Post-Modern

UNIT 8 THE IDEA OF DEMOCRACY*

Structure
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction: Meaning of Democracy
8.2 Procedural/Minimalist and Substantive/Maximalist Dimension
8.3 Types of Democracy
8.4 Theories of Democracy
8.4.1 Classical Democracy
8.4.2 Elitist Theory
8.4.3 Pluralist Theory
8.4.4 Participatory Democracy
8.4.5 Deliberative Democracy
8.4.6 People’s Democracy
8.4.7 Social Democracy
8.4.8 Cosmopolitan Democracy
8.4.9 E-democracy
8.5 Foreign Policy Dimension: Democracy Promotion
8.6 Let Us Sum Up
8.7 References
8.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

8.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit, you will explore the idea of democracy at national and international
levels. After studying this unit, you should be able to:
Explain the meaning of democracy;
Distinguish between its minimalist and maximalist forms;
Understand its various types; and
Explain democracy promotion at the international level.

8.1 INTRODUCTION: MEANING OF

DEMOCRACY
The concept of democracy is more than 2500 years old having first appeared in
Athens in the 5th century BC. Likewise, the word democracy is of Greek origin
derived from the word ‘demokratia’. It is a combination of two Greek words,
‘demos’ meaning people and ‘kratos’ meaning power. Hence, democracy stands
for rule by the people which gives true legitimacy to the government. It is one of
the most debated issues in the field of Political Science as it is a ‘contested
concept’. This means although there is a general agreement on the meaning of
democracy, yet there are differences on how to implement it. That is why; there
are different types of democracy, direct, representative, deliberative etc. There

* Dr. Raj Kumar Sharma, Academic Associate, Faculty of Political Science, IGNOU, New
Delhi 99
The Grammar of Democracy is a consensus on the idea that democracy means popular rule and sovereignty,
but how that will be achieved varies. There are, however, some inherent
contradictions in the way democracy is practiced. How to achieve people’s
participation, balance between liberty and equality, protection of minority rights
and to avoid tyranny of majority etc are some of the questions which democracies
have to grapple with. One of the central problems faced by democracies all over
the world is how to balance between liberty and equality. The English liberal
tradition gives more importance to liberty while the French tradition treats
equality as superior to liberty. Negative liberty places more emphasis on the
individual and his rights while positive liberty talks of limiting these rights to
attain equality. This means that negative liberty favors a limited role for the
state, while positive liberty wants state intervention to create conditions where
equality could exist. The state is asked by positive liberals to rectify social and
economic imbalances through legislation.

That notwithstanding, there are a number of advantages that a democracy has

over other forms of governments. It prevents rule of the oppressors, fosters human
development, facilitates protection of individual rights and freedoms and could
even prevent wars at the international level as democracies normally do not
fight against each other. In his 1861 book, Considerations on Representative
Government, J S Mill has given three advantages of democratic decision making
over non-democratic ones. First, strategically, democracy compels decision
makers to take into account interests, opinions and rights of most of the people
which would not be the case in an authoritarian or aristocratic form of
government. Second, epistemologically, democracy brings in a number of varied
views in the process which allows decision makers to pick up the best ideas.
Third, democracy also helps in character building of citizens as it inculcates
qualities like rationality, autonomy and independent thinking. This creates
pressure of public opinion on political leaders who cannot ignore people’s views
in order to remain in power. In this context, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has
touched upon the relationship between democracy and famines, arguing that
there have been no famines in a functioning democracy as the leaders are
accountable to the people and cannot ignore their basic welfare.

Former Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Winston Churchill had reservations

about democracy but he still said that it was the worst form of government
except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. Understood
in a broader sense, democracy is not only a form of government and state, but it
is also a condition of society or a way of life. A democratic society is one in
which there is socio-economic equality while a democratic state is one where
citizens get a chance to participate in open and fair political process. Radical
democrats in the 1960s and the 1970s believed that socio-economic equality
was a precondition for success of political democracy. Some frequent meanings
attributed to the term democracy are as follows:
Rule by the poor and disadvantaged
Society based on equal opportunity and individual merit instead of hierarchy
and privilege
Welfare and redistribution to reduce social inequality
Decision making based on majority rule
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 Protection of minority rights by placing checks on majority rule The Idea of Democracy

Fulfilling public offices through competition for popular vote.

In a broader sense, a number of features can be attributed to a democracy. A
written constitution, rule of law, human rights, independent media and judiciary,
separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature
could be described as some of the basic features of democracy. The idea of
democracy has come a long way from its initial form in Greece which was not
inclusive in nature. The Greek model of democracy excluded women, slaves
and immigrants making it ‘undemocratic’ in spirit. This spirit continued even in
modern democracies like France, Britain and the US where some sections were
not allowed to vote while the voting rights were given to wealthy men. The
French Revolution of 1789 talked about liberty, equality and fraternity apart
from popular sovereignty for mankind. However, women did not get the right to
vote and it was only in 1944 that France started universal adult suffrage. In
Britain, women got the right to vote in 1928 while in the US, they got this right
in 1920. However, discrimination on the basis of color remained in the US and
it was only in 1965 that the African American women and males were given the
right to vote. India has been progressive in this regard compared to Western
democracies as it adopted universal adult franchise from 1950 when its
constitution came into force and became the world’s first democratic state to
have universal adult franchise since inception. Saudi Arabia has recently allowed
women to vote and in 2015, women for the first time exercised their right to
vote in municipal elections.

The geographical expanse of democracies world over has been well demonstrated
by Samuel P Huntington, in his 1991 book The Third Wave: Democratization in
the Late Twentieth Century. Expressing his views on three waves of
democratization, he stated that democratization can be described as the process
leading to establishment of democracy. The first wave lasted between 1828 and
1926 with 33 countries having democratic governments due to the impact of
French and American Revolutions. This wave was accompanied by a reverse
wave between 1922 and 1942 when there were only 11 democracies in the world
due to the Great Depression and rise of Communism, Fascism and Nazism. The
second wave lasted between 1943 and 1962 which saw a maximum of 52
democracies all over the world following decolonization. The second reverse
wave lasted between 1958 and 1975 due to disillusionment with modernization,
problems in development and military coups in Latin America. The number of
democracies came down to 30 countries in this period. The third wave of
democratization started in 1974 with 65 democratic countries as of 1989 due to
decolonization and the end of the Cold War. Huntington also mentioned that the
third reverse wave had started in 1980s as Haiti, Nigeria, Suriname and Sudan
fell to undemocratic forces. Political scientists have termed the fall of
authoritarian governments during the ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011 in West Asia as the
fourth wave of democratization.
Check Your Progress 1
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) What do you understand by democracy? What are the advantages of
democracy over other forms of government? 101
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8.2 PROCEDURAL/MINIMALIST AND

SUBSTANTIVE/MAXIMALIST DIMENSION
Democracy could be well understood by two different views – procedural
(minimalist) and substantive (maximalist). The procedural dimension merely
focuses on procedures or means in place to attain democracy. It argues that
regular competitive elections on the basis of universal adult franchise and plural
political participation would produce a democratically elected government. In
his 1942 book, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Joseph Schumpeter has
said that democracy is “institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions
in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive
struggle for the people’s vote”. Huntington has also echoed similar views saying,
“The central procedure of democracy is the selection of leaders through
competitive elections by the people they govern.” However, people are perceived
as passive beyond electoral participation in minimalist view and thus are governed
by their representatives. This view does not focus on liberty and freedom as it
emphasizes how to elect a democratic government. In the absence of checks and
balances in the system, the elected leaders could manipulate procedures and
power for their own benefit leading to concealed authoritarianism. The
government could work for the elites who hold power instead of the people who
should hold ultimate authority in a democratic set up. Such instances have existed
in Argentina and Brazil between 1980s and 1990s. The governments in Central
Asian countries too could be described as procedural democracies as the power
has been concentrated in hands of a single individual although periodic elections
are held from time to time. Terry Karl has pointed that minimalist view could
also lead to a ‘fallacy of electoralism’, a situation where electoral process is
given priority over other dimensions of democracy. Fareed Zakaria calls it
‘illiberal democracy’, a case where governments are democratically elected but
ignore constitutional limits on their power and deprive their citizens of basic
rights and freedoms.

Substantive democracy tries to overcome the shortcomings of procedural view

arguing that social and economic differences could hamper people’s participation
in the democratic process. It focuses on outcomes like social equality instead of
ends in order to truly work for the governed. In a sense, it talks about ‘common
good’ rather than benefit of limited individuals. The rights of marginalized
sections like women and the poor are protected through redistributive justice so
that conditions can be created through state intervention for their participation
in political process. Various political scientists like John Locke, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill have contributed to the emergence
of this view. Unlike Schumpeter who believed that conception of democracy
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which aim for ambitious forms of equality are dangerous, Rousseau argued that The Idea of Democracy
a formal variety of democracy is equivalent to slavery and its only egalitarian
democracies which have political legitimacy.
Check Your Progress 2
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) Distinguish between procedural and substantive democracy.
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8.3 TYPES OF DEMOCRACY

Broadly speaking, democracy can be classified as direct and representative
depending on how the people rule. Direct democracy is based on direct and
unmediated citizen participation in government rule. All adult citizens take part
in decision making to ensure that all the viewpoints are discussed and best
possible decisions are taken. Direct democracy wipes out the distinction between
the government and the governed and the state and civil society. The ancient
Greek city state model was an example of direct democracy. In contemporary
times, direct democracy can be found in Swiss cantons. In the Greek model,
there was physical presence of citizens in the assembly to ensure their
participation. However, the Swiss model is slightly different as it depends on
methods like initiative, recall and plebiscite to ensure popular participation in
policy making. Initiative gives people power to propose a legislation which
should be discussed by the legislature. Recall is the power in hands of people
through which they can remove their policy makers if their performance is not
up to the mark. In a plebiscite, an important question is put in front of citizens
for their approval or disapproval. Direct democracy ensures greater legitimacy
as people are more likely to follow decisions which are taken by them only. It
also creates a highly informed citizenry which participates in decision making.
However, there is vast difference in size (geography, population) between a city-
state and a nation-state. That is why practicing direct democracy is difficult in
big modern nation states. This issue was solved with the development of
representative democracy, which first appeared in northern Europe in the 18 th
century. Representative democracy is limited and an indirect form of democracy.
It is limited because popular participation in policy making is very less pertaining
to voting in a few years while it is indirect as people do not exercise power
directly but through their elected representatives. Presidential and parliamentary
democracies are two main types of representative democracies around the world.
There are more parliamentary democracies around the world than presidential
democracies. Parliamentary democracies are more representative than
presidential, but at the same time, they are relatively less stable. 103
The Grammar of Democracy Check Your Progress 3
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) What do you understand by representative democracy?
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8.4 THEORIES OF DEMOCRACY

8.4.1 Classical Democracy
Classical democracy is based on the polis or the city state of Ancient Greece
with a particular system of rule that developed in the largest and the most powerful
Greek city-state based on mass meetings. The remarkable feature of this model
was that citizens were politically very active. Apart from participating in
Assembly meetings, citizens also contributed to decision-making and public
offices. However, it excluded women, slaves and foreigners from citizenship. It
is pertinent to mention that it was only because of slaves and women that male
Athenian citizens could get free time to devote to political affairs. Hence, their
exclusion from citizenship was unfortunate and undemocratic. Plato in his book,
The Republic criticized Athenian democracy saying that people were incapable
to rule themselves wisely and they required rule by philosopher kings and
guardians who are suited to rule.

8.4.2 Elitist Theory

This theory was propounded by Vilfredo Pareto, G Mosca, Robert Michels and
Joseph Schumpeter. The theory was developed in the discipline of sociology
but has major implications for political science as well. Michels gave his ‘iron
law of oligarchy’, arguing that despite its original aim, every organization is
ultimately reduced to oligarchy amounting to the rule of few. Mosca said that
people can be categorized as rulers and the ruled. Most of the power, prestige
and wealth are in the hands of the ruling class irrespective of the form of
government. The ruled follow the elite as they do not have leadership qualities.
This theory poses serious questions to democracy and suggests that in practice,
democracy is not achievable as the elites would control the power, wealth and
hence, decision making.

8.4.3 Pluralist Theory

Contrary to the elitist theory, pluralists believe that policy making is a
decentralized process where different groups bargain for their views to be
accepted. It is result of interaction between different groups unlike few elites.
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Public policy is formulated by more organized and vocal groups. The main The Idea of Democracy
proponents of this theory include Karl Mannheim, Raymond Aron, Robert Dahl
and Charles Lindblom. Dahl and Lindblom gave the concept of ‘polyarchy’
meaning rule by many instead of rule by all citizens. They concluded that although
the politically privileged and economically powerful exert more influence than
ordinary citizens, no elite is permanently able to dominate the political process.

8.4.4 Participatory Democracy

All democracies are participatory in the sense that they are based on popular
consent which ensures their participatory nature. However, there are chances
that the role of citizens could be limited to just voting in a democracy. The gap
between elected representatives and the people widens in complex democracies
which have variety of people divided by caste, class, religion, region etc. In
contrast to elitist and pluralist theories, participatory democracy advocates active
citizen participation in policy making to ensure common good is promoted while
it also makes the government more accountable towards the citizens. Jean J.
Rousseau, J S Mill and C B Macpherson supported the idea of participatory
democracy. Rousseau argued for popular sovereignty as the supreme power is
vested in hands of the people which is their inalienable right and the citizens
should involve themselves in state affairs. Mill said that a government which
promotes moral, intellectual and active qualities in its citizens is the best
government.

8.4.5 Deliberative Democracy

Deliberative democracy argues that political decisions should be based on fair
and reasonable deliberations among citizens. This is required to produce best
decisions to achieve public good. In emphasizes on the quality of process for
best outcomes. John Rawls and Jurgen Habermas have argued for a deliberative
democracy. Rawls believed that reason can overcome self interest to attain a
just political society. Habermas believed that fair procedures and clear
communication would lead to legitimate and mutually agreed upon decisions.

8.4.6 People’s Democracy

People’s democracy refers to democratic models generated by the Marxist
tradition. Marxists have been interested in social equality and hence, have their
own idea of democracy against the Western model which they say only generates
political equality. People’s democracy is established after the proletarian
revolution when the proletariat starts making political decisions. This will
eventually give way to Communism marked by self-regulation. While Karl Marx
talked about the rule of the proletariat, Lenin changed the concept and introduced
the role of the party as the vanguard of the proletariat. However, Lenin did not
establish mechanisms to check the power of the party and its powerful leaders
to ensure that they remained accountable to the proletariat.

8.4.7 Social Democracy

Social democracy stands for a basic change in Marxist thought, although it shares
same goals with Communism. It aims to establish a socialist society, but not
through revolution but through state regulation of means of production. Social
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The Grammar of Democracy democrats do not believe in the Marxist critique of democracy, which seen as a
“bourgeois” facade for class rule. Instead, social democrats see democracy as
essential for achieving socialist ideals. That is why they stand for state regulation
of business and industry in order to ensure welfare of citizens. This movement
started with the efforts of August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht who cofounded
the Social Democratic Workers’ Party in 1869 in Germany.

8.4.8 Cosmopolitan Democracy

Cosmopolitan democracy is a response to economic and cultural globalization
arguing that democracy should respond to challenges beyond borders since states
are interdependent on each other. Immanuel Kant and David Held the one of the
main proponents of cosmopolitan democracy. They argue that democracy should
extend to global sphere and there should be democratization of international
organizations like the UN which are dominated by the West. Voices of
marginalized countries should be heard as well and less developed and rising
powers should have representations in global governance. The idea of
cosmopolitan citizenship goes beyond traditional citizenship of a state arguing
for global citizenship and that is why, there is a rise of movements which are
global in nature due to similarity of interests among states. Women’s movement
and environmental movements are the prime examples as their repercussions
are being felt all over the world.

8.4.9 E-Democracy
This is a relatively new concept but is based on the works done by earlier theorists.
E-democracy or electronic democracy is the use of information and technology
to enhance or even replace representative democracy. Common problems in all
democracies – issues of scale, lack of time, decline of community values, and
lack of opportunities for policy deliberation could be dealt with digital
communication. Supporters of e-democracy have built on the ideas of
participatory democracy to enhance active citizen participation in policy making.
Check Your Progress 4
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) What are the drawbacks of people’s democracy?
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 The Idea of Democracy
2) What do you understand by cosmopolitan citizenship?
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8.5 FOREIGN POLICY DIMENSION:

DEMOCRACY PROMOTION
Various countries and international organizations assist other countries in
promotion of democracy and human rights since it is believed that democracies
are less likely to fight wars among themselves and economic and social indicators
are better in a democracy compared to other forms of government. This is in
sync with the democratic peace theory propounded by Immanuel Kant and
Thomas Paine who believed constitutional republics are less likely to wage wars
against each other. Democracy has been vigorously promoted as a foreign policy
tool by the US and many European countries, apart from the European Union.
Former US President, Woodrow Wilson had once said that the world must be
made safe for democracy and made efforts to promote democracy through
bilateral relations and multilateral forums like Pan-American Liberty Pact. The
ideological fight between Communism and Democracy was witnessed during
the Cold War, when the US and its allies tried to check the spread of Communism
and promote democratic values. The Ronald Reagan administration inserted the
democracy agenda in American foreign policy saying democracy was necessary
for promoting human rights. The National Endowment for Democracy was
established in the 1980s while the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) was used as a tool for democracy promotion by the US
post-Soviet countries and Latin America. The trend continued in the 1990s and
democracy promotion was one of the three pillars of President Bill Clinton’s
foreign policy. President George W Bush continued this trend; however, he used
military means to achieve his objective of democracy promotion, for instance in
Iraq and Afghanistan. European countries also started to assist democracy
promotion in the 1970s. The European Union started European Initiative for
Democracy and Human Rights in the 1990s. Some other countries like Japan,
India, Argentina and Brazil also promote democracy, but the degree of promotion
varies vastly. International and regional organizations like the UN and African
Union also promote democracy and human rights. The UN charter talks about
protection of human rights while in 2006, the UN established the UN Democracy
Fund to assist civil society organizations to strengthen democracy.

After the end of the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama in his 1992 book The End of
History and the Last Man argued that democracy has proved a better system
than the other forms of government and liberal democracy is the final form of
government for all nations. However, this is easier said than done and a number
of problems can be witnessed in the democracy promotion process. A number of
external interventions have been justified on the grounds of democracy and
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The Grammar of Democracy human rights promotion. The failure of democracy promotion in Iraq and
Afghanistan has raised doubts whether such external interventions is justified
or not. External intervention may ensure procedural democracy, but achieving
substantive democracy remains difficult due to lack of real reform. That is why;
external interventions mainly lead to what has been called ‘imposed democracy’
as the internal reform and modernization remains elusive in the target country.
It also goes against the very spirit of democracy i.e. the right to self-determination,
as it is not the citizens of the country but outsiders who decide the type of
government in the target country. In the post 9/11 world, there is too much
emphasis on counter-terrorism efforts which acts as an impediment to human
rights of minorities and the concept of multiculturalism. There are other models
of development like China which appeal to different countries wanting to contain
democracy. China, despite being largest authoritarian state in the world, is set to
become world’s largest economy in coming years. These shortcomings raise
questions over the practice of democracy promotion in international affairs. The
international community itself needs democratization as the international bodies
are dominated by P-5 countries (the US, Russia, Britain, France and China)
while the emerging powers like India, Japan, Germany, Brazil and South Africa
do not have adequate representation in international governance.
Check Your Progress 5
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) What are the challenges before democracy promotion in international affairs?
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8.6 LET US SUM UP

Democracy has evolved as a concept over the years and has become more
inclusive. It is one of the most debated themes in political science as people
agree on its meaning, but do not agree on how to achieve democracy. That is
why; there are several types of democracies from direct to representative ones.
With changing times, there are new dimensions of democracy, like e-democracy
which are coming up. The idea of democracy is challenged by the issues of
immigration, terrorism and anarchic nature of international system, however, as
Robert Dahl in his 1989 book, Democracy and its Critics has argued, democracy
is superior to other systems in at least three ways. It promotes freedom, human
development and it is the surest way for people to safeguard and promote goods
and interests they share with others.

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8.7 REFERENCES
Abbas, Hovyeda and Ranjay Kumar. (2012) Political Theory. New Delhi:
Pearson.

Babayan, Nelli and Huber, Daniela Huber. (2012). Motioned, Debated, Agreed?
Human Rights and Democracy Promotion in International Affairs, URL: http:/
/www.iai.it/sites/default/files/TW_WP_06.pdf, 2012.

Bellamy, Richard and Mason, Andrew. (2003). Political Concepts. Manchester:

Manchester University Press.

Dahl, Robert (1989). Democracy and its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press.

Dahl, R. (2018). Encyclopedia Britannica, URL: https://www.britannica.com/

topic/democracy

Diamond, Larry. (1997). Is the Third Wave of Democratization Over? An

Empirical Assessment, URL: https://kellogg.nd.edu/sites/default/files/old_files/
documents/236.pdf.

Gauss, G F and Kukathas C. (2004). Handbook Of Political Theory. London:

Sage.

Heywood, Andrew. (2007). Politics. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, URL: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/

democracy/

Zakaria, Fareed. (1997). The Rise of Illiberal Democracy, Foreign Affairs, Nov/
Dec, 76:6.

8.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1
1) Your answer should include the following:
Greek origins of the word.
Difference between direct and indirect democracy.
Rule by the people.
J S Mill’s views on advantages of democracy.
Check Your Progress 2
1) Your answer should highlight the difference between the mechanism and
actual practice of democracy.
Check Your Progress 3
1) Your answer should highlight the rule by elected representatives.
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The Grammar of Democracy Check Your Progress 4
1) Your answer should elaborate the influence of the Marxist tradition on
democracy.

2) Your answer should highlight the influence of globalization on democracy.

Check Your Progress 5
1) Your answer should include the following:
Democratic peace theory.
Promotion of democracy as a foreign policy tool.
Mention of Francis Fukuyama’s book.

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