This paper, whilst noting that there is a democratic deficit contained within liberal democratic poltical systems, argues that all known alternatives to present practices create their own problems for democracy. To demonstrate this, a variety of desirable democratic outcomes are examined alongside six main forms of exercising democratic input. The best form of input according to the criteria is identified. This form, ‘demarchy’, which is found first in the work of Burnheim, is then subjected to scrutiny. This demonstrates that even within this system, the problems likely to arise have democratic bases.
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