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24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / d. Representative democracy

[the people chose a small group to govern]

20 ideas
If the people are equal in nature, then they should all share in ruling [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Where it is not possible for the same people always to rule, because all are in nature equal, it is also just for all to share in ruling.
     From: Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1261a38)
     A reaction: This derives from his principle that the naturally superior should always rule the naturally inferior - though it sometimes looks as if ruling is the distinguishing mark of who is 'superior'. Democracy needs to equalise its citizens, where possible.
It is wrong that a worthy officer of state should seek the office [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: It is all wrong that a person who is going to be deemed worthy of an office should solicit it. …One worthy of the office should hold it whether he wishes to or does not wish to.
     From: Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1271a10)
     A reaction: I love this idea, and think it should be immediately implemented in the modern world, at every level of society. All leaders should be pushed to the front. The ambitious should be pulled to the back.
No office is permanent in a democracy [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: It is democratic to have no office be permanent.
     From: Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1317b42)
     A reaction: Modern exceptions seem to be judges and civil servants.
If you try to get elected, you should be permanently barred from seeking office [More,T]
     Full Idea: In Utopia, anyone who deliberately tries to get himself elected to a public office is permanently disqualified from holding one.
     From: Thomas More (Utopia [1516], Bk 2)
     A reaction: This echoes a thought found in Plato (Idea 2149). I've always liked this idea. Why can't we have elections were a group of the best people are invited to stand? Well, yes, it would lead to corruption... Still, the best should be pushed to the front.
If deputies represent people, they are accountable, but less so if they represent places [Montesquieu]
     Full Idea: When the deputies represent the body or estate of the people, as in Holland, they ought to be accountable to their constituents. When the deputies represent boroughs, as in England, the situation is not the same.
     From: Baron de Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws (rev. 1757) [1748], 11.06)
     A reaction: Not sure how this works. Modern UK MPs are accountable to the residents of their borough. Did the Dutch actually name the citizens that a deputy represented?
The English are actually slaves in between elections [Rousseau]
     Full Idea: The English people believes itself to be free; it is gravely mistaken; it is free only during the election of Members of Parliament; as soon as the Members are elected, the people is enslaved.
     From: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], III.15)
     A reaction: Rousseau seems to be hoping for some sort of direct democracy. We could probably set up a direct democracy, by implementing regular voting over the internet, but I doubt if Rousseau would like that either. I certainly wouldn't.
Your representative owes you his judgement, and betrays you if he gives your opinion instead [Burke]
     Full Idea: Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion
     From: Edmund Burke (Address to the Voters of Bristol [1774]), quoted by Adam Swift - Political Philosophy (3rd ed)
     A reaction: Nice rhetoric, but I'm not sure about the logic of it. Do I betray you if I give my stupid judgement rather than your wise one? Am I so arrogant as to think my judgement is always preferable? His audience was entirely of property owners.
Representatives by region ignores whether they care about the national interest [Hegel, by Pinkard]
     Full Idea: Selecting representatives on the basis of geography means selecting people without any regard to whether they represent the basic and important interests of the 'whole' of society.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Lectures on the Philosophy of Right [1819]) by Terry Pinkard - German Philosophy 1760-1860 11
     A reaction: Proportional representation seems to get away from this, but that can still be arranged according to large regions. Some means is needed to prevent the whole nation from exploitation a regional minority (such as Welsh speakers).
People can only participate in decisions in small communities, so representatives are needed [Mill]
     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.
     From: John Stuart Mill (Representative Government [1861], p.217-8), quoted by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 4 'Representative'
     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.
When we seek our own 'freedom' we are just trying to avoid responsibility [Kierkegaard]
     Full Idea: In all our own 'freedom' we actually seek one thing: to be able to live without responsibility.
     From: Søren Kierkegaard (Attack Upon Christendom [1855], p.290)
     A reaction: That's the plan when I win the lottery. [SY]
Universal suffrage is no guarantee of wise choices [Tocqueville]
     Full Idea: Universal suffrage is by no means a guarantee of the wisdom of the popular choice.
     From: Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America (abr Renshaw) [1840], 1.11)
     A reaction: This was precisely Plato's fear about democracy. There seems no way at all of preventing the people from electing representatives on superficial grounds of personality.
People like democracy because it means they can avoid power [Baudrillard]
     Full Idea: If the people puts itself into the hands of the political class, it does so more to be rid of power than out of any desire for representation.
     From: Jean Baudrillard (The Intelligence of Evil [2004], p. 54)
     A reaction: Very nice. If we are all in the grips of some biological 'will to power', that needn't be power over huge numbers of other people, merely power over our immediate lives. It can be expressed by building a wall.
Modern liberal rights in democracies protect individuals against the majority [Sandel]
     Full Idea: Liberty in the modern procedural republic is defined in opposition to democracy, as an individual's guarantee against what the majority might will.
     From: Michael J. Sandel (Procedural republic and unencumbered self [1984], 'Present')
     A reaction: And so I should hope. Sandel is sort of criticising this view, but it seems obvious that rights of this sort must be basic to any civilised democracy. But how do you decide those rights, if not by a majoritarian decision?
A cap on time of service would restrict party control and career ambitions [Grayling]
     Full Idea: A method by which legislators can be rendered independent of both party control and career ambitions is a cap on the amount of time they can serve as legislators.
     From: A.C. Grayling (The Good State [2020], 4)
     A reaction: The time of service must allow for learning the job, and then using the wisdom of experience. Presumably some career ambitions are needed if we are to have leaders. Not all party discipline is bad; great achievements are hard without it.
Modern democracy is actually elective oligarchy [Watson]
     Full Idea: What we regard as democracy in the twenty-first century is actually elective oligarchy.
     From: Peter Watson (Ideas [2005], Ch.06)
     A reaction: Even dictatorships want to be called 'democracies'. The modern system is a bit of a concession to Plato, and he would probably have preferred it to his system, because at least the rulers tend to be more educated than the direct assembly.
In the 18th century democratic lots lost out to elections, that gave us a non-hereditary aristocracy [Reybrouck]
     Full Idea: The drawing of lots, the most democratic of all political instruments, lost out in the eighteenth century to elections, a procedure that was not invented as a democratic instrument, but as a means of bringing a new non-hereditary aristocracy to power.
     From: David van Reybrouck (Against Elections [2013], 3 'democratisation')
     A reaction: This is the basic thesis of Van Reybrouck's book. He argues for the extensive use of lots ('sortition') for getting people involved in modern democracies. I love the idea that in a good democracy you get an occasional chance to rule.
Representative elections were developed in order to avoid democracy [Reybrouck]
     Full Idea: Bernard Manin (1995) revealed how, immediately after the American and French revolutions, the electoral-representative system was chosen with the intention of keeping at bay the tumult of democracy.
     From: David van Reybrouck (Against Elections [2013], 3 'procedure')
     A reaction: At the time America and France were two of the largest countries in the world, and communication and transport were slow. That has changed.
Representative should be either obedient, or sensible, or typical [Shorten]
     Full Idea: Mandate Representation says they are delegates who should not deviate from instructions; Trustee says they use their discretion and judgement; Descriptive says they share group characteristics.
     From: Andrew Shorten (Contemporary Political Theory [2016], 04)
     A reaction: [compressed] There is also being a representative because you have an audience (such as celebrity campains). The second type was famously defended by Edmund Burke. The third implies being the same colour, or gender, or religion.
There is 'mirror representation' when the institution statistically reflects the population [Shorten]
     Full Idea: The general theory of 'mirror representation' says that a representative body or institution should be a statistically accurate sample of the wider society it represents.
     From: Andrew Shorten (Contemporary Political Theory [2016], 04)
     A reaction: How fine-grained should this be in accuracy. Should every small minority have at least one rep? Can't reps be trusted to speak for people a bit different from themselves? Maybe not! He quotes Mirabeau in support of this idea.
In a changed situation a Mandated Representative can't keep promises and fight for constituents [Shorten]
     Full Idea: An important tension in Mandate Representation seemingly requires politicians to both uphold their electoral promises and promote the interests of their constituents. These can conflict, with changed circumstances or information.
     From: Andrew Shorten (Contemporary Political Theory [2016], 04 Box 4.1)
     A reaction: So be careful what you promise, and don't take on a party loyalty that conflicts with your constituents' interests. Easy.