Upload
andyotaqui
View
2.104
Download
2
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Culture, Theory and SocietyLecture 8: Democracy and its opponents
Democracy
Central idea of Enlightenment thought
Particularly in the form of Liberal Democracy
The history of democracy
• Possibly began in ancient Iraq or India
• Definite beginnings in ancient Greece:
• Athens
www.sikyon.com/athens/Monuments/athens_view1.jpg
Athenian democracy 1
All citizens were freeAll citizens could vote in the
assembly(Direct democracy)Treasurers and generals
chosen by electionOther officials, like juries,
chosen by lot (sortition)
Athenian democracy 2
Begun by Solon in 594 BCE
Strengthened by Pericles (495-429 BCE)
Finally ended by the Romans in 146 BCE
http://images.google.co.uk/
www.poetryfoundation.org
Obvious problems with Athenian democracy
It did not include women or slaves
The Athenians ruled over other city states “the Delian league”, which were not free
Democratic elements were also present in:
• Ancient Rome• The ancient Christian church• Ancient Germany• Medieval city states (Florence
and Venice)• Medieval Poland• The althing of Iceland: the
world’s oldest parliament (930 CE)
Important dates for liberal democracy
• The Bill of Rights (1689) England
• The Bill of Rights (1791) the U.S.A.
• France (1792) universal male suffrage
• New Zealand (1893) first major nation to enfranchise women
Two types of democracy:
Liberal
Illiberal• Singapore• Zimbabwe
Liberal autocracies are also possible
• Hong Kong
Liberal democracies in 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Freedom_House_electoral_democracies_2008.gif
Liberal democracies must have …• Elections – free and fair• Secret ballots• Universal suffrage• Political pluralism• The rule of law• An independent judiciary• Civilian control of the military• Freedom of expression• Freedom of assembly• Freedom of religion
JUSTIFICATIONS OF DEMOCRACY - 1 (intrinsic)
• Every individual gets a say in how the country is run:
each person in a political community should be entitled to have his/her interests given equal consideration
JUSTIFICATIONS OF DEMOCRACY – 2 (instrumental)
• Liberal democracies never (or rarely) fight wars with one another
• Poor liberal democracies (compared to poor dictatorships) have:
Better education Better access to drinking water Better health care Better life expectancy Lower infant mortality
JUSTIFICATIONS OF DEMOCRACY – 3 (instrumental)• No functioning democracy has
suffered a large-scale famine (Sen)
• Compared to non-democracies, democracies have
less genocide fewer refugee crises higher levels of happiness lower levels of corruption
Karl Popper 1902-1994
• The Open Society and its Enemies (1945):
• Democracy is the only system that allows for a peaceable change of government
http://www.nndb.com
The liberal critique of democracy
• Racists and other unpleasant people can win power
• Constitutional protections are easily overthrown
• Voters can be irrational• Democracy has failed to overcome
widespread inequality• It is not clear what the definition of a
“people” is: when is it acceptable for states to secede?
Which is better …?
A massively unequal democracy or a dictatorship where everyone is equal?
An anti-racist dictatorship or a racist democracy?
Alternatives to democracy• Absolute monarchy
• Theocracy
• Dictatorship
• One-party state
• Military junta
Authoritarianism
• Centralised power structures• Political power is used to
mobilise the people around the aims of the government
• Rule of men, not the rule of law• Elections are rigged• Leadership cannot be displaced• No guaranteed civil liberties• No/restricted freedoms of
speech, assembly or religion
Totalitarianism
Characteristic of Fascist and Communist states
Controls all aspects of life – public and private
Usually under a charismatic leader Lenin Hitler Pol PotLast totalitarian state – North
Korea
http://images.google.co.uk
www.doukhobor.org
www.holocaust-history.org
www.psywarrior.com
Hannah Arendt 1906-1979The Origins of Totalitarianism
(1951)Totalitarianism relies on ideology:• History is racial struggle (Nazism)• History class struggle (Marxism)This provides a comforting answer
to all problems, past and presentHoweverTotalitarianism relies on terrorUnlike authoritarianism, it seeks to
control every aspect of everyone’s life
http://images.google.co.uk/
Authoritarianism in general
For
More stable
Cheaper
Less crime
Against
People have limited freedomGovernments are harder to
removeAuthoritarian states have
more• Genocide• Famine • Refugees • Corruption• Illiteracy• etc etc
“Democracy is preferable to any other kind of government”This statement is supported
by majorities all over the world
“www.worldpublicopinion.org”
In general,
Authoritarian states lack a legitimising theory
So …They pretend to be
democratic
Four theorists of authoritarian societies
Plato 427-347 (?) BCEThe RepublicIn a democracy, people will choose a
demagogueThe demagogue will become a tyrant-------------------------------------------------Humans are corrupted by powerOnly philosophers can resist corruptionTherefore, the philosophers should rule
http://images.google.co.uk
Plato also proposed …
The rulers are not allowed to have property
The destruction of family units
The censorship of most music and poetry
Control of what all classes are allowed to read
Problem’s with Plato’s Republic
• Democracies exist where the people do not choose demagogues
• Totalitarian• Unnatural• Unfeasible
Marxism
Liberal Democracy is a tool used by the state
It controls the massesIt gives them the illusion of
choicePower is still controlled by
private capital
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Karl_Marx.jpg
Problems with Marxism
Post-revolutionary societies provide no democracy at all
If human rights are a bourgeois illusion, then terror becomes a legitimate tool
“the ends justify the means”“the dictatorship of the
proletariat” is deliberately left vague
The Islamist critique of democracy
Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966)Milestones (1964)Sovereignty belongs to AllahDemocracy is the sovereignty of
manTherefore the authority that
belongs to Allah should be returned to him
The West (democracies) are “evil and corrupt”
http://fursans.wordpress.com/sayyid-qutb/
Problems with the Islamist critique of democracy
Not all Muslims would accept this interpretation of the Quran
It is of limited applicability to non-Muslims
The solutions given assert the law of Allah but do not address the elimination of corruption and so on
“Asian Values”
• Associated with such figures as Mahathir Mohamed (b 1925)
• Combines elements of Islam and Confucianism
www.intellectualconservative.com
Asian Values
Strong leadership
Respect for harmony and collective well-being
Loyalty towards authority (parents, government)
Guided democracy
Not
Political pluralism
Individualism and human rights
Respect for freedom
Liberal democracy
Critics of “Asian Values”
Amartya SenKim Dae JungLong Ying Tai (b 1952):“Asian Values” are just
another way of suppressing freedom of speech
thechinadesk.wordpress.com
Noam Chomsky (b 1928)
Enlightenment thinker
Power is always illegitimateWage slavery is slaveryModern democracies (e.g. the
U.S.A.) preach democracy, but suppress it
The Western mass media is all propaganda
www.nndb.com
Noam Chomsky
He is a libertarian socialist with anarchist leanings
However he thinks:“the United Stares is the
freest country in the world”
Conclusion 1 – Liberal Democracy
It has its problemsIt generally provides a better
society over a wide range of measures
It is the system that most people in the world would prefer
Conclusion 2 – critiques of liberal democracy
Totalitarian (Plato/Marx))Too ready to use terror/violence
(Marx)Utopian (Plato/Marx/Chomsky)Refer to values that many people
do not share (Qutb/Asian Values)
Do not really address the problem of corruption (all of them!)
Conclusion 3
Winston Churchill
“Democracy is the worst system
… except for all the others”
www.battlefield-site.co.uk