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Single Idea 20504

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / d. Representative democracy ]

Full Idea

Since all cannot, in a community exceeding a single small town, participate personally in any but some very minor portions of the public business, it follows that the ideal type of a perfect government must be representative.

Gist of Idea

People can only participate in decisions in small communities, so representatives are needed

Source

John Stuart Mill (Representative Government [1861], p.217-8), quoted by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 4 'Representative'

Book Ref

Wolff,Jonathan: 'An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev)' [OUP 2006], p.93

A Reaction

Wolff offers Mill as the principal spokesman for representative democracy. It is not only the difficulty of achieving participation, but also the slowness of decision-making. Modern technology may be changing all of this.

The 20 ideas with the same theme [the people chose a small group to govern]:

22533 If the people are equal in nature, then they should all share in ruling [Aristotle]
2817 It is wrong that a worthy officer of state should seek the office [Aristotle]
22576 No office is permanent in a democracy [Aristotle]
7254 If you try to get elected, you should be permanently barred from seeking office [More,T]
19998 If deputies represent people, they are accountable, but less so if they represent places [Montesquieu]
7251 The English are actually slaves in between elections [Rousseau]
20558 Your representative owes you his judgement, and betrays you if he gives your opinion instead [Burke]
22041 Representatives by region ignores whether they care about the national interest [Hegel, by Pinkard]
20504 People can only participate in decisions in small communities, so representatives are needed [Mill]
16009 When we seek our own 'freedom' we are just trying to avoid responsibility [Kierkegaard]
22682 Universal suffrage is no guarantee of wise choices [Tocqueville]
7976 People like democracy because it means they can avoid power [Baudrillard]
22264 Modern liberal rights in democracies protect individuals against the majority [Sandel]
23260 A cap on time of service would restrict party control and career ambitions [Grayling]
7477 Modern democracy is actually elective oligarchy [Watson]
20093 In the 18th century democratic lots lost out to elections, that gave us a non-hereditary aristocracy [Reybrouck]
20091 Representative elections were developed in order to avoid democracy [Reybrouck]
21126 Representative should be either obedient, or sensible, or typical [Shorten]
21128 There is 'mirror representation' when the institution statistically reflects the population [Shorten]
21127 In a changed situation a Mandated Representative can't keep promises and fight for constituents [Shorten]