Political Behavior and Institutions PDF

Political Behavior and Institution s Filippo Tronconi 12. Democracy A recap on concepts Politics relates to the field of decisions. Specifically, political decisions are collectively binding, coercitively imposed, sovereign A political system, or polity, is a human community, with clear boundaries,...

Political Behavior and Institution s Filippo Tronconi 12. Democracy A recap on concepts Politics relates to the field of decisions. Specifically, political decisions are collectively binding, coercitively imposed, sovereign A political system, or polity, is a human community, with clear boundaries, where political decisions are taken. It has assumed many forms throughout history (tribes, poleis, empires, supranational organizations, …) The state is the most common organization where political decisions are taken in contemporary world A political regime refers to the «method of determining office holders and the relations between the office holders and the society at large» (Siaroff 2011: International Encyclopedia of Political Science) What is specific about democratic political regimes?  Etymologically: “rule of the people” A. Lincoln (Gettysburg, 1863): soldiers sacrificed their lives in order “that Democracy government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish as an ideal from the earth” and as a Let’s translate this into concrete rules: how would you devise a democratic practice government for taking political decisions in this class?  Universal right to vote, equality of each vote Freedom of expression Free access to information from alternative sources Direct Control of the agenda from the members democracy of the community If these requirements are met, then all participants are politically equal  The size of modern states makes direct democracy difficult (or impossible) in From direct most cases, due to numbers and territorial extension to The previous requirements need to be representativ adapted to a representative democracy environment e democracy Schumpeter: a procedural idea of democracy From Lincoln to Schumpeter The ideal of “the rule of the people” transformed into a regulated competition between elites J. Schumpeter (1942): A procedural definition of democracy “The democratic method is that 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” Dahl: democracy needs competition for popular votes + protection of minorities’ rights From direct to representative democracy Dahl’s criteria Political power is exercised by elected representatives Elections are free, fair and recurrent Universal adult suffrage Freedom of expression Free access to information from alternative sources Freedom of association Schmitter adds two criteria: (Elected officials retain control over state bureaucratic structures – the military in particular) (The polity must be self-governing, i.e. free from foreign interference) From direct to representative democracy: a few unpleasant consequences Burke, or the problem of delegation: How to monitor effectively the work of elected representatives? How to make sure they have in mind the collective good instead of their re-election? Michels, or the problem of organizing political support: Parties and professional politicians are necessary to organize support in mass societies. Can we avoid them to transform into oligarchies? Madison, or the problem of tyranny: How do we avoid majorities to oppress minorities or individuals? “in framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself” Separating institutions, creating checks and balances Not only fundamental rights: there must be institutions controlling that the government does not go beyond its limited powers (horizontal accountability)  All this said, should we consider (representative) democracy as keeping its Kept promise of giving power to the people? No! promises The populist answer: it’s time to put the people back in power: ultimate power to ? (I) the elected representatives, imperative mandate, direct democracy  Yes! Dahl’s answer: if all the democratic Kept criteria (elections+fundamental rights) are met, democratic government is the regime that best guarantees that promises political decisions stay aligned with popular preferences (better, with the ? (II) preferences of the median voter)  This happens because the incumbent government anticipates the possible electoral sanction  Democracy is the best solution to avoid tyranny of the majority (and of the minority), but they are not necessarily the most efficient regime, especially during transitions What They are not necessarily more efficient in democrac economic terms They are not necessarily more efficient y is not administratively (more actors to be consulted: slower decisions) They are not more orderly or stable (freedom of expression: disagreements over policies and over rules) They do not necessarily have more open economies  Robert Dahl’s theory of democracy is today’s “state of the art”, accepted by most of the academic community: A definition of democracy as a set of rules for Democra selecting political decision makers and based on the respect of fundamental rights (especially minority rights) and the rule of law cy as an At the same time, the debate is not over! These principles have changed over time, and evolving there is no reason to think they will not change in the future What “fundamental rights” mean is open to concept evolving interpretations More fundamentally, participatory and deliberative definitions of democracy challenge the procedural view Also, new technologies open new opportunities (and risks)  A tentative to use digital technology to enhance democracy on small and large scale Principles of liquid democracy: Liquid Flexible delegation  Absolute or policy specific (limited to democrac some topics)  time sensitive (delegation is retractable) y  chains of delegation A discussion stage precedes voting  Reaching consensus on topics to be decided is a valuable goal Suitable for digital environment