Further Reflections on “The Elitist Theory of Democracy”

1966 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Dahl

An interest in the roles, functions, contributions, and dangers of leadership in popular regimes is not, of course, new among observers of political life. This has, in fact, been an ancient and enduring interest of political theorists. It is possible, however, to distinguish—at least in a rough way—two different streams of thought: one consisting of writers sympathetic to popular rule, the other consisting of anti-democratic writers.It has always been obvious to practical and theoretical observers alike that even where leaders are chosen by the people, they might convert a democracy into an oligarchy or a despotism. From ancient times, as everyone knows, anti-democratic writers have contended that popular governments were unlikely to provide leaders with wisdom and virtue, and insisted on the natural affinity between the people and the despot. These ancient challenges by anti-democratic writers were, I think, made more formidable in the course of the last hundred years by critics—sometimes ex-democrats turned authoritarian when their Utopian hopes encountered the ugly realities of political life—who, like Pareto, Michels, and Mosca, contended that popular rule is not only undesirable but also, as they tried to show, impossible. The failure of popular regimes to emerge, or, if they did emerge to survive, in Russia, Italy, Germany, and Spain could not be met merely by frequent assertions of democratic rhetoric.Fortunately, alongside this stream of anti-democratic thought and experience there has always been the other. Aware both of their critics and of the real life problems of popular rule, writers sympathetic to democracy have emphasized the need for wisdom, virtue, and self-restraint not only among the general body of citizens but among leaders as well.

1971 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 320-321
Author(s):  
Charles Brumfiel

In the November 1970 issue of the Arithmetic Teacher there appeared my article, “Mathematical Systems and Their Relationship to the Real World.” One point I made is that mathematics provides us with a vast array of symbols and concepts to use in solving real-life problems. When we use mathematics to solve a real problem, we make certa in mental associations between mathematical symbols and real objects. I suggested that arguments sometimes arise because two persons may make different associations, mathematical symbols to real objects, and each thinks his associations are correct while the other person's are incorrect.


Author(s):  
Joseph Chan

This chapter argues that although the Confucian ideal of the authoritative ruler–ruled relationship is an attractive ideal that would appear to be relevant even in contemporary democratic societies, in reality not all officials are trustworthy and genuinely care for the people. Here arises the challenge of how to properly handle the interplay between the ideal and reality. On one hand, there should be a social device that helps prevent officials from abusing power and removes bad officials from office; on the other hand, such a device must be able to express the Confucian ideal relationship and hopefully also promote it. The solution lies in the nature of institutions, which are devices that simultaneously perform socially useful tasks to tackle real-life problems and uphold standards of normative appropriateness that express ideal aspirations.


1897 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-549
Author(s):  
M. Gaster

More marvellous and more remarkable than the real conquests of Alexander are the stories circulated about him, and the legends which have clustered round his name and his exploits. The history of Alexander has, from a very early period, been embellished with legends and tales. They spread from nation to nation during the whole of the ancient times, and all through the Middle Ages. Many scholars have followed up the course of this dissemination of the fabulous history of Alexander. It would, therefore, be idle repetition of work admirably done by men like Zacher, Wesselofsky, Budge, and others, should I attempt it here. All interested in the legend of Alexander are familiar with those works, where also the fullest bibliographical information is to be found. I am concerned here with what may have appeared to some of these students as the bye-paths of the legend, and which, to my mind, has not received that attention which is due to it, from more than one point of view. Hitherto the histories of Alexander were divided into two categories; the first were those writings which pretended to give a true historical description of his life and adventures, to the exclusion of fabulous matter; the other included all those fabulous histories in which the true elements were smothered under a great mass of legendary matter, the chief representative of this class being the work ascribed to a certain Callisthenes. The study of the legend centred in the study of the vicissitudes to which this work of (Pseudo-) Callisthenes had been exposed, in the course of its dissemination from the East, probably from its native country, Egypt, to the countries of the West.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak

Abstract In this paper, I discuss the attempt by all right-wing populist parties to create, on the one hand, the ‘real’ and ‘true’ people; and on the other, the ‘élites’ or ‘the establishment’ who are excluded from the true demos. Such divisions, as will be elaborated in detail, have emerged in many societies over centuries and decades. A brief example of the arbitrary construction of opposing groups illustrates the intricacies of such populist reasoning. Furthermore, I pose the question why such divisions resonate so well in many countries? I argue that – apart from a politics of fear (Wodak 2015) – much resentment is evoked which could be viewed as both accompanying as well as a reaction to the disenchantment with politics and the growing inequalities in globalized capitalist societies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 254-267
Author(s):  
John Royce

Good readers evaluate as they go along, open to triggers and alarms which warn that something is not quite right, or that something has not been understood. Evaluation is a vital component of information literacy, a keystone for reading with understanding. It is also a complex, complicated process. Failure to evaluate well may prove expensive. The nature and amount of information on the Internet make evaluation skills ever more necessary. Looking at research studies in reading and in evaluation, real-life problems are suggested for teaching, modelling and discussion, to bring greater awareness to good, and to less good, readers.


2020 ◽  
pp. 152-179
Author(s):  
Hélène Landemore

This chapter assesses the real-life case study of Iceland to illustrate some of the principles of open democracy. It closely examines the 2010–13 Icelandic constitutional process from which many of the ideas behind this book originally stem. Despite its apparent failure — the constitutional proposal has yet to be turned into law — the Icelandic constitutional process created a precedent for both new ways of writing a constitution and envisioning democracy. The process departed from representative, electoral democracy as we know it in the way it allowed citizens to set the agenda upstream of the process, write the constitutional proposal or at least causally affect it via online comments, and observe most of the steps involved. The chapter also shows that the procedure was not simply inclusive and democratic but also successful in one crucial respect — it produced a good constitutional proposal. This democratically written proposal indeed compares favorably to both the 1944 constitution it was meant to replace and competing proposals written by experts at about the same time.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 178
Author(s):  
Santosh Kumar Suman ◽  
Awadhesh Kumar ◽  
Vinod Kumar Giri

rahatulquloob ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Dr. Ambreen Atiq ◽  
Dr. Abu Sufyan Qazi Furqan Ahmad ◽  
Dr. Khawaja Saif ur Rehman

According to Islamic Jurisprudence, one of the most important requirements for a sound marriage is the total agreement of the woman under the guardianship of her father or any other mahram relative. In case of none, the ruler or the judge assume to be a guardian or Wali of a woman. A guardian or Wali is responsible for the selection of the righteous person for the woman and assures the protection and welfare of her Rights and interests. He has the authority to reject and refuse the proposal if the suitor did not deem a sound and sincere match. A marriage without a guardian is considered unlawful, as there is no concept of love affairs and courtship without a guardian in Islam. The guardian evaluates the religious, social and economic compatibility of the couple, while on the other hand a woman selects the spouse on physical attraction and romantic notion which vanishes out soon as the real life starts causing potential problems in relationship. That why Islam lays down principle and law of wilayat for a lady to protect her interests and rights and consider to be a shield and safeguard for her welfare in future marital life.


AL-TA LIM ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-67
Author(s):  
Muhammad Nasir

This article tries to look at psychoanalysis study of a novel concerning on the dream and reality in Sang Pemimpi (the Dreamer) by Andrea Hirata. In general, his work portrays mostly about the condition and situational life of Belitung community. Here, Andrea shows his ability as the representative of Belitung's young generation succeeded in fulfilling his dream by explaining the real life of the people in his hometown and villages having bitter experience values in the rich environment. Besides, he tries to describe the difficult life faced by the villagers. The dream in this novel is not only his, but also all dreams of the Belitung community as the manifestation of their life condition comparing to other areas or provinces in the Indonesia. Further, through this novel (work), it is implied an important massage directed to both Indonesian authority and Belitung mayor in order to be able to increase the level of education of grass root community, especially for those who live in the remote area or a very isolated area, such as Belitung. This is the real dream of all participants in the island which remains unsolved.


2020 ◽  
pp. 87-101

The article attempts to analyze the correlative relationships of language and culture. Language can be considered as an instrument of culture, as one of its components and, on this basis, described through features common to all cultural phenomena. On the other hand, language and culture can be compared as an independent, autonomous semiotic system. The interaction of languages and cultures - this is an objective law of social and historical development of mankind. Any text in the conditions of real communication bears traces of the culture of the people speaking this language. The isolation from the real conditions of the discourse in the text more or less preserves the footprints. The need for linguistic and cultural studies has become a universally recognized fact, since in social reality language has the ability to influence the formation and development of a people's culture.


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