An Overview of Democracy

1. An Overview of Democracy

2. Concept of Government BIG QUESTION FOR GOVERNMENTS: How much order should the government provide and how much freedom should the people have? Autocracy Oligarchy Democracy No Freedom Lots of Freedom

3. What is Democracy? • Greek word • “Demos” meaning common people • “Kratos” meaning “power” • What constitutes a democracy? • First idea: democracy is a form of government (procedural democracy) • Second idea: democracy is about the substance of policies (substantive democracy)

4. Procedural v. Substantive Democracy Procedural View Substantive View • Concerned with three values: • Universal participation: who should participate in decision-making? • Political equality: how much should one’s vote count? • Majority rule: how many votes are needed for a decision? • Concerned with concepts of civil liberties, civil rights, social rights, and economic rights • A country is judged on what rights it affords its citizens • Can conflict with minority rights though if majoritarian rule (need

5. Institutional Models of Democracy • Majoritarian: government by the majority of the people • Emphasizes elections as the primary part of democracy • Assumes public is knowledgeable enough to participate • Pluralist: government by people operating in competing groups • Emphasizes political parties, interest groups, etc. as primary part of democracy • Assumes public is able to deliberate and compromise • Elitist: government by a small group of people • Emphasizes that elections are irrelevant in democracy • Assumes a small group controls decision-making and that decisions benefit them primarily