Category: Concepts And Theories Of Democracy

Marxian conception of democracy includes three aspects – firstly, a critique of the bourgeois democracy, secondly, theory of dictatorship of proletariat, and thirdly, social democracy leading to classless society. Marxian concept of democracy treats it as a class concept. Democracy related to the concept of people, changes its meaning as the meaning of ‘people’ changes.…

Pluralist theory of democracy is based on pluralist concept of power distribution in society. Pluralist model appears in two forms – one treats democracy as competition between plurality of elites and the second treats democracy as negotiation between pluralities of power centres in society. While the first is based on the assumptions of power concentration…

The basic sociological argument that the elitist theory extends with respect to democracy relates to impossibility of ‘rule of the people’. This argument is based on the understanding of power distribution in society and the influence and power enjoyed by an elite minority in society. Democracy as a government is a rule of elite minority…

To recapitulate, classical democracy includes mainly two broad categories: direct democracy and indirect democracy. The first is also known as participatory democracy because of direct participation of the citizens in assembly to conduct legislative and policy-making functions. The second is known as representative democracy because of indirect participation of the citizens through their elected representatives…

Theoretically, there are different perspectives regarding representation on which liberal democracy works. For Hobbes, individual is represented in the Leviathan and unity of those represented lays in the unity of the Leviathan not in the unity of the ruled. By proposing the unity of the sovereign, Hobbes rules out any possibility of representation. Rousseau, on the other…

Government of the people? Indirect or representative democracy has generally operated within the context of liberal democracy. This means democracy is qualified by values and principles of liberalism. One may argue that in this, ‘liberal’ may dominate over the ‘democratic’. This is the charge, radical democrats make against liberal democracy. It further leads to the…

Direct participation of the eligible citizens in direct democracy has two aspects. One form is found in Athenian model where direct participation was in the form of physical presence of the eligible people in the assembly. A second model is found in Swiss cantons and American states. The later is characterised by certain popular methods…

In classical sense, democracy is understood both as direct and indirect democracy. Direct or participatory democracy was found in ancient Athens, Greece where people participated directly in the political affairs of the polis. In contemporary times, direct democracies are found in Swiss cantons and American states. Direct democracy means participation of the people or eligible citizens in…

Westminster is the area in London in which British parliament is located. Liberal democracy originating from the British parliamentary practice is known as Westminster type democracy. In addition to liberal democratic features, its features may include ceremonial head of the state (monarch or president) with real head of government (prime minister). Beside England, Australia, Bangladesh,…

Like representative democracy, representational democracy is indirect democracy. Observers use this to designate a form of democracy in which ‘decision making processes reflect inputs from a broad range of social groups’. Consociational democracy as conceptualised by Apter and Lijphart and Polyarchy formulated by Dahl would fall under this category. It is not based on majority principle of representation; rather…