- The ideal of democracy has disfigured our actual understanding of democracy- the expectations of what can be achieved with democracy are beyond the merits and promises of the system.
- Prz highlights the limits of what democracy can achieve
- There are limits to what democracy can achieve but we have not yet even reached those limits as yet.
- Social equality has not been achieved under any other system and therefore there is no reason to expect that things should be different under a democracy-which is a political movement not an economic one but a lot of research Boix, AC show that there is a relationship between inequality and the demand for democratic rule under certain circumstances.
- What does democracy provide
1. Checks and balances –
2. Equality of access to the political process through anonymity –there is equal opportunity to participate but this does not necessarily guarantee the right to participate some groups within the society have to be limited.
3. Elections are important – inequality raises a social class an elite aristocracy that can inhibit elections if they think that democracy will limit their asserts (Box, AC)
The book
i. Pr provides us with a standard on which to evaluate democracy
ii. Engages historical debate to trace the history of democracy, hereditary leadership e.g. monarch, aristocracy and representative democracy all the way from Athens, Grugel argues that this is not really democracy as women did not have suffrage until very late in the history of most western states.
iii. Agent centered theory- failure to democratize is because of the tyranny of the centralized power.
Criticism
i. Treats elections and voters as independent assuming too much rat choice –He argues that democracy is learned and that after a period of time of holding elections they become a societal value BUT he ignores electoral authoritarianism PRI in Mexico, LPD in Japan etc
ii. Limited scale of government as John Stewart said in response to Gadaffi this is existential (insert word of choice here)____
Other notes
Democracy as a conflict management system (AC same argument but they say that conflict can lead to either democratization or nondemocratization)
1. Provides for bargaining –it allows for the minority to voice their opinion, constitutes forces by requiring super majority to be involved
2. He says that in Athenian democracy direct democracy made sense because everyone had a chance to rule.
3. The option is to have self government whereby the majority that is elected into office reflects the individuals in the country
4. Elections are inherently divisive and can be a major source of conflict. Seriously, it is a tough world out there…you are trying to convince millions that you are better than the next guy or gal (as Palin would say) it gets tough and mean and in countries were the rule of law if not very strong things can get dicey.
Puzzle : If democracy is majority rule –people masses than elites
-Poor people increase income by taxing the rich
- If the poor anticipate being rich they will not impose high taxes on the rich …that is why the poor in the US vote for republicans because they are worried that when they get rich (for most people this is never) Dems will tax them to boot. But in reality the poor are better off taxing the rich now but everyone wants the American dream sooo democracy works peacefully.
-The founding fathers were not really concerned with democracy –the leading danger they saw was that people would galvanize against the wealthy they were more concerned about property.
i. Money influences elections – on who runs and who doesn’t
ii. As the poor anticipate being rich they will not implement policies that are hostile against the rich. He doesn’t talk about this but the middle class can serve as a buffer between wealthy and poor (Moore 1968, Lipset 1959, Rueschmeye, Stephens and Stephens 1991 etc)
iii. Elites created the first democracies – in his other works Prz has discussed the issues of class and how classes avoid instability. The result of class conflict is a self-equilibrium – the business owner make concessions, which leads to a well functioning labor union and the state will implement some minimum conditions that protect the poor e.g. minimum wage. Prz..emphasis that although income equality can come about with democracy.. . ”Democracy is a political revolution not a social revolution” but others have argued that you cannot have political equality without social equality.
iv. How do we use democracy to guard against (a tricky balance)
a. Government tyranny
b. Majority tyranny
v. Freedom
a. The goal of the book is to show that the current ideal of democracy is different from the reality but there is still room to grow
i. Fix elections
ii. Education of voters
Get out the vote increase the voter turnout
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