Failure of Democratic Consent
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Citizen Orientations Toward Democracy Across These Same Nations
CSD Center for the Study of Democracy An Organized Research Unit University of California, Irvine www.democ.uci.edu Democratic Aspirations and Democratic Ideals 1 Russell J. Dalton Center for the Study of Democracy University of California, Irvine Doh Chull Shin Department of Political Science University of Missouri February 2004 1 Paper presented for presentation at the conference on "Citizens, Democracy and Markets around the Pacific Rim," East West Center, Honolulu, March 2004. Portions of this chapter are drawn from a paper presented at the Hawaii International Conference on the Social Sciences, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 11-15, 2002. Our thanks to Ronald Inglehart and Hans-Dieter Klingemann for supporting our participation in the 2000-02 World Values Survey; Pham Minh Hac and Pham Thanh Nghi for collaborating on the Vietnamese WVS; and Nhu-Ngoc Ong, Dorothy Solinger, and William Zimmerman for their advice on this research. We also gratefully acknowledge the research support of the POSCO Fellowship Program at the East-West Center in Hawaii, and especially Dr. Choong Nam Kim. Democratic Aspirations and Democratic Ideals Democratization has transformed the world in the last half of the 20th century. Where once democracy seemed like a small island in a sea of authoritarian states, with an uncertain future, it now is proclaimed as the inevitable endpoint of human political evolution (Fukuyama 1992). Data from the Freedom House illustrate this development. In 1950, only 14.3% of the countries (and colonial units) in the world were democracies, which included 31% of the world’s population. In 1990, the Freedom House considered 46.1% of the nations in the world as democracies. -
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ARISTOTLE AND DEMOCRACY A PhD Thesis submitted by Charalambos Ioannou Papageorgiou k k k k University College University of London LONDON 1991 ** ProQuest Number: 10609803 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10609803 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 ABSTRACT The thesis undertakes a reconstruction and critical assessment of Aristotle's theory of democracy. The process of reconstruction requires at first the collection and organisation of the relevant material, since Aristotle's references to democracy, although numerous, are scattered throughout his political and ethical writings. A chapter is devoted to this task. This chapter also seeks to describe the historical and intellectual context in which Aristotle developed his ideas on democracy. The thesis then attempts to identify the fundamental principles which underlie Aristotle's conception of democracy. These are examined both in their relation to one another and also in their relation to the fundamental principles of Aristotle's political philosophy in general. Aristotle's teleological conception of the state and his theory of distributive justice based on proportionate equality are singled out as the salient principles which shape his conception, classification and criticism of democracy. -
Hegel's Philosopy of Right
Democracy Out of Joint? The Financial Crisis in Light of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right Karin de Boer I. Introduction The financial crisis that currently besets Europe not only disturbs the life of many citizens, but also affects our economic, political and philosophical theories. Clearly, many of the contributing causes, such as the wide availability of cheap credit after the introduction of the euro, are contingent. Analyses that aim to move beyond such contingent factors tend to highlight the disruptive effects of the neoliberal conception of the market that has become increasingly dominant over the last few decades. Yet while the financial sector has received most of the blame, and rightly so, few commentators seem willing to take into account the role played by representative democracy in its current form.1 Even if it is granted that actual democratic policies fall short of what they ought to achieve, contemporary representative democracy itself is seldom regarded as part of the tangle it was supposed to resolve. David Merill touches upon this issue when he notes, in the preceding issue of this Bulletin, that ‘the economic dilemmas faced today may be ultimately the consequences of state failure’.2 The state that has failed to regulate the markets is described as ‘weak’ and ‘subject to external blows, blind to its ends, merely one actor among many in the events of the day’ (Merill 2012: 28). Yet Merill does not seem to consider this weakness to be an inherent feature of the constellation of which contemporary democracy is a part. There are, of course, excellent reasons not to take this path. -
IS Democracy Possible?
IS democracy poSSIble? Bruce Gilley Bruce Gilley is assistant professor of political science at Portland State University in Oregon and a member of the Journal of Democracy editorial board. His latest book is The Right to Rule: How States Win and Lose Legitimacy (2009). The global spread of democracy over the last generation or so has been accompanied by the global spread of criticisms of democracy. In a sense, this is unsurprising: Popular ideas tend to generate their own opposition. Democracy’s current popularity—almost universally valued, institution- alized in more than three-fifths of the world’s states, and demanded by large movements in many among the remaining two-fifths—makes it an ideal target for critique. As a result, in recent years, a slowly accelerating wave of skeptical and at times even hostile thought has arisen to chal- lenge democracy’s claim to be the best form of government. This wave is distinct from the inchoate illiberal ideologies that autocrats in China, Russia, Iran, or Cuba like to promote. Unlike those ideologies, it is a care- fully argued, social-scientific, and respectable critique of democracy that has been developed largely by Western scholars. Almost unbeknownst to the legions of democracy-builders or to the nearly four billion democratic citizens worldwide, the belief in democracy has begun to crumble inside some of the world’s finest minds and institutions. Some of this dissent is healthy. Assuming a feasible democratic ideal, criticism of democracy as practiced in the world’s 121 electoral democra- cies (the vast majority of which do not belong to the traditional “West”) directs attention to shortcomings and can spur corrective action. -
Crisis & Critique Democracy and Revolution Volume I
C R I S I S & C R CRISISI & T I Q U E # CRISIS & CRITIQUE1 CRITIQUE CRISIS & CRITIQUE DEMOCRACY AND REVOLUTION VOLUME I / ISSUE I, 2014 Dialectical Materialism Collective 1 The Impasses of Today’s Radical Politics C R I S I S & C R CRISISI & T I Q U E # CRISIS & CRITIQUE1 CRITIQUECRISIS & CRITIQUE Editorial Board: DEMOCRACY AND REVOLUTION Henrik Jøker Bjerre VOLUME I / ISSUE I, 2014 Aaron Schuster Adrian Johnston Joan Copjec Editor-in-Chief Robert Pfaller Agon Hamza Frank Ruda Gabriel Tupinambá Sead Zimeri Fabio Vighi 2 Slavoj Žižek Benjamin Noys Roland Boer Editorial note, 238 C H.J.Bjerre & A.Hamza Communism is Wrong, R by Jana Tsoneva I 8 S The Impasses of Today’s Radical 264 I Politics, by Slavoj Žižek The Jews and the Zionists; The Story ofS a Reversal, by Sina Badiei 46 & Socialist Democracy with Chinese 280 Characteristics, by Roland Boer Review articles: C R CRISIS &66 H.J.Bjerre: Prolegomena to Any FutureI The Indignant of the Earth, Materialism, by Adrian Johnston T by Frank Ruda I C.Crockett: From Myth to Symptom: theQ 90 case of Kosovo, by S. Žižek & A.HamzaU Democracy and revolution on the Inter- E net, by Katarina Peović Vuković D.Tutt: Enjoying What We Don’t Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis,# 116 by Todd McGowan 1 Alain Badiou and the aporia of democracy within generic communism, A.Ryder: Badiou and the Philosophers, by Panagiotis Sotiris ed.T.Tho & G.Bianco CRITIQUE136 308 Climate Crisis, Ideology, and Collective Notes on Contributers Action, by Ted Stolze 154 Lacan and Rational Choice, by Yuan Yao 166 Redemptive -
A Critical Discussion of Daniel A. Bell's Political Meritocracy
Journal of chinese humanities 4 (2�18) 6-28 brill.com/joch A Critical Discussion of Daniel A. Bell’s Political Meritocracy Huang Yushun 黃玉順 Professor of philosophy, Shandong University, China [email protected] Translated by Kathryn Henderson Abstract “Meritocracy” is among the political phenomena and political orientations found in modern Western democratic systems. Daniel A. Bell, however, imposes it on ancient Confucianism and contemporary China and refers to it in Chinese using loaded terms such as xianneng zhengzhi 賢能政治 and shangxian zhi 尚賢制. Bell’s “politi- cal meritocracy” not only consists of an anti-democratic political program but also is full of logical contradictions: at times, it is the antithesis of democracy, and, at other times, it is a supplement to democracy; sometimes it resolutely rejects democracy, and sometimes it desperately needs democratic mechanisms as the ultimate guar- antee of its legitimacy. Bell’s criticism of democracy consists of untenable platitudes, and his defense of “political meritocracy” comprises a series of specious arguments. Ultimately, the main issue with “political meritocracy” is its blatant negation of popu- lar sovereignty as well as the fact that it inherently represents a road leading directly to totalitarianism. Keywords Democracy – meritocracy – political meritocracy – totalitarianism It is rather surprising that, in recent years, Daniel A. Bell’s views on “political meritocracy” have been selling well in China. In addition, the Chinese edi- tion of his most recent and representative work, The China Model: Political © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/23521341-12340055Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 12:26:47PM via free access A Critical Discussion of Daniel A. -
The Pseudo-Democrat's Dilemma: Why Election Observation Became an International Norm
THE PSEUDO- DEMOCRAT’S DILEMMA THE PSEUDO- DEMOCRAT’S DILEMMA WHY ELECTION OBSERVATION BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL NORM Susan D. Hyde CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University, which helped in the publication of this book. The book was also published with the assistance of the Frederick W. Hilles Publication Fund of Yale University. Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2011 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hyde, Susan D. The pseudo-democrat’s dilemma : why election observation became an international norm / Susan D. Hyde. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-4966-6 (alk. paper) 1. Election monitoring. 2. Elections—Corrupt practices. 3. Democratization. 4. International relations. I. Title. JF1001.H93 2011 324.6'5—dc22 2010049865 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fi bers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. -
The Role and Treatment of Political Parties in Liberal Democracies with Reference to the United Kingdom, Turkey and the European Convention on Human Rights
THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS FACULTY OF LAW THE ROLE AND TREATMENT OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES WITH REFERENCE TO THE UNITED KINGDOM, TURKEY AND THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS A thesis submitted to the University of Leeds in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Philosophy of Doctor Submitted By: Huseyin DEMIR BA in Public Administration, LLM in Constitutional Law The Candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others August, 2000/LEEDS TO MY MOTHER AYSE DEMIR AND MY SONS MUSTAFA MELIH AND MUHAMMED SENIH i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would firstly like to express my sincere and deep gratitude and thanks to my supervisor Prof. Clive Walker for his invaluable guidance, motivation and encouragement throughout the course of my study. I am very much indebted for his generosity with time, interest and friendship. I would also like to thank to my friends Havva Kok for her valuable comments on my work, Ibrahim Al-Zabin, Abid H. Sarwar and Mustafa Meric for their close support, friendship and encouragement. I am also grateful to Mrs. Mag Mayhew for her support by correcting my mistakes regarding English. My special thanks go to the Higher Education Council of Turkey and the University of Kirikkale, which sponsored me to complete my study. I would like mention my twin Hasan Demir and my brother Ayhan Demir for their help and support whenever I needed it. Finally, and most of all, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous support given to me throughout my study by my wife Hatice. -
Greek Democracy
Greek Democracy Richard Kraut Northwestern University 1. Rule by the people: the trajectory of an idea Democracy in the modern world rests on concepts that can be traced back to ancient Greece and more specifically to ideas that prevailed in Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. The very words used in modern European languages to name this system of government are borrowed from the Greek dêmokratia, a compound designating people-power (dêmos, kratos). (Dêmos is ambiguous: a fundamental point we will return to in section 3.) It retains that meaning in contemporary political discourse: a democracy is a political system in which power is authorized by and answerable to the people. If we believe, as many people now do, that political power ought to be so authorized, because this is the best, perhaps the only legitimate, form of government, then we should recognize how close we are, on this score, to the citizens of ancient Athens and other early democracies. But although democracy is now widely (though not universally) accepted as the ideal to which nations should aspire, it was, both in the ancient Greek world and for much of European history, a bitterly contested institution, praised by some and despised by others. In the ancient world, critics of democracy developed a full and systematic account of its defects. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates depicts democracy as nearly the worst form of rule: though superior to tyranny, it is inferior to every other political arrangement. (As we will see, however, he speaks favorably of several democratic institutions in his later work, Laws.) Aristotle classifies democracy, along with oligarchy (rule of oligoi – the few) and tyranny, as a deformed constitutional arrangement. -
Consider a Definition Meant to Pick out the Main Characteristics of a Modern Political Regime of a Distinctive Sort
©Casiano Hacker-Cordón (1999-2001) 1 Electoral Legitimation, Polyarchy, and Democratic Legitimacy1 As a concept, democracy is notoriously prone to a multiplicity of interpretations. The definition of democracy is contested, perhaps not “essentially” so in any technical sense, but hotly contested nonetheless. (Gallie 1957; Connolly 1974; Hurley 1989: 46- 50). Take, for instance, the disputation over the meaning and practical implications of the concept during the recent historical era of global Cold War. The anticommunist intelligentsia concocted a dichotomy between ‘liberal democracy’ and ‘totalitarianism’ to distinguish the good regimes of the ‘Free World’ from the evil, freedom-infringing regimes of one-party socialist states. (e.g., Brzezinski & Friedrich 1965). The antiauthoritarian intelligentsia critical of both illiberal one-party rule and capitalist modes of domination, for its part, distinguished ‘bourgeois’ or ‘capitalist’ democracy from the ‘real’ or ‘socialist’ democracy that elections under universal adult suffrage makes possible. (e.g., MacPherson 1972, Cohen & Rogers 1983). Writing in the wake of the end of the Cold War, Honderich (1994) still distinguished between the ‘hierarchic’ democracy of the more economically developed capitalist national states and the ‘egalitarian’ democracy that constitutionally privileges socioeconomic sufficiency and equality. I share the view that what passes for ‘democracy’ in the contemporary world is far from delivering on the promise of egalitarian social relations which people throughout the world rightly associate with the idea. It would be both historically ironic and politically sad if the fall of the Soviet Union should result in the rhetorical disarmament of the antiauthoritarian intelligentsia vis-à-vis the defenders of a pluriversal world order of capitalist national states. -
The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1943 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle Edmund P. Burke Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons Recommended Citation Burke, Edmund P., "The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle" (1943). Master's Theses. 77. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/77 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1943 Edmund P. Burke THE THEORY OF GREEK DEMOCRACY BEFORE ARISTOTLE • BY EDMUND P. BURKE, S.J. A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL li'ULFIT.IMENT OF THE REQ,UIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LOYOLA UNIVERSITY JULY 1943, VITA Edmund P. Burke, S.J., was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 4, 1916. He moved to Oak Park, Illinois, and graduated from Ascension Grammar School in 1930. The following three years, from 1930 to 1933, he attended ~uigley Preparatory Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in that city in 1934. In September of that year he entered the Milford Novitiate of the Society of Jesus, attending the Arts College of Xavier Univer sity, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1934 to 1938. In 1938 he transferred to West Baden College of Loyola University, where he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1939. -
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Citizenship Democracy? You think you know? New Answers to Old (and New) Criticisms Source: Budge, I. (1996) The New Challenge of Direct Democracy, Polity Press, pp. 59–83. 3.1 Families of Arguments Although a lot of specific points can be made for and against direct democracy, these tend to be particular applications of general lines of argument, and thus to have a generic resemblance to each other within broad family types. Table 3.1 attempts to classify all the arguments used in this book, not just in this chapter, so we have encountered and discussed the first two (consent and feasibility) already. Similarly we do not discuss the last two sets of arguments – on the position of minorities, and the international context – but take them up later (chapter 6). Thus the main discursive families of arguments we deal with in chapter 3 are (3) the question of the coherence and fairness of policy-making under a popular majority; (4) the capacity of ordinary people to understand, let alone decide on, complex policies; (5) the consequent need for balance between popular consent and professional expertise; and (6) a new line of argument deriving from recent rational choice analyses, that voting in any collectivity has a high probability of leading to arbitrary and unfair outcomes, which legislatures may be better able to cope with than the mass population. These types of argument are presented in a form critical of direct democracy, because they have been developed essentially as objections to any political move in that direction. The counter-argument favouring direct democracy, or at least rebutting the criticism, is put in the second column of the table.