Lecture 11 : Democracy

1. Brexit, nail household, LGBTQ rights movement, BLM -> Applications of democracy
2. Plato: Philosopher king -> leaders that are wise and lead the society. Citizen in a city
state participates in politics.
3. The Death of Socrates: “tyranny of the majority”, a society might make unwise
decisions just because most people agreed.
4. Roman Republic: People’s Assemblies, consuls, etc. By both election and
appointment, more resilient than Greek regimes. As Roman Republic grew, the
regime couldn’t rule an empire and finally democracy failed (Caesar Augustus:
Roman Democratic city state -> empire).
5. Execution of King Charles I -> Nobles’ power expanded.
6. Louis XIV of France -> The French revolution centralized power, and reduced nobles’
power.
7. Tocqueville: Worries that the French republic overcentralized power.
8. John Stuart Mill: (On Liberty) State intervention only happens to reduce harm.
9. Hitler and Hindenburg: Hitler was elected by the German people, which means
democracy could fail itself through selecting a dictator.
10. The majority could be not trustworthy sometimes. Also, democracy sows discord in
the country in many aspects (economics, healthcare, education, etc.), and radicalizes
the division between groups. Each faction denies the others’ achievements and
policy continuity can’t be guaranteed.
11. St. Bartholomew’s Day -> religious massacre
12. King John, Magna Carta -> legal restriction of power.
13. YongZheng Empror, US Court, the Press -> Designed ways/ are ways to distribute
power and restrict one political force to be too strong.
14. Problems of democracy -> greeymandering(unfair representation through
designation of election districts), Fake news, AI generated fake photos.
15. Application of democracy -> Arrange slot places inside a Tsukiji market (fish market),
some are good, some are bad, everyone wants a good slot position. Methods:
random lottery; elect representatives to communicate; let people fight, etc.
Core: Mediation and negotiation.