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Culture, Theory and SocietyLecture 8: Democracy and its opponents
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Democracy
Central idea of Enlightenment thought
Particularly in the form of Liberal Democracy
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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Two types of democracy:
Liberal
Illiberal• Singapore• Zimbabwe
Liberal autocracies are also possible
• Hong Kong
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Liberal democracies in 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Freedom_House_electoral_democracies_2008.gif
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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Which is better …?
A massively unequal democracy or a dictatorship where everyone is equal?
An anti-racist dictatorship or a racist democracy?
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Alternatives to democracy• Absolute monarchy
• Theocracy
• Dictatorship
• One-party state
• Military junta
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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
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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
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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
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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
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“Democracy is preferable to any other kind of government”This statement is supported
by majorities all over the world
“www.worldpublicopinion.org”
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In general,
Authoritarian states lack a legitimising theory
So …They pretend to be
democratic
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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
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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
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Problem’s with Plato’s Republic
• Democracies exist where the people do not choose demagogues
• Totalitarian• Unnatural• Unfeasible
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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
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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
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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/
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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
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“Asian Values”
• Associated with such figures as Mahathir Mohamed (b 1925)
• Combines elements of Islam and Confucianism
www.intellectualconservative.com
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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
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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
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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
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Noam Chomsky
He is a libertarian socialist with anarchist leanings
However he thinks:“the United Stares is the
freest country in the world”
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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
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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!)
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Conclusion 3
Winston Churchill
“Democracy is the worst system
… except for all the others”
www.battlefield-site.co.uk