The Assault on Representative Democracy as the Other Side of the Politics of Immediacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 124-146
Keyword(s):  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other

scholarly journals Thinking about elections and about democratic representation

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
LH ◽  
GvdS ◽  
WTE
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Modern Representative

[Political representation] is the basis of modern representative democracy. Older and less sophisticated forms, such as direct democracy, subsist marginally, even if they keep exerting a certain attraction. But representative democracy does not carry the self-evident authority it once had. Like every modern institution it is under challenge and consequently needs to be defended. In actual politics, the defence often takes the form of discussion of the merits of one system over the other and of proposals for change. The part of this defence appertaining to constitutional scholarship is not concerned primarily with proposals and changes. It is, before all, to brush up the fundamentals underlying representative democracy, on the basis of topical issues.There are three current issues upon which we would like to draw attention. They are: equality in structuring electoral systems, the processes of electoral reform and the rise of non-majoritarian institutions versus parliamentary democracy.

scholarly journals Enhancing Democracy Through Legislative Redistricting

1994 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gelman ◽  
Gary King
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Methods ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Partisan Bias ◽  
The Relationship

We demonstrate the surprising benefits of legislative redistricting (including partisan gerrymandering) for American representative democracy. In so doing, our analysis resolves two long-standing controversies in American politics. First, whereas some scholars believe that redistricting reduces electoral responsiveness by protecting incumbents, others, that the relationship is spurious, we demonstrate that both sides are wrong: redistricting increases responsiveness. Second, while some researchers believe that gerrymandering dramatically increases partisan bias and others deny this effect, we show both sides are in a sense correct. Gerrymandering biases electoral systems in favor of the party that controls the redistricting as compared to what would have happened if the other party controlled it, but any type of redistricting reduces partisan bias as compared to an electoral system without redistricting. Incorrect conclusions in both literatures resulted from misjudging the enormous uncertainties present during redistricting periods, making simplified assumptions about the redistricters' goals, and using inferior statistical methods.

Reflexive Democracy

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Rosanvallon
Keyword(s):  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
The One

This chapter discusses reflexive democracy, which is democracy's attempt to correct and compensate for three flawed assumptions, thus giving rise to a “generality of multiplication.” In contrast to negative generality, which depends on creating a new position from which the demand for unanimity can be satisfied, here the method is to multiply various more limited approaches so as to achieve a relatively comprehensive vision of the whole. The strategy is one of pluralization rather than detachment and has two components: adding complexity to democratic forms and subjects on the one hand and regulating the mechanisms of the majoritarian system on the other. To describe this reflexive effort of democracy on itself, the chapter first establishes that electoral-representative democracy is itself a disciplined and chastened version of “immediate democracy.” It then describes the effects of multiplication.

Reinstating the Inherent Dignity of Marginalized Communities in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (SI) ◽  
pp. 80-101
Author(s):  
Anabella Afra Boateng
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Inherent Dignity ◽  
The One ◽  
Soka Education

When a representative democracy implicitly or explicitly undermines minority rights and prevents marginalized people from actively participating in a democratic process, it facilitates social exclusion. This paper focuses on how Ghana’s democracy, coupled with traditions, aggravate social exclusion. The research discusses the democratization process of Ghana and its role in the marginalization of minorities. Particularly, this paper looks at the class-based marginalization of women on the one hand and the sex-based marginalization of the LGBTQI+ community on the other, in Ghana. Finally, this paper explores how Soka Education, as a way of life, can support these marginalized communities in Ghana.

scholarly journals Demokratiparadokset

2020 ◽  
pp. 120-145
Author(s):  
Jacob Torfing ◽  
Marte Winsvold
Keyword(s):  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Direct Participation ◽  
Subsequent Chapter ◽  
Participatory Practices ◽  
Representative System

In this chapter we discuss what we have conceptualized as “the paradox of democracy”, pointing to the conflict between the idea of the sovereign people on one side, and the idea that democracies need representatives and political leaders, on the other. The chapter gives an overview of democratic arrangements that encourage direct participation, including arrangements that feed into and support and arrangements that challenge the representative system. Furthermore, the chapter provides examples of arrangements that actively and intentionally link together representation and direct participation. Lastly, we discuss how the tension between participatory practices and representative democracy can be solved. In a brief and subsequent chapter, a Norwegian Mayor reflects on the conflict between representation and direct participation.

Alternativen der parlamentarischen Demokratie

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles B. Blankart ◽  
Dennis C. Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Voting ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Political Program ◽  
The Government ◽  
Models Of Democracy

AbstractIt is often said that the parliament should represent the opinions found in the population and that the government should be held accountable for its political program. It is shown in the paper that these two functions rely on two different basic models of democracy which are not fully compatible with each other: the model of a pure representative democracy and the model of a pure two party competition. Unaccountable governments, voter alienation, strategic voting, and governmental instability are shown to be consequences of this institutional mix. These problems may be avoided with reforms towards one or the other basic model.

scholarly journals A Contribution to the Critique of Liquid Democracy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Caragiannis ◽  
Evi Micha
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Recent Model ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Hard Problem ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Liquid Democracy

Liquid democracy, which combines features of direct and representative democracy has been proposed as a modern practice for collective decision making. Its advocates support that by allowing voters to delegate their vote to more informed voters can result in better decisions. In an attempt to evaluate the validity of such claims, we study liquid democracy as a means to discover an underlying ground truth. We revisit a recent model by Kahng et al. [2018] and conclude with three negative results, criticizing an important assumption of their modeling, as well as liquid democracy more generally. In particular, we first identify cases where natural local mechanisms are much worse than either direct voting or the other extreme of full delegation to a common dictator. We then show that delegating to less informed voters may considerably increase the chance of discovering the ground truth. Finally, we show that deciding delegations that maximize the probability to find the ground truth is a computationally hard problem.

When Is A Pledge A Pledge?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Suthan Krishnarajan ◽  
Carsten Jensen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Policy Content ◽  
The One ◽  
Representative Samples ◽  
Modern Representative ◽  
Western Democracies

Abstract Despite the central role of election pledges in modern representative democracy, it remains uncertain how voters define pledges. We examine this by focusing on four rhetorical dimensions of political statements: the pledge giver, the formulation of commitment, the policy content and quantification. In three conjoint experiments on representative samples totalling around 6,000 respondents in the United States, Britain and Denmark, we find remarkably consistent results. On the one hand, voters consistently differentiate between statements in a highly focused manner: a promise is a promise if it is sincere and realistic – no matter who made it and whether it can be checked. On the other hand, voters are not willing to hold their party accountable for a given statement – even if they consider it an election pledge. We demonstrate that this is the perceptual logic of election pledges in Western democracies.

scholarly journals The Institutional Framework of Representative Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 94-112
Author(s):  
Rudy B. Andeweg ◽  
Tom Louwerse
Keyword(s):  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Institutional Architecture

Although the literature shows a bewildering variety of typologies of representative democracy, the most important distinctions can be subsumed under a basic dichotomy with, on the one hand, a populist-majoritarian model, and on the other hand a liberal/consensual model. That latter model comes in two varieties: a liberal model based on the division of power, and a consensual model based on the sharing of power. The search for the best model is hampered by the fact that so many criteria are biased in favour of a particular model, and by the ambition to find a universally valid answer, ignoring the interaction of the institutional architecture with the structure and culture of society.

scholarly journals New Social Movements as Postmodern Challanges To Neoliberalism and Representative Democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Efe Tuğberk ÖZTÜRK ◽  
Aslı DALDAL
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Student Protests ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Suitable Concept ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, the relationship between new social movements, representative democracy and neoliberalism is examined. Starting with student protests in Europe and the United State, the late 1960s have witnessed the emegence of new social movements. Ecological, anti-nuclear, feminist, student, anti-racist, and LGBTI+ protests all have been examined with the scope of the new social movements paradigm. The remarkable protest wave of the 1970s has been followed by contemporary movements in different forms like the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement. Although these movements differ in terms of issues they deal with and goals they seek, they have a lot in common. Unlike the old movements like labour protests, these new movements primarily focus on postmaterial issues. Postmaterial identity demands and rights of these movements conflict with material demands of neoliberal governments. Furthermore, modern democracies fail to address these issues. Representative democracy is seen as an obstacle to political participation. On the other hand, postmodernism is a suitable concept to explain internal discrepancies and dispersion of new social movements. It is argued that (a) the legitimacy crisis of representative democracy and neoliberal response of capitalism to its structural crisis have triggered new social conflicts and movements, (b) these movements differ from old movements in terms of their forms, goals, and demands, (c) new social movements are postmodern.

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