Chapter 2

1. Chapter 2 • Democratic Ideal, part II

2. Outline • Republican tradition from Polybius  American founding • Rise, decline, revival of democratic ideal from ancient Greece to present • Meanings of democracy throughout history • Democracy in 20th century – liberal, social, people’s democracy • Democracy = essentially contested concept • Meaning of democracy ideological • Ideologies have own meaning for democracy • Democracy = an ideal

3. Democracy’s Long Sleep • Demise of Roman Republic • Triumph of Caesars, Rome despotical, militarily expansionist empire • Rise of Christianity • Worldly matters less important than salvation • Obey those in power and seek no power yourself • Middle Ages and feudalism (highly stratified society) • 1500 years later, republican ideal revived in Northern Italian city-states during Renaissance • 1900 years later, democratic ideal revived

4. Rebirth of Democracy, Republicanism • Italian Renaissance (14-16th centuries) • Rebirth of classical learning and political ideas and ideals • Aristotle, Polybius, Rome, Sparta • Revival of civic life, public-spirited citizens take part in governing • Liberty, virtue, and corruption • Key defender of republican government, Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

5. Machiavelli (1469-1527) • The Prince, best known work • Discourses (1531) defends republican ideals of mixed government, virtuous citizenry, and rule of law • Popular rule by virtuous and vigilant citizenry bent on protecting liberty • Greatest danger to republican or self-government comes from corruption, turn away from common good and toward private or individual interest • Liberty/self-government not for lazy, selfish or corrupt • Only citizens steeped in self-discipline, love of country, civic virtue, and respect for law • Only under “government of laws, not men,” could citizens remain free • Mixed constitutional republic over direct democracy • Inspired Atlantic republican tradition

6. Atlantic Republican Tradition • 17th century England • James Harrington (1611-1677) • Popular self-government could be stable and just • Called on Cromwell to create mixed or “balanced” system of government • Land redistribution to promote liberty • Popular elections to promote republican virtue and protect against power of incumbency

7. Atlantic Democratic Tradition • English Civil War of 1640s • Levellers (e.g., John Lilburne) and Diggers (e.g., Gerrard Winstanley) • Called for democracy • Political authority by popular consent • Extension of franchise to all adult males • Rule by and for benefit of common people • English colony in America, dissident puritans (e.g., Roger Williams) preached because all people were equal in God’s eyes, equally entitled to govern themselves in “democratical” way

8. Late 18th-19th Centuries • Before democracy dissident and to some dangerous form of government • Usually equated with mob rule • In late 18th and early 19th democracy finally becomes respectable • In United States, democratic ideal altered by republican tradition, with emphasis on balanced government, rule of law, and protection of civil rights

9. U.S. Democratic Republic • From beginning, favored form of government was republican • Separation of powers/checks and balances • Modification of mixed or balanced government • Executive = the one; legislative = many; judicial = few • Bill of Rights • Popular element checked and controlled by Senate, courts, and president • “Jacksonian democracy” removed property qualifications for voting, expanded political equality/democracy

10. Tocqueville (1805-1859) • Democracy in America, de Tocqueville argues democracy frees common people, but emphasis on equality threatens to produce mediocrity, despotism, or both • Emphasis on equality produced pressures to conform, “tyranny of the majority” • Common people easily swayed by demagogues who flatter and mislead them to gain power • Positive possibility for democracy (republicanism combined with democratic ideal) • Civic virtue, ability to see and serve common interest, promoted through participation in public affairs

11. Growth of Democracy • Growth in popularity in 19th and 20th centuries • Urbanization, education, communication and transportation contributed to belief common people could participate knowledgeably in public affairs • Democracy defended on two grounds – self protection and self-development • Utilitarians called for representative democracy • Mill felt democracy would strengthen public virtue and promote individual development

12. Democracy As An Ideal • Most ideologies pursue, promote democracy, but in different ways • Democracy not specific kind of government, an ideal = something toward which people aim or aspire • Democracy is government or rule by the people, but… • Who are the people? • How are the people to rule? • Democracy is attractive because it implies citizens are free and equal, but what this means is unclear • All ideologies must come to terms with democratic ideal • conception of human nature and freedom determines whether it is possible, desirable, and what form it should take

13. 20th century conceptions • Liberal Democracy • Social Democracy • People’s Democracy

14. Liberal Democracy • Emerged from Liberalism • Characterizes many Western democracies • Rule by people • Stresses protection of individual rights and liberties • Majority rule must be limited • Majority rule as long as the majority does not deprive individuals or minorities of basic civil rights • Tend toward restricted version of appropriate role for state in achieving equality of opportunity

15. Social Democracy • Democratic socialist • Main challenger to Liberal Democracy • Like liberalism, emphasis on protection of civil liberties and fair competition for office • Believe people cannot be free and political competition fair with great inequalities of wealth and power • Key to democracy is equality • Equal power in society and government • Equal power/influence in politics/government requires more equal distribution of economic power/resources • Program: redistribution of wealth to promote equality, public financing of campaigns and elections, public control over natural resources and major industries, worker’s control in workplace

16. People’s Democracy • Prevailing view in communist societies • Rule by common people (proletariat/ working class) closer to original Greek democracy • rule by and for benefit of numerically largest social class • modern industrial society working class, what Marx called the proletariat • Differences within communist ideologies as to how rule actualized • In most (China, Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea), rule by Communist Party • Mao’s “people’s democratic dictatorship” • Rule in interest of working class, claim to be democracies, even more democratic than liberal or social democracies

17. Essentially Contested • Universally popular, meaning deeply disputed • Different people define democracy in quite different ways • Splits/divisions even within ideologies – among liberals, conservatives, Marxists, etc. • For some, connected with particular social class • For some, democracy means not only majority rule, but the protection of minority rights • For others, it means nothing of the sort

18. Democracy as an Ideal • Aim or aspiration • Ideologies define democracy in different and sometimes radically divergent ways • Ideal most ideologies espouse

19. Discussion Questions • Why were Plato and Aristotle convinced democracy was a bad form of government? Do you find their arguments persuasive? Explain. • What have Machiavelli and other political theorists meant by the term republic? How, if at all, is a republic different from a democracy? • Is the United States best described as a democracy, a republic, or a democratic republic? Explain and defend your position. • What were the 3 principal conceptions of democracy in the twentieth century? How do they differ from one another, and which, in your view, is the best way to think about democracy? • Ball and Dagger maintain democracy is not an ideology, but an ideal. Why do they say this? Are they right or wrong? Does it make sense to say democracy is an ideology? Why or why not?