy

• top rankings
• 34 countries (all Western industrialized
  countries) including...
• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• UK
• United States

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The State of Democracy

• worst rankings
• 9 worst
• Burma
• Cuba
• Iraq
• North Korea
• Libya
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• Syria
• Turkmenistan

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The State of Democracy

• the number of free democratic societies is
  growing
• however, the number of electoral democracies has
  grown faster than the number of free democratic
  societies
• electoral democracy does not equal free democracy

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