Primer: Democracy

“Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

—      Winston Churchill

“"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.”

—      Oscar Wilde

Since its origins in ancient Athens, democracy has become one of the most influential and widely adopted systems of political organization in human history. Perhaps best expressed by Lincoln's famous formulation of government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” democracy refers to a form of government in which political authority derives from the consent and participation of the governed rather than hereditary right, military power, or divine sanction. Though democratic systems have varied considerably across time and place, modern representative democracies generally feature competitive elections, protections for civil liberties, constitutional limits on power, and some degree of political equality among citizens.

The democratic ideal rests upon both practical and moral foundations. Drawing on the theories of Locke, Rousseau, and Mill, proponents of democracy have long argued that legitimate government must derive from the consent of the governed and that citizens possess an equal moral claim to political participation. Since government necessarily exercises coercive power over individuals, democracy best justifies that authority by permitting citizens to participate in collective self-rule. Moreover, thinkers such as Montesquieu and John Stuart Mill argued that constitutional restraints, checks and balances, and the civic participation cultivated by democratic institutions provide the best safeguards against the descent into corruption and tyranny which, for Aristotle, threatened all forms of government.

Yet since the time of Socrates, who was executed by Athens’ democratic government for corrupting the youth, democracy has also been the subject of continuous criticism. Plato famously rejected rule by the masses in favor of the philosopher-king, arguing that political authority ought to rest in the hands of the wise rather than with the passions of the multitude. Advocating for mixed constitutional rule, Aristotle and Polybius likewise warned against the instability and factionalism of “ochlocratic” democracy. Indeed, from Aquinas to Hobbes to Nietzsche, major political-philosophical thinkers have repeatedly favored hierarchy and rule by those best suited to govern rather than by the masses. Even many Enlightenment thinkers, whose political theories helped inspire the democratic revolutions of the United States and France, expressed admiration for the so-called enlightened monarchies of Prussia, Austria, and Russia, seeing in them the possibility of rational and competent rule.

The left-wing critique of democracy proceeds from a different direction. Karl Marx famously argued that liberal democracy merely disguises bourgeois rule beneath the formal appearance of political equality. Though democratic institutions promise universal suffrage and political representation, Marx contended that this is merely a hollow deception designed to sanctify class rule. From this perspective, liberal democracy represents not the culmination of political progress but a backwards system to be superseded through revolution.

Today, the question of democracy’s superiority remains far from settled. The rivalry between liberal democratic governments and authoritarian powers such as China has revived longstanding disputes concerning which form of government best serves its people. While proponents of democracy point to protections for liberty, public accountability, and the peaceful transfer of power, critics increasingly question whether democratic governments are uniquely capable of delivering prosperity, stability, or effective governance. The rapid economic development of authoritarian states, meritocratic models such as Singapore, and growing frustrations with polarization, bureaucratic dysfunction, and institutional stagnation in many Western democracies have renewed skepticism toward rule by the people.

For defenders of democracy, however, the struggles of contemporary Western liberal democracies owe to contingent political and institutional failures rather than defects inherent to democratic government itself. Democratic theorists argue that the aforementioned afflictions of current democracies are the products of particular historical and social conditions rather than evidence against popular rule as such. Indeed, defenders of democracy contend, no alternative form of government has more successfully reconciled liberty, legitimacy, accountability, and the peaceful transfer of power.

Please come join us Monday night at 7pm in Scott Hall 201!

"Lady sitting in front of Parthenon on Acropolis, Athens, Greece" by Kristoffer Trolle is licensed under CC BY 2.0