Theories of Democracy

Dr. Avinash Samal

Assistant Professor
Hidayatullah National Law University
Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Democracy
 One of the most cherished ideals in
the civilized modern world
 One of the most controversial
concepts which has been a victim of
variety of interpretations
 Most popular form of government
 Second World War – Fight between
democratic and dictatorial forces and
the superiority of democratic forces
over dictatorial forces
Defining Democracy
 “That shall be democratic which shall be of the
people, by the people and for the people.” –
Ancient Greek Philosopher Cleon in 422 BC
 Democracy is that form of government which is
“of the people, by the people and for the people”.
 A political system is characterised by
 adult franchise
 periodic elections
 at least two political parties
 independent judiciary
 representative and responsible government
 strong public opinion
 free press, and
 a constitution which incorporates some fundamental
rights
Broader Meaning of Democracy

 An ideal – An end in itself rather

than a means to an end
 Democracy is unstable as a political
system as long as it remains a
political system and nothing more
 It should not only be a form of
government, but a type of society
and a manner of life which is in
harmony with that type.
Positive Aspects of Democracy
 Democratic in its thinking and behaviour
 Belief in liberty, equality and fraternity
 Belief in debates, discussion, persuasion and
mutual exchange of views, rather than
coercion and display of force
 Democracy – A way of life
 Democratic society
 Where each man can develop his personality
 Equality of opportunity
 Conditions for self-fulfillment
 Democratic Economic System
 Absence of any form of exploitation
Narrow Meaning of Democracy
 Defined in terms of government and state
 In ancient period Greek Philosophers
understood it as a political system
 In the modern period, i.e. in 17th and 18th
century, democracy was concerned with
ideals
 After the second world war, political
aspects of democracy was emphasized
dissociating it from the ideals and values
Definitions of Democracy
 “Democracy is a form of government in which everyone has
a share” – Seeley
 “A democratic system is one that makes government
responsive and accountable and its effectiveness depends
first and foremost on the efficiency and skill of its
leadership” – Sartori
 “A democratic political system is one in which public policies
are made, on a majority basis, by representatives subject
to effective popular control at periodic elections which are
conducted on the principle of political equality and under
conditions of political freedom” – Mayo
 Democracy may be defined as a political system which
supplies regular constitutional opportunities for changing
the governing officials, and a social mechanism which
permits the largest possible part of the population to
influence major decisions by choosing among contenders
for political office.” – Lipset
Features of Democratic
Political Systems
 Supremacy of the will of the people
 Representative Government duly elected by the people
 Periodic and free elections
 Adult franchise
 Responsible government
 Limited and Constitutional Government
 Aim of the government is service and social welfare
 Popular participation in the decision-making process
 Independent judiciary
 Political parties
 Pressure groups
 Existence of rights, liberty and equality of opportunity
 Freedom of opinion
 Free press
Theories of Democracy

 Liberal theory of democracy

 Classical liberal theory of democracy
 Elite theory of democracy
 Pluralistic Theory of democracy
 Marxist theory of democracy
Classical Liberal Theory
 It supported democratic ideals and values
 Faith in the worth of individual and his natural rights
 Emerged in the 17th century and continued till 20th century
when it was challenged by many supporting elitist and
pluralistic theories of democracy
 John Locke – constitutional government
 Individual had the right to resist the state and revolt
against it if the latter failed to discharge its basic duty of
safeguarding the life, liberty and property of1he former.
 He emphasized that the government, based on the
consent of the individual, was limited in its authority.
 Montesquieu - Separation of powers
 He provided sufficient safeguards against the growth of
dictatorship.
Classical Liberal Theory
 Bentham – Greatest good of the greatest number
 Emphasised the importance of people's participation
in the political process.
 Advocated universal adult franchise
 Government should encourage increased political
participation on the part of individuals
 J S Mill – equality and political participation
 Emphasized the need for enhancing the quality of
democracy by increasing the quality of political
participation
 Believed that political participation would help the
individual in fashioning his all-round development.
 Propounder of the "developmental theory of
democracy".
Salient Features
 Man at the centre of democracy.
 Democracy aims at defending and
promoting the interest of man
 Government is constitutional, limited and
responsible
 Democracy is the art of reaching
compromise and consensus
 Respect for fundamental rights – freedom
of expression
 Not only a form of government; but a way
of life
Elite Theory of Democracy
 Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923)
 Gaetano Mosca (1858-1941)
 Robert Michels (1876-1936)
 C Wright Mills (1916-1962)
Meaning of Elite
 It’s a microscopic minority of people who rule the society
by virtue of their "superior" qualities.
 While some argue that the elites are superior to others in
terms of quality, others attribute the so-called superiority
of elites to their family and social backgrounds and the
hierarchical organization of the society.
 The exponents of the elite theory do not believe in the
concept of political equality
 They argue that the governors and governed can never be
equal
 Aristotle – governors and the governed are determined by
birth itself
 Supporters of elite theory do not accept inequality by birth.
Instead they argue that the elites rule over the rest by their
higher ability, knowledge, character, efficiency, skill or
wealth
Emergence of Elite Theory
 Marx – Class divided society – the economically
dominant class is always the ruling class
 Originally conceived in opposition to the idea of
social classes, elite theory was put forward by
liberal sociologists in opposition to the Marxian
view
 “Circulation of elites” – It is not a static concept
 Rejecting the Marxian idea of classes and classless
society, they argued that in every society there will
always be elites who will enjoy political power
 Two main undemocratic assumptions
 Basic inequality amongst the people on the basis of
differences in terms of abilities
 The political power is shared by a minority (elite) rather
than the majority (people)
Pareto (1848-1923)
 “A small number of individuals, who in each
sphere of activity, have succeeded and arrived
at a higher echelon in the professional
hierarchy."
 There are several elites in each sphere of
activity - military elites, political elites, business
elites and academic elites.
 In the narrow sense, Pareto means only the
"governing elite which is that small number of
individuals who have succeeded and who
exercise ruling functions politically and socially."
 Pareto believes that elites possess superior
psychological attributes than others in the
society.
Pareto’s Circulation of Elites
 Governing Elites
 Circulation of Elites
 Lion and Fox like qualities
 Elites tend decay
 Due to indulgence in power and luxury
when one group of ruling elites neglect
its primary duty or fails to cope up with
the changing times and situations, it is
likely to get replaced by another group of
elites
Mosca (1858-1941)
 In all societies, it is the organised minority which rules
over the unorganised majority.
 "In all societies two classes of people appear – a class
that rules and a class that is ruled.”
 The Political Class
 The first class, always the less numerous, performs all
political functions, monopolizes power and enjoys the
advantages that power brings
 The second, the more numerous class, is directed and
controlled by the first… The domination of an organized
minority over the unorganized majority is inevitable".
 Elites are distinguished from the masses by qualities
which give them material, intellectual or even moral
superiority.
 While Pareto argues that the qualities of elites are the
same in all societies, Mosca claims that these qualities
would differ from society to society.
Cont…
 Does not have faith in the capacity of
masses for self-government. He asserts
that elite rule in any society is inevitable.
 Democracy – not a government by the
people
 Opposed to the extension of franchise to
all sections of people
 It must be confined to the middle class
only
Robert Michels (1876-1936)
 “Iron Law of Oligarchy”
 Political Parties (1911)
 Organization as key to power
 All forms of organization, regardless of how
democratic or autocratic they may be at the
start, will eventually and inevitably develop
into oligarchies for a variety of reasons:
 the technical indispensability of leadership
 the tendency of the leaders to organize themselves
and to consolidate their interests
 the gratitude of the led towards the leaders, and
 the general immobility and passivity of the masses.
Cont…
 An oligarchy is a form of government in which power
effectively rests with a small segment of society distinguished
by royal, wealth, intellectual, family, military, or religious
hegemony.
 Democracy is incoceivable without organization. For effectively
expressing their views and promoting their interests,
individuals need to join together and form organizations
 For coodination and in dealing with issues of complex nature,
organizations need persons of specialized knowledge
 Any large organization is faced with problems of coordination
that can be solved only by creating a buraucracy.
 A bureaucracy, by design, is hierarchically organized to achieve
efficiancy - many decisions have to be made daily that cannot
efficiently be made by large numbers of people.
 The effective functioning of an organization therefore requires
the concentration of much power in the hands of a few. Those
few, in turn - the oligarchy - will use all means necessary to
preserve and further increase their power.
C Wright Mills (1916-62)
 The Power Elite (1956) - USA is ruled by monolithic elite
structure called power elites
 A power elite is a small group of people who control a
disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, and access
to decision-making of global consequence.
 It describes the relationship between individuals at the
pinnacles of political, military, and economic institutions,
noting that these people share a common world view.
 It consists of members of the corporate community,
academia, politicians, media editors, military service
personnel, and high-profile journalists.
 The interests of these elites are complimentary to one
another and they have similar values, beliefs,
orientations due to similar socio-economic backgrounds,
and exposure to similar learning processes.
 They occupy all commanding positions in the society
Elements
 All need not be active in a democracy
 Should be drawn from all sections of
people
 Should not neglect common people to
whom they are accountable
 The elite structure should be open and
anyone from below can enter it
Criticism
 Anti-democratic in nature
 Are primariliy concerned with the
mainteanance and stability of the
system
Pluralistic Theory of
Democracy
 Oppose both Marxists and Elitist view of
power being rested with the minority
 They contend that powers are concentrated;
rather it is dispersed and diffused
 It is shared among all sections of people
primarily through organizations formed to
articulate their interests
 These groups and associations make make
regular and intense efforts to influence
government policies and decisions
 Some are overtly political and many others
are potentially so
 Example - Political parties and pressure
groups
Cont…
 Political parties – interest aggregation –
promote broader interests
 Pressure/interest groups – interest
articulation – try to defend and
promote sectional interests
 These associations (different service
and occupational associations) are
mostly affiliated to diiferent political
parrties
Cont…
 Class of interest – They act against one
another
 This does not allow any single group to
be dominat for a long time
 The group which manages to gain
dominanance at a particualr point of
time or on a particular issue faces
strong challenge from others for
continuing to stay at that position
Cont…
 Despite their internal competition and
tensions, these groups try to contain the
tendency of the government to grow very
powerful
 Though govermennt wields a lot of powers, it
is hardly allowed to grow dictatorial
completely eclipsing other groups and
associations
 It does not lie exclusively with state or any of
the associations; it is shared among them
 From the pluralist perspective, politics is seen
as aprocess of competition and bargaining
among these organizations and groups
 And governance is a process of mediation and
compromise among them
Cont…
 Robert Dahl – Power is dispersed
among various interest groups and
plurality of elites do not form a unified
group of common interests
 Politics is a business of baraginaing and
compromise with no one group
dominating the process of taking
decisions
Elements of Pluralism
 Powers are dispersed and fragmented
 Not much possiblity of growth of dictatorship
due to separation of powers
 Soverignty is not the exclusive possesion of
either the state or any other groups or
associations.
 Political organizations and other groups
establish contact between people and the
state
 They bridge the gap between the government and
the people
 They contribute to improving the quality of
governmental ddecisions by supplying their skills
and interests
Marxists Theory of Democracy

 Western liberal democracy – legislature,

executive, judiciary, decentralization of power
and separation of powers
 Marxist do not oppose democracy.
 However, they do not accept institutional
view of democracy
 They believe in majority rule
 Government in communist states serves the
interests of the majority whereas buregeoise
governments promote the interests of a few
Marxists Theory of Democracy

 Do not regard democracy a political

system
 A system of values and a form of
society – a process - a way of life
 As a political system, democracy is
seen as a class oragnism. It is meant to
serve the interests of a particular class