Transcript Chapter Two: Majoritarian or Pluralist Democracy?

Chapter Two:
Majoritarian or
Pluralist Democracy?
The Theory of Democratic Government
• Theories of a democratic government include
consideration of:
–
Autocracy: a system of government in which the power
to govern is concentrated in the hands of one individual
–
Oligarchy: a system of government in which power is
concentrated in the hands of a few people
–
Democracy: a system of government in which, in theory,
the people rule, either directly or indirectly
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The Meaning and
Symbolism of Democracy
• The first major school of thought about what
constitutes democracy believes that democracy
is a form of government that emphasizes the
procedures that enable the people to govern or
how decisions are made.
• The second major school of thought about what
constitutes democracy sees democracy in the
substance of government policies, in freedom of
religion and the provision for human needs, or
what government does.
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The Procedural View of Democracy
• Procedural democratic theory: a view of
democracy as being embodied in a decisionmaking process that involves universal
participation, political equality, majority rule,
and responsiveness.
• These principles address three questions:
– Who should participate in decision-making?
– How Much should each participant’s vote count?
– How many votes are needed to reach a decision?
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The Procedural View of Democracy
• Universal participation: the concept that
everyone in a democratic society should
participate in governmental decision-making
• Political equality: provides for one vote per
person, with all votes counted equally
• Majority rule: the decision of a group must
reflect the preference of more than half of those
participating
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A Complication: Direct
Versus Indirect Democracy
• Societies can fulfill principles with a direct or participatory
democracy: a system of government where rank-and-file
citizens rule themselves rather than electing representatives
to govern on their behalf
• The framers of the Constitution were convinced that
participatory democracy on the national level was undesirable
– They created a representative democracy: a system of
government where citizens elect public officials to govern on
their behalf
– A fourth principle is necessary -- responsiveness: a decisionmaking principle necessitated by representative government,
that implies that elected representatives should do what the
majority of people wants
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The Substantive
View of Democracy
• Substantive democratic theory: the view that
democracy is embodied in the substance of
government policies rather than in the
policymaking procedure
– Government policies should guarantee civil liberties
(freedom of behavior, such as freedom of religion and
freedom of expression)
– Government policies should guarantee civil rights (powers
or privileges that government may not arbitrarily deny to
individuals, such as protection against discrimination in
employment and housing)
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Procedural Democracy
Versus Substantive Democracy
– The substantive view of democracy does not provide
clear, precise criteria that allow a determination of
whether or not government is democratic
– The procedural view can produce undesirable social
policies because of those criteria, such as those that
prey on minorities
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Institutional Models of Democracy
• The majoritarian model of democracy: the
classical theory of democracy in which
government by the people is interpreted as
government by the majority of the people
• The pluralist model of democracy: an
interpretation of democracy in which government
by the people is taken to mean government by
people operating through competing interest
groups
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The Majoritarian
Model vs. the Pluralist Model
• Majoritarian model:
– Conclusive elections
– Centralized structure of government
– Cohesive political parties with well-defined programs
• Pluralist model:
– Does not demand much knowledge from citizens in
general but requires specialized knowledge of groups of
citizens
– Limits majority action - allows minorities to rule
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Institutional Models of Democracy
• An alternative - but undemocratic - model is elite
theory: the view that a small group of people
actually makes most of the important
government decisions.
• Elite Theory vs. Pluralist Theory
– Pluralist theory see many different groups vying with each
other in each policy arena
– Elite theory sees a durable ruling minority
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Democracies and Globalization
• Democratization: a process of transition as a
country attempts to move from an authoritarian
form of government to a democratic one
• American Democracy: More Pluralist than
Majoritarian
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