Representative Democracy

This unit deals with representative democracy, the form of democracy that is prevalent world-wide. As the very name indicates, in a democracy of this type, the citizens choose their representatives through elections that are held periodically. It is these citizens’ representatives who articulate their aspirations in public forums such as legislatures. As you can make out, representative democracy is synonymous with electoral democracy.

WHAT IS REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY?

Limited and Indirect

Representative democracy is a limited and indirect form of democracy: It is limited in the sense that participation in government is infrequent and brief, being restricted to the act of voting every few years. It is indirect in the sense that the public does not exercise power by itself, but selects those who will rule on its behalf. This form of rule is democratic only as far as representation establishes a reliable and effective link between the government and the governed.

The strengths of representative democracy include the following:

• It offers a practicable form of democracy, as large populations cannot actually participate in the governmental process.

• It relieves the ordinary citizen of the burden of decision-making, thus making it possible to have division of labour in politics.

• It maintains stability by distancing the ordinary citizen from politics thereby encouraging them to accept compromise.

Synonymous with Electoral Democracy

However, although these features may be a necessary precondition for representative democracy, they should not be mistaken for democracy itself. The democratic content in representative democracy is the idea of popular consent, expressed through the act of voting.

Representative democracy is, thus, a form of electoral democracy, in that popular election is seen as the only legitimate source of political authority. Such elections must respect the principle of political equality based on universal adult franchise, irrespective of caste, colour, creed, sex, religion or economic status. Elections must be regular, open and above all competitive. The core of the democratic process is the capacity of the people to call politicians to account.

In short, the essence of representative democracy lies in:

• political pluralism

• open competition between political philosophies, movements, parties and so on

DIFFERENT VIEWS ON REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

There are different views on representative democracy. The first implies that in representative democracy, political power is ultimately wielded by voters at election time. Thus, the virtue of representative democracy lies in its capacity of blind elite rule with a significant measure of political participation. Government is entrusted to politicians, but these politicians are forced to respond to popular pressures by the simple fact that the public put them there in the first place, and can later remove them. The voter exercises the same power in the political market as the consumer does in economic markets. Joseph Schumpeter summed it up in Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1976) by describing representative democracy as that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for people’s vote.

Pluralist

According to another viewpoint, democracy is pluralist in nature. In its broader sense, pluralism is a commitment to diversity or multiplicity. In its narrower sense, pluralism is a theory of distribution of political power. It holds that power is widely and evenly dispersed in society, instead of being concentrated in a few hands as the elitists claim. In this form, pluralism is usually seen as a theory of ‘group politics’ in which individuals are largely represented through their membership of organised groups, ethnic groups and these groups have access to the policy process.

Elitist

It refers to a minority in whose hands power, wealth or privilege is concentrated justifiably or otherwise. Elitism believes in rule by an elite or minority. Classical elitism, developed by Mosca, Pareto and Michele, saw elite rule as being inevitable, an unchangeable fact of social existence.

What is majority rule? Some view democracy as a majority rule.

Majority rule is a practice in which priority is accounted to the will of the majority. What is majoritarionism? Majoritarionism implies insensitivity towards minorities and individuals.

Rival Views

There is a considerable amount of disagreement about the meaning and significance of representative democracy. Some questions raised by scholars are as follows:

• Does it ensure a genuine and healthy dispersal of political power?

• Do democratic processes genuinely promote long-term benefits, or are they self-defeating?

• Can political equality co-exist with economic equality?

In short, representative democracy is interpreted in different ways by different theorists. Most important among these interpretations are advanced by Pluralism, Elitism, the New Right and Marxism.

For many political thinkers, representatives democracy is simply superior to every other form of political organisation. Some argue that representative democracy is the form of government that best protects human rights, because it is based on the recognition of the intrinsic worth and equality of human beings.

• Others believe that democracy is the form of government which is most likely to take rational decisions because it can count on the pooled knowledge and expertise of a society’s entire population.

• Others claim that democracies are stable and long-lasting because their elected leaders enjoy a strong sense of legitimacy.

• Still others believe that representative democracy is most conducive to economic growth and well being.

• Some believe that in representative democracy, human beings (because they are free) are best able to develop their natural capacities and talents. Yet, democracy remains a work in progress – an evolving aspiration rather than a finished product.



FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

Popular Sovereignty

It means that the ultimate source of all public authority is the people, and that the government does what the people want to be done. Four observable conditions can be recognised in popular sovereignty:

• Government policies reflect what the people want

• People participate in the political process

• Information is available and debate takes place

• Majority rules, i.e., policies are decided on the basis of what a majority of people want.

Political Equality

According to this principle, each person carries equal weight in the conduct of public affairs, irrespective of caste, colour, creed, sex or religion. But political thinkers believed that great inequalities in economic circumstances can eventually turn into political inequality. Robert Dahl describes the problem in following words, ‘if citizens are unequal in economic resources… they are likely to be unequal in political resources; and political equality will be impossible to achieve.’ Particularly important in modern times is the unequal influence in the control of information, financial contributions to electoral campaigns. This unequal influence represents a serious barrier in achieving a complete democracy.

The ideal society for the practice of democracy, according to Aristotle, was the one with a large middle class – without an arrogant and overbearing wealthy class and without a discontented poverty-stricken class.

Political Liberty

According to this principle, the citizens in democracy are protected from government interference in the exercise of basic freedom, such as freedom of speech, association, movement and conscience.

It is said that liberty and democracy are inseparable. The concept of self- government implies not only the right to vote, right to run for public office but also the right to expression, to petition the government, to join any political party, interest group or social movement.

In the practice of democracy, however, it has emerged that liberty can be threatened by democracy rather than being an essential ingredient. Following are the main criticisms that are levelled against democracy:

a) ‘Majority Tyranny’ threatens Liberty: Majority tyranny implies the suppression of rights and liberties of a minority by the majority. It is believed that unbridled majority rule leaves no room for the claims of minorities.

Nevertheless, the threat of majority tyranny can be exaggerated. Robert Dahl points out that there is no evidence to support the belief that the rights of ethnic and religious minorities are better protected under alternative forms of political decision-making.

b) Democracy leads to bad decisions: It is argued by some that representative democracy, which is majoritarian by nature, is not perfect. They say that there is no guarantee that representative democracy will always lead to a good decision. A majority, like the minority, can be unwise, cruel and uncaring and can be misled by unscrupulous or incompetent leaders.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY IN PRACTICE

Having said this, let us now pay attention to the actual working of representative democracy.

The chief characteristics of a functioning democracy are:

• Free and fair elections

• Open and accountable government

• Civil and political rights

The table given below gives a good idea of these features.

(from David Beetham and Kevin Boyle, Democracy, 1995, p.28)

Political Parties: Political parties play a crucial part in the political process. In a large measure, political parties determine the operational character of the democratic system. They provide a major political dynamic for the working of formal institutions of the system.

According to R.G. Gettell, a political party consists of a group of citizens more or less organised, who act as a political unit. By the use of their voting power, they aim to control the government and carry out their general policies. Some of the essential features of a political party are:

a) People constituting a political party have a certain degree of agreement on fundamental principles.

b) They seek to achieve their objectives through constitutional means.

c) A political party aims to further national interest rather than sectional interest.

d) It seeks to capture political power to enable it to further public interest.

Political parties constitute the backbone of democracy and perform the following functions:

i) Parties mould public opinion: Political parties stimulate the interest of public on different issues problems such as housing, living standards, education, foreign relations, budget etc.

ii) Parties play a role in the conduct of elections: Elections to the legislature are held on party lines. Political parties select suitable candidates for party tickets. On the day of voting, parties ensure the maximum turnout of voters.

iii) Political parties form the government: The party which secures the majority forms the government. If no single party secures the majority, then a combination of parties, called coalition, form the government.

iv) The opposition acts as a check on government: The opposition party keeps a vigilant eye on the actions and policies of government and highlights its lapses and failures.

v) Political parties form a link between government and people: Parties explain the policies of government to the people and convey reactions of the people to parliament and public officials.

vi) Political parties impart education to people: Political parties make the people aware of their political rights and stakes in government.

vii) Political parties act as a unifying force: Political parties are compelled to seek support of all sections of people, living in different parts of the country. Thus, they act as a unifying force.

DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS

Modern democratic states have representative governments. Large size and population of modern democratic states make it difficult to practise direct democracy as a form of government. Hence, all modern democracies have indirect or representative governments, which are elected by people. These representatives are chosen by people through elections. Thus, elections have assumed a very important role in the formation of modern representative democracy.

An election is a contest between different political parties for getting people’s support.

At times, an individual can also contest an election as an independent candidate.

The advantages of contesting elections as a party candidate are as follows:

i) Political parties follow specific policies; therefore, when a candidate represents a party, it is easier for voters to know what he stands for.

ii) Party candidates get funds from political parties to organise election campaigns.

iii) Party volunteers may be provided by the party to the candidate during the process of electioneering.

iv) Well-known leaders of the party canvass for party candidates and address their rallies.

The Election Process

Elections in a democratic system are based on the principle of equality i.e. one person, one vote. All persons irrespective of caste, colour, creed, sex or religion enjoy certain political rights. Among these rights, the most important right is the right to vote. In politics, everyone is equal-every person has an equal say in the formation of government.

Secret Ballot: The voter casts his vote secretly in an enclosure, so that no one comes to know of the choice he has made. In representative democracy, secret voting is preferred; otherwise, the voter may not exercise his true choice openly due to fear of intimidation and undue influence.

Constituency: Constituencies are marked in order to carry out the election process with efficiency. Constituency is the territorial area from where a candidate contests elections. If only one person is to be elected from a constituency, it is called a single-member constituency. If several representatives are elected from the same constituency, then it is called a multi-member constituency.

The entire election process, e.g. in India, is conducted, controlled and supervised by an independent body called the Election Commission. It ensures free and fair elections. The Election Commission fixes and announces the dates of elections in our country. The Election Commission has another very important responsibility. It makes sure that the party in power does not get undue advantage over other parties. The process of election runs through several formal stages. This process comprises of:

a) Announcement of dates

b) Filing of nomination papers

c) Scrutiny of applications

d) Withdrawal of applications

e) Publication of the final list

f) Campaigning

g) Casting of votes

h) Announcement of results

In fact, the moment the Election Commission announces the dates of elections, political parties start their activities. The first task of political parties becomes the selection of candidates who are going to contest in elections as their party candidates. Modern electioneering is a cumbersome process. It needs a huge organisation to manage it, which is provided by political parties. Moreover, elections require a reasonable amount of fund, which is also provided by political parties.

i) Selection of Candidates

In the functioning of representative democracy, the role of political parties has become both, indispensable and very important. Infact, political parties have given an organised shape to democratic politics. Political parties field and support their candidates, and organise their campaigns.

Every political party announces specific programmes and promises to implement these programmes in case it comes to power. Voters while casting votes for a candidate of a particular party do so knowing fully well the programmes and policies of that party.

ii) Nomination

Once election dates are announced, political parties have to choose their candidates through a process of selection. Then, candidates have to file their nominations to election offices which are appointed by the Election Commission. There is a last date for filing nomination papers. After all nominations have been filed, there is a process of scrutiny. It is done to check whether all information given in nomination papers is correct. If there is a doubt or a candidate is not found eligible, his/her nomination paper is rejected. Once the scrutiny is over, candidates are given a date for withdrawal.

The withdrawal process makes sure that (a) there is as little wastage of votes as possible and (b) that all names printed on ballot paper are those of serious candidates.

iii) Symbols

Political parties have symbols which are allotted by the Election Commission (EC). The EC allots symbols to each political party and makes sure that they are not similar because they can confuse voters. In India, symbols are significant for the following reasons:

• They are a help for illiterate voters who cannot read names of candidates.

• They help in differentiating between two candidates having the same name.

• They reflect ideology of the concerned political party.

iv) Campaigning

Campaigning is the process by which a candidate tries to persuade voters to vote for him rather than for others. Campaigning stops 48 hours before polling. Each political party and every candidate tries to reach as many voters as possible. A number of campaign techniques are involved in election process. Some of these are:

• Holding of public meetings which are addressed by candidates and a number of local and national leaders of a party.

• Pasting of posters on walls and putting up large and small hoardings on roadside.

• Distinction of handbills which highlight main issues of their manifesto.

• Taking out procession in support of different candidates.

• Door-to-door appeal by influential people in party and locality.

• Broadcasting and telecasting speeches of various party leaders.

v) Counting of Votes and Declaration of Results

After voting is over, ballot boxes are sealed and taken to counting centres. During counting, the candidate or his representative is present. After counting, a candidate getting a simple majority is declared elected. At times, simple majority leads to problems. The elected candidate represents majority when there are only two candidates, but not so if there are three or more candidates; e.g. if A gets 40 and B, C and D get 20 votes, then A is declared elected. Now, though A has got 40 votes he does not reflect the majority because 60 votes are actually against him.

Elections are a very important part of democracy because the entire fortification of a democratic system depends on how elections are held.

DEMOCRACY AND ALIENATION

Alienation amounts to separation from one’s genuine or essential nature. In actual practice, the functioning of most democratic systems fare poorly by the standards of personal autonomy and popular rule. What passes for democracy in the modern world tends to be a limited and indirect form of democracy, thereby alienating the individual citizen. This democracy is little more than, what Joseph Schumpeter referred to as an ‘institutional arrangement’ for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for peoples’ vote.

This institutional arrangement has been criticised by radical democrats for reducing popular participation to a near meaningless ritual i.e. casting a vote every few years for politicians who can only be removed by replacing them with another set of politicians. In short, people never rule and the growing gulf between government and people is reflected in the spread of inertia, apathy and alienation.

DEMOCRACY AND PUBLIC OPINION

To a great extent, democracy depends on public opinion. In a representative democracy, every government has to think of what will be the public reaction to its policies. All parties want to capture and retain power. Coming back to power in the next successive election depends on what people think about its work when the party was in power.

Strong public opinion plays a very significant role in capture of power and forming government by a single party or a combination of parties, called coalition. If the public is alert and intelligent and keeps itself informed, government cannot take the risk of disregarding people’s aspirations. If it disregards their aspirations, it instantly becomes unpopular. On the other hand, if public is not alert and intelligent, government can become irresponsible. At times, this might threaten the very foundations of democracy.

Formulation of Public Opinion: Public opinion is formed in many ways and several agencies contribute in shaping public opinion. For a healthy public opinion, citizens should know what is happening around them, in their own country and in the world at large. A country’s government makes policies not only about internal problems, but has a foreign policy also. A citizen must hear different opinions in order to make up his/her mind. Thus for democracy to work well, citizens need to apprise themselves of various views. Among the agencies, which help in formulating sound public opinion are the press, the electronic media and the cinema.

Democracy allows a person to contribute his/her share of opinion in decision-making. For all this, there is a necessity of free discussion and argument. Democratic government gives a lot of freedom to the ordinary citizen. However, citizens have to use freedom with responsibility, restraint and discipline. If people have some grievances, they must show them through channels provided by the democratic system. Acts of indiscipline on the part of citizens might wreck the democratic set up of a system.

GENDER AND DEMOCRACY: PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION

The third wave of democratisation which began in the mid 1970s brought about competitive electoral politics to many countries in Latin America, East and Central Europe and parts of Africa and Asia. It was seen as a triumph for democracy as the number of electoral democracies increased from 39 in 1974 to 117 in 1998.

However, as in the earlier longstanding democracies, the levels of women’s representation in new democracies are still low in both legislatures and executives. The struggle for political citizenship was for a long time an important goal of women’s movements. The suffrage campaigns that took place in many parts of the world in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries were based on the assumption that right to vote and participate in electoral processes was an important part of being a citizen. If democracies now guarantee all citizens the right to participate in the political arena, why are women so poorly represented? Does the low participation of women mean that democracies are undemocratic?

Theorists of democratisation, as mentioned earlier, have a variety of definitions of what counts as a democracy.

• At one end of the continuum, there is a minimal definition which implies that all that is needed is competitive elections.

• Mid-range definitions also emphasise the need for freedom and pluralism, such as civil rights and freedom of speech, so that state may be considered a liberal democracy.

• Neither of these definitions makes the distinction between right to participate and the ability to participate. Only the more utopian definitions that consider the ‘quality of democracy’ emphasise that democracy also implies the enjoyment of full citizenship in its broadest sense.

Citizenship is defined not just in terms of civil and political rights, but also in terms of economic and social rights that can facilitate the full participation of all in the political sphere. Democracy can be vibrant and effective only when citizens take part in an active civil society.

The ‘public’ and the ‘private’: Feminists have argued for a long time that there are a number of problems with the ways in which democracy is defined, theorised and practised. Liberal political theory is based on a division between public and private sphere. Within this model, men appear as the head of households and as abstract individuals active in public sphere, while women are relegated annalistically to private sphere. The ‘political’ is, therefore, defined as masculine in a very profound sense.

In practical terms, the manner in which political activity is conducted in democracies and nature of most women means that they participate to a far lesser extent than men, particularly at higher levels of conventional political activity. For example:

• many women find style and substance of politics forbidding

• even if they do decide to pursue a political career, women often experience difficulties in getting selected on winnable seats on the party’s list

• Further, as in other areas of public sphere, women find that constraints placed on them by their responsibilities in ‘private’ sphere also reduce their ability to participate in conventional political activity on same terms as men.

It would be incorrect to give an impression that there is an agreement on nature of democracy. Lenin, for example, has argued that liberal democracy is a screen which hides exploitation and domination of the masses. More recently, Carole Pateman has argued that democracy must also extend to the workplace – where most people spend a great part of their day – before we can be said to live under democratic conditions.

A different type of criticism of democracy argues, by pointing out that even democracy can go dangerously wrong. Aristotle reminded us that for its proper functioning, even a democracy needs a stable system of law.

Democracy can otherwise become the arbitrary dictatorship of the many i.e. the mob rule. In a similar vein, De Tocqueville argued that democracy creates the possibility of a new form of tyranny – the tyranny of the majority. Madison warned of the danger of factions, which means a group-large or small – whose interest does not reflect the general interest of the people, and who attempt to subvert the democratic system for their own purposes.

Modern democracies tend to create bureaucratic organisations around themselves. According to Max Weber, the interest of the bureaucratic organisations creates a tension in democratic practice, as the bureaucracy created by democracy will have

Democracy a tendency to choke off the democratic process. Pareto argued that, howsoever democratic a society may claim to be, it will be inevitably ruled by a powerful elite.

But, it can argued that the idea of separation of Powers and the concept of Checks and Balances can go a long way in avoiding despotism. Moreover, we need to ensure that those people who make laws do not enforce them also.

DEMOCRACY AND THE INTERNET

No other invention of this new technological era has proliferated as rapidly as the Internet. The internet has rapidly accelerated the development of transnational relations fostering a kind of mutual influence and interdependence.

The Internet affects democracy in a number of ways. Its role in combating totalitarian regimes is, indeed, positive, for it creates access to information and thus, undermines the monopoly of the government in question.

But on the other hand, the Internet creates problems for democracy insofar as it weakens the state’s regulative capacity. The transnational interpretation of societies by the Internet undermines the capacity of government to govern effectively. Further, as far as national security is concerned, the Internet has opened up new possibilities for asymmetrical conflicts. States can sustain massive damage from net-based attacks, not from other states but from individuals. Nevertheless, the new information technology will probably, on balance, reinforce the existing power structures rather than weaken them.

LET US SUM UP

In this unit, you have read about representative democracy which is the modern form of democracy. You should be now in a position to explain its meaning as well as discuss different views on it. The unit, it is hoped, has also made clear to you the fundamental principles of representative democracy. How democracy actually works

– the electoral process has been elaborated in the unit. Finally and equally importantly, vital contemporary concerns such as the issues of gender, alienation and public opinion have been discussed in the unit.