Class notes
Module 2 Democracy
- Course
- POLSCI 1AA3 (POLSCI1AA3)
- Institution
- McMaster University (mcmasteru)
This document is my lecture notes from lectures given on the second module, focusing on democracy, particularly in Canada.
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Friday Lecture Notes- When the debate was being held about if the right to vote should be expanded to
everyone, the concern was that it could lead to instability
- In 1867 Canada, the only people who could vote were men who were 21+, and owned
property, along with first nations people who were willing to give up treaty rights.
This was only 11% of the population
- In 1918, women were allowed to vote in federal elections, and the latest was Quebec
in 1940
- In the 1960s, first nations people were allowed to vote without giving up their first
nations status
- Today, 72% of the population can vote. Anyone 18 and over can vote, non citizens
cannot vote
- Are there any theories on why voter turnout dropped after 1988?
- The Marxist idea is that all aspects of authority must be under the control of
the people/democracy. Because capitalists have more power, this has
weakened democracy
- David Held argued national decisions increasingly have international
repercussions. Political influence is increasingly exercised by multi national
interests. Political decisions are made by international organizations, not
people.
- International organizations are disconnected from the public input/democracy
- Go over and read the course outline to prep for the tutorial starting next week
Tuesday Lecture Notes
- Democracy is typically defined as a system where the power lies in the hands of the
people
- Direct democracy is when power has not been delegated to specific people, and is
instead distributed equally to those who want to vote
- Voter initiative is when people can take an initiative and force a referendum on an
issue
- In Canada, voter initiative does not exist at the federal level, it does in British
Columbia
- Recall also exists in British Columbia, where you can get enough people to
sign a petition to recall a sitting MP and force an election in their riding
- Anchinet Athenian Greek Direct Democracy:
- People not allowed to vote in ancient athens were women, slaves, and
“foreigners” who were immigrants, even if they had lived there for generations
- You were paid to attend the Athinian assembly, this lead to the issue that
people were incentivised to keep slave labour as policy to continue to profit
from the slaves and get paid for attending the Athenia assembly
- Issues with direct democracy:
- Theseus’s ship metaphor: The point of the Theseus's ship metaphor is that the
people are more likely to put the person in power who will tell them what they
want to hear, not necessarily what should actually be done.
, - Rhetoric is more influential than rational thought because it can invigorate the
people much better
- The federalist papers were papers written to try and convince the people to support the
American idea and constitution. In these papers, James Madison feared factionalism,
where certain factions would dictate the governments behaviour under their own
ideology as a collective
- Issue with the American system is that there is so much obstructionism, that it favours
the status quo
Reading Notes
Page 10
- Idea that due to the western ideas of democracy and capitalism, it has brought the
“end of history”. History has “ended” because we have found a system that works
perfectly and so we no longer need to try new ideas across time. “Is unsettling that
some recent political commentators have proclaimed (by means of a phrase borrowed
most notably from Hegel) the 'end of history" the triumph of the west over all
political and economic alternatives.”
Page 11
- The idea of liberal democracy is vague, and differs dramatically from nation to nation.
- This essay seeks to make these differences more clear, and considering the differences
between the systems
- The essay thesis “It will be argued, ultimately, that democracy can result from, and
only from, a nucleus, or federation, of democratic states and societies. Or, to put the
point differently, national democracies require international democracy if they are to
be sustained and developed in the contemporary era.”
Page 12
- Three core models of democracy. 1) Direct democracies, where everyone is allowed
to directly vote on the laws made by the state, such as in ancient Athens. 2)
Representative democracy where the people elect other people to “represent” their
opinions, etc. These people then vote on what the laws will be, in the name of
representing their constituents/governed people. 3) One party democracy, where one
single party is allowed to fill government positions/the legislator, such as in the Soviet
Union.
- History of the development of direct democracies. Altho mainly credited to direct
democracy in ancient Athens, it has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia.
Page 13
- “Niccolo Machiavelli thus argued that all singular constitutional forms (monarchy,
aristocracy and democracy) were unstable, and only a governmental system
combining elements of each could promote the kind of political culture on which civic
virtue depends.'" The best example of such a government was, he proclaimed, Rome:
Rome"s mixed government (with its system of consuls. Senate and tribunes of the
people) was directly linked to its sustained achievements.
Page 14
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