For PeterModels of Democracy Third Edition DAVID HELD polityCopyright © David Held 2006 “the tight of David Held to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This edition first published in 2006 by Polity Press Reprinted 2006, 2007, 2008 Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 LUR, UK Polity Press. 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02148, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of ctiticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 13: 978-07456-3146-2 ISBN 13: 978-07456-3147-9 (pb) ACIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ‘Typeset in 10 on 12 pt Stone Serif by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, ‘Tyne and Wear Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Comwall Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website; www.polity.co.uk ‘To see more about this book, goto www polity.co.uk/modelsofdemoctacyContents . List of Figures and Tables Preface to the Third Edition Introduction PART ONE CLASSIC MODELS 1 Classical Democracy: Athens Political ideals and aims Institutional features The exclusivity of ancient democracy ‘The critics Insum: modelT 2 Republicanism: Liberty, Self-Government and the Active Citizen ‘The eclipse and re-emergence of komo politicus ‘The reforging of republicanism Republicanism, elective government and popular sovereignty From civic life to civic glory The republic and the general will Insum: model la In sum: model Hb The public and the private 3 The Development of Liberal Democracy: For and Against the State Power and sovereignty Citizenship and the constitutional state Separation of powers ‘The problem of factions Accountability and markets Insum: model Ila Liberty and the development of democracy The dangers of despotic power and an overgrown state Representative government The subordination of women Competing conceptions of the ‘ends of government’ Insum: model 11Tb viii uw 1B 17 19 23 7 29 29 32 36 40 43 44 48 49 60 62 70 75 78 79 eee2e 92Contents 4 Direct Democracy and the End of Politics Class and class conflict History as evolution and the development of capitalism ‘Two theories of the state ‘The end of polities ‘Competing conceptions of Marxism, Jn sum: model IV PART TWO VARIANTS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 5 Competitive Elitism and the Technocratic Vision Classes, power and conflict Bureaucracy, parliaments and nation-states ‘Competitive elitist democracy Liberal democracy at the crossroads ‘The last vestige of democracy? Democracy, capitalism and socialism, ‘Classical’ v. modem democracy Atechnocratic vision Insum: model V 6 Pluralism, Corporate Capitalism and the State Group polities, governments and power Politics, consensus and the distribution of power Democracy, corporate capitalism and the state Accumulation, legitimation and the restricted sphere of the political In sum: model VI ‘The changing form of representative institutions 7 From Postwar Stability to Political Crisis: ‘The Polarization of Political Ideals A legitimate democratic order or a repressive regime? Overloaded state or legitimation crisis? Crisis theories: an assessment Law, liberty and democracy In sum: model Vit Participation, liberty and democracy In sum: model VI & Democracy after Soviet Communism ‘The historical backdrop ‘The triumph of economic and political liberalism? ‘The renewed necessity of Marxism and democracy from ‘below’? 96 96 98 103 108 116 120 125 126 129 134 138 141 144, 146 152 157 158 160 165, 169 172 173, 179 185 187 190 196 201 207 209 215 217 218 220 225Contents 9 Deliberative Democracy and the Defence of the Public Realm. Reason and participation * ‘The limits of democratic theory The aims of deliberative democracy ‘What is sound public reasoning? Impartialism and its critics Institutions of deliberative democracy Value pluralism and democracy Insum: model 1X PART THREE WHAT SHOULD DEMOCRACY MEAN TODAY? 10 Democratic Autonomy ‘The appeal of democracy ‘The principle of autonomy Enacting the principle ‘The heritage of classic and twentieth-century democratic theory Democracy: a double-sided process Democratic autonomy: compatibilities and incompatibilities In sum: model Xa 11. Democracy, the Nation-State and the Global System Democratic legitimacy and borders Regional and global flows: old and new Sovereignty, autonomy and disjunctures Rethiniing democracy for a more global age: the cosmopolitan model In sum: model Xb Autopian project? Acknowledgements Bibliography Index 231 232 234 237 238 246 252 253, 259 260 262 267 27 275 281 282 290 29) 292 294 304 308 309 312 313 328Figures and Tables Figures 1 Variants of democracy 1.1 Classical democracy: Athens 21 City-tepublies: innovations of government 2.2 Forms of republicanism 4.1 Marx’s theory of crisis, 5.1 The party system and the erosion of parliamentary influence 5.2 Fromapitalism to socialism: central elements of Schumpeter’s theory 61 Gorporatism and the erosion of parliament and party polities 7.1 Theoretical trajectories of democratic models 7.2 Overloaded government: crisis of the liberal democratic welfare regime 7.3 Legitimation crisis: crisis of the democratic capitalist state 7.4 Types of political acceptance Tables 3.1 Sumuary of advantages and disadvantages of government by bureaucracy according to Mill 4.1 Elements of a mode of production 42 Broad characteristics of socialism and communism 10.1 Central tenets of developmental republicanism, liberalism and Marxism 147 181 187 193 195 197 387 100 2 268Preface to the Third Edition - Although it is easy to overgeneralize from one time period and from the culture of one’s homeland, the development of the third edition of Models of Democracy is written in unsettling times, The events of 9/11 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan (2002) and Iraq (2003) have created a ripple of change across the globe. Democracy, which seemed relatively untroubled in the 1990s, is experiencing intense pressures, from within and without. Security challenges, the ‘war on terror’, the attempt to impose ‘regime change’ on Iraq and to transform other Middle Eastern countries have been accompanied by a widespread sense of unease about whether democracies can deliver security to their citizens, whether they can sustain prosperity in tumultuous times and whether they embed ideals that can be defended adequately against, on the one hand, widespread despondency and apathy within and, on the other hand, fierce opponents, who do not hesitate to use indiscriminate violence, from without. The rise of fundamentalist elements in Islam, alongside the development of Christian and Jewish fundamentalist groupings elsewhere, raise questions about the legitimacy of contemporary political institutions, the separation of church and state, and the very possibility of democracy in the face of challenges to its underlying conception of human beings as free arid equal, as active moral agents, with capacities for self-determination and political choice. There is a marked risk that in Western democracy a concern with security above all else will undo some of the important achievements of democracy and certain of the rights and liberties it presupposes. And there is a risk that cultures and religious forces that oppose the separation of politics and religion, state and civil society, will see ‘democracy’ as one of their enemies. Elsewhere, most recently in Global Covenant (2004), I have analysed some of these trends and reactions. In Models of Democracy my aim is to clarify why democracy is so important in human affairs, why it is so contested and why, despite its vulnerabilities, it remains the best of all possible governing arrangements, Democracy is not a panacea for all human problems, but it offers the most compelling principle of legitimacy - ‘the consent of the people’ ~-as the basis of political order. It is important to understand this principle and the many debates it has given rise to, if an attractive and defensible conception of democracy is to be promulgated in the century ahead. Given the difficulties of the present period it is easy to forget that, if there was ever an age of democracy, it is the present one. State socialism, which appeared so entrenched just a few decades ago, has crumbled in Central and Eastern Europe. In many of its essentials, democracy appears not only quite secure in the West but also widely adopted in principle beyond the West as a suitable