Challenges to democracy - modes of democracy and democratic process
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Course
Institution
Goldsmiths, University Of London (GUL)
An account of challenges to democracy; definitions of models of democracy and the how they manifest and/or should/could be changed and the challenges they face
Fukuyama - The End of History and the Last Man (1992)
discourse of populism - scapegoats, fearmongering
o populism threat to democracy of an opportunity for its renewal?
o representation synonymous with democracy or superfluous
Rousseau against representation - general will cannot be represented - speaking for
you you will gets distorted/alienated - direct democracy // participation of a
democracy
o 18th century very critical of English democracy - only free at election time
o slave election - elect then return to being slaves — reverse slave auction
Liberal democracy
populism - elites v people
Week 2: Representation and Liberal Democracy
liberalism = philosophy
democracy = theory - articulate the will of the people - authoritarian connotations
Hanna Pitkin’s four models of representation
o representation means literally to re-present : embody, act for, speak on behalf
of someone else
o authoritization - person gives another person the authority to act in their
name, but thereafter has no control over what the person does (Hobbes)
o accountability - representative must remain accountable to those whome they
represent
o descriptive - the representative must share the characteristics of those he/she
represents (claim that there are not enough women or ethnic minorities in
parliament)
o symbolic - the person only symbolically represents others: does not need to
share their characteristics (e.g. monarch as head of state, or national flag)
delegate model, trustee model, mandate model, descriptive model
representation as authorization: Thomas Hobbes
o via social contract we give our natural rights and freedoms onto a third party
who becomes our sovereign representative and whose authority we must
submit to
representative comes about from this surrending of natural rights
alternative state of anarchy…
origins from Hobbes NEGATIVE view on human nature
o Leviathon [i.e. the state] as an artificial man or person who is formed when we
authorise the sovereign to act for us
The People as a result of the social contracy - become united from a
state of anarchy once the Leviathon is established - removal of self-
governing {we become one}; unity of the representor that creates the
sovereign
, ‘mortal god’, ‘artificial man’
indirect democracy as a possible alternative to a liberal democracy
Burke: trustee vs delegate model….
o elected, but comes under 2 obligations, the person & the nation//parliament
o leads to conflict; entrusted to use own independant judgement to decide,
compromise and weigh both interests [TRUSTEE MODEL]
Mill on representative government [Mill’s Rule Utilitarianism - tyranny of majority]
o rejects idea of ‘enlightened’ despotism - potential for abuse of power
o purpose of govt is moral and intellectual improvements of its people -
therefore deserve a stake in how the government operates
o good govt. individuals know their own interests the best
Parliament’s role as a ‘chamber of deliberation’ representing the
diverse interests of society, to choose ppl with certain lvl of expertise
to make decisions, laws and formulate policy
Proportional Representation - FPTP disenfranchises the people whose
votes are wasted [e.g. of Brighton Pavilion in a Green majority
constituency]
open ballots
Plural voting system - educated should have more voting power than
the un-educated. this will maximise the good of those with fewer votes.
those who cannot read or write should be excluded
Voting as a privalege - not a right
Democracy [system of govt] - popular sovereignty; rule of the people via elected
representatives
Liberalism [political philosophy, ideology] - individual freedoms, rights, plurality of
interests and perspectives
o rule of law and constitutional limitations
o separation of powers
o respect for human rights
o free media
o independant civil society
o free markets
Locke, Two Treatises of Government
o Social contract; enter society from state of nature in order to enjoy property in
peace and security
o requires establishment of legislative power. legislature is supreme power in
society (parliament) - privilages the rule of law over executive power
o law making cannot be arbitrary
must be based on ‘established and promuglated’ laws
laws must be in accordance with the fundamental law of nature and
respect natural rights of life, liberty and property
o legislature acts as check on executive power - separation of powers
o legislative & executive power must be limited to the public good - otherwise
there is the risk of tyranny
o critique of absolutism (see Kant here)
better to be exposed to dangers of the 100,000 individuals in the SoN
than to the unlimited executive power or one individual who
commands 100,000 men
Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws [1748]
o idea of separation of powers - tripartite separation of powers (US based upon)
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