What Democracy Is. . . and Is Not

"Modern political democracy is a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives."

definitions

• regime: collection of patterns, rules that determine access to public office (power)
• public realm: societal norms backed by the state. tendency towards minimizing this in liberal democracy, or expanding in socialist democracy. neither are more or less democratic, though extremes of each can hamper democracy

elements of democracy

• citizens: unique to democracies
• competition
• electoralism: fallacy that any system with elections is democratic, when in fact elections may have limited candidates or consequences
• classic democracies: direct participation => discussion => consensus => decision, but in reality factions form as a necessary tradeoff (cemented by Federalist Papers era politics)
• modern def of democracy: there must be several competing channels of expression of interests, influence on power: elections, social movements, interest groups
• another nuance: majority rule is seen as democratic but stable democracies usually limit majority rule, ex. by bill of rights or other constitutional measures that are out of reach of the majority, local autonomy
• conflict of numbers vs. intensity of minority => social movements reflect/amplify intensity of minority interests even if numbers don't necessarily work out
• cooperation
• citizens work together in parties, political groups
• through "civic society" citizens form middle layer of "governance" between individual and state, capable of resolving conflicts without needing direct state guidance or intervention
• goes against economic competition analogy for democracy, where politicians simply vie to be re-elected (references Tocqueville's Democracy in America)
• "Alexis de Tocqueville best described the importance of independent groups for democracy in his Democracy in America, a work which remains a major source of inspiration for all those who persist in viewing democracy as something more than a struggle for election and re-election among competing candidates."
• representatives
• professional politicians/political elite will always exist -- question is how they are elected and held accountable
• some representatives are elected but majority in various agencies represent functional interests (? idk what this means tbh)

Robert Dahl's minimal requirements for democracy

• 1-4: elected officials, elected by majority of adults, make policy decisions
• 5-6: citizens can express themselves and state does not control all information
• 7: citizens can organize
• Schimtter & Karls extra points
• 8: elected officials have real power, i.e. aren't overshadowed by non-civilian-controlled military
• 9: state has real power, i.e. isn't controlled by larger coalition or other states, even if those other states are democratic

principles of democracy

• contingent consent: those in power protect democracy, i.e. the means to potentially lose their power
• bounded uncertainty: constitution, bill of rights, other commonly held norms bound uncertainty that comes from change in power

limits of democracy

• not necessarily more efficient, stable, or economically advantageous than autocracies