Conceptions of Democracy

Introduction3

Discussion3

Victorian View of Democracy5

Democracy & Globalization6

Democracy & Liberalism7

Conclusion8

References10

Conceptions of Democracy

Introduction

Democracy implies rule by the demos or people; however, resource ownership is not addressed by it. Through the democratic process, all policy issues are attained, heading to the risk of inequitable economic and social policies opted through a democratic political process. Swift quotes the political scientist and democracy theorist Adam Przeworski as saying: "To discuss democracy without considering the economy in which that democracy is to function is an operation worthy of an ostrich" (Przeworski, 1992). In economic life, the lack of democracy undermines democracy everywhere else. Today, many large banks and major transnational corporations have myriad ways to get what they want out of the democratic process. A coherent strategy is a pre- requisite for a more robust democracy to level economic and thus political inequalities. This paper intends to discuss the argument of Przeworski, taking historic and contemporary debates into consideration about the relation between political democracy and structures of economic power, as well the traditional liberal distinction between the 'private area and the 'public area.

Discussion

The relationship of economic conditions and the emergence of democracy or dictatorship has been a debatable topic from the ancient scholars' time through contemporary political science. It was noted by Aristotle that, “ In a society wherein major proportion of the population lived in poverty, democracy could not function well”. Tocqueville (1835) also noted, in a study of early American democracy, that there would be suffering of democratic systems in societies with great economic inequality; where democracy and inequality existed together, politics would be defined by class cleavages and the poor would vote for wealth redistribution from the rich. In reaction to the expansion of Communism, beginning in the 1950s, around the world, politicians and scholars in democratic countries involved themselves with the essential rudiments of a democratic society, including economic factors, so as to envisage which countries were about to stay or become democratic. In the early 1990s, on the disintegration of many communist regimes, attention again fell back on elucidating the association between politics and economics as countries contended to transition to democracy and to market-based economies concurrently. Questions regarding the fundamentals for successful democracy have, more recently, continued to be pertinent in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. (Bailey, Braybrooke , &Robert A ,2003)

The substantive and critical approach fostered in the collectivist tradition deems democratic system as a distinctive blend requisite collectively three indivisible elements:

A social formation is required by democracy where a certain point- historically variable, certainly - of fundamental equality and physical benefit have been accomplished, therefore providing the complete development of distinctive individuals and a multitude of social life expressions;

The effectual delight of freedom by the citizenry is implied by democracy, a freedom that has to be a practical and living daily experience anchored in the major attributes of a certain culture and not just only a formal entitlement. Nonetheless, these two societal circumstances, while necessary not being adequate to create a democratic state on their ...