Democracy

Definitions, concepts and classifications

Ideologies
Democracy or the Free Market? Communism: Stalinism, Revisionism, Eurocommunism or Marxism? Islam: Sunni, Shia, Shariat or Secular? Anti-colonialism, Neo-colonialism Feminism Trotskyism, Anarchism and terrorism

What is Democracy?
Regular, contested elections Alternation of Governments Rule of Law freedoms: speech, association press, etc. pluralism/polycentrism/civil society Privacy Separation of powers/checks and balances

Important events
Death of Socrates: Plato blames democracy [399BC] The Roman Republic [SPQR] Anglo-saxon and Viking ideas of warrior community [Dark Ages] Magna Carta 1215 Glorious Revolution 1688 American Revolution 1776 French Revolution 1789

Modern Events
Chartists and 6 demands: Universal Suffrage [well, male] Equal electoral districts Payment for MPs Abolition of property qual. For MPs Vote by ballot Annual parliaments

Even more modern events

Struggle for decolonisation Russian revolution 1917 Chinese protracted revolution Globalisation United Nations European Union Collapse of Communism and Westphalian settlement Idea of Universal Human rights

What sort of democracy?

Participative Peoples Democracy Representative Liberal Free market? Eurocommunist? Totalitarian /Rousseau-style General will Fabian one-party

Models of Democracy
British American French Asian Islamic

Variables
Electoral system and party system monarchy or republic uni- or bi-cameral fusion of executive and legislature separation of powers President and prime minister: 4th or 5th Rep ministers in or out of Assembly

Choosing a system 1: legislature and executive

Presidential or parliamentary? British model? US model? French 4th Republic? French 5th Republic? Other European? Asian?

Choosing 2: electoral system

PR or first past the post? Constituency size: whole country, German model or multi-member? Qualification for representation: what proportion of electorate? How do we want to fix the result? CPs thought single-member constituencies would benefit them. Turned out differently.

Choosing 3: Presidents
Direct or indirect election? How much power? Relationship with Prime Minister Can Prexy dissolve Assembly?

The Tyranny of the Market

W[h]ither the Nation-state?

Marx [or was it Engels?]

The state will wither away Was this the state as executive committee of the bourgeoisie? Or as an instrument of class oppression? Or did he really mean what anarchists mean?

Globalisation
Are we moving to a single global market? Does that mean forget national and regional markets? And does that demand global governance, rather than regional or national?

Would Marx agree with Friedman and Hayek?

Capitalism is supposed to create the conditions necessary for socialism The revolution is an international one So capitalism must presumably create an international state for the proletariat to overthrow. Man creates his own history but in conditions not of his own choosing So F and H may be friends of Karl!

Friedrich Hayek
Austrian, 1899-1992 Chicago after 1950. Previously at LSE Anti-Keynesian/ free market economist Law Legislation and Liberty 3 vols 1973-9 Keith Joseph gave a copy to all civil servants in DTI when he became sec of state in 1979

Milton Friedman
New Yorker 1912Theoretical Economist Monetarist founder of Chicago School Governments should not intervene in the workings of the market Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money

The Market
Hayek recognises the existence of market failure specifically to provide collective goods Friedman that the market can be relied upon to generate not only the best world but the best of all possible worlds

Fairness and Justice

Hayek: the market Friedman and therefore the distribtion of inequality is income found in a justifiable capitalist society is individuals do not just deserve their lot in that it reflects the market can be cruel different talents and unfair: hard abilities and efforts work and bright of the people in that ideas not always society rewarded money is not a

The State
Hayek state has a role in licensing quality must be guaranteed services must be contracted out Friedman State should be kept to a minimum market will guarantee quality services must be privatised

Issues
Pollution Can government prevent deforestation? The safety-net caveat emptor? How do you form an army? Or: if the state no longer has a monopoly of coercive force, is it a state?

In conclusion
Is the nation state withering away? Is Marx about to make a come-back? Is there an era of regional superstates around the corner, or a world state? Or is the term state redundant? The executive committee of the global corporations what will it look like and what power will it have?