Defining ‘Democracy’

Abstract

Because of the challenge to traditional ways of thinking about democratic government provided by elitist theories and studies of actual voting behaviour, the problem of defining ‘democracy’ has received much attention in the last few decades. The side effects of this debate have been considerable and beneficial. The ‘economic’ model, for instance, has suggested fruitful lines of inquiry about the ways in which modern democracies work. But on the central question, the actual meaning of ‘democracy’, agreement still seems far away. Most political theorists, one suspects, have by now given up hope and have moved on to more promising areas of inquiry. The ‘definition of democracy’ is a dead horse which may be offered annually to students for remorseless flogging in examinations but is otherwise not worth serious academic consideration. With this sentiment I am in partial sympathy. The word ‘democracy’ is so vague, democracies are so varied, that there is little chance of substantial agreement. On the other hand, as long as thinking about democracy is considered a useful pedagogic exercise (which it is), there is no reason why the student, or his teacher, should be unnecessarily confused. In this article I hope to remove some of these confusions by arguing for a definition which is simpler, though vaguer, than those in current circulation.