What is Democracy?

What are the four different levels of democracy?

1. Classical Democracy

2. Representative Democracy

3. Pluralism Democracy

4. Elite Democracy

What is classical democracy?

Law is made by the people. Most famous example is Athens.

Who all voted in Athens?

Every citizen of Athens was a part of their “assembly” (government) and would vote on laws. But only male, native born adults were considered citizens of Athens. The only way this worked was because a small percentage of the population were citizens. Slaves, women, and children did lots of work while the men did politics.

What made Classical Democracy work in?

1. One person, one vote

2. Close connection with ethics and politics

   1. Viewed politicians as something noble and aspirational

3. Deep participation (politics is every day)

4. Enlightened Understanding

   1. The worst thing you could do is be ignorant or selfish

Who in Ancient Athens thought democracy was the worst type of government?

Plato and Aristotle

What book did Plato write?

The Republic. Tries to answer “what is Justice”

What is the analogy Plato writes about in the republic?

“Ship at Sea”. There is a bay connected to the sea. Out at sea is a ship filled with 1 old navigator who knows a lot about sailing and 100 dumb dudes. There are a ton of rocks guarding the bay and the ships’ goal is to get into the bay. The old navigator tries to convince the sailors what to do, but they don’t listen. Then, a super hot, dumb, and attractive sailor tries to convince everyone what to do (this works and everyone dies)

What do the navigator and hot sailor represent in the analogy?

The navigator represents Wisdom while the hot sailor represents passion. In Democracy, people are led by passion, not wisdom and then they die.

Examples of Passion leading people instead of wisdom?

Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 against Hillary Clinton (lifetime experience in politics) even though Trump had no experience in politics. He was just charismatic.

What is representative Democracy?

Citizens elect representatives to make decision for them. The powers of the elected representatives are defined by a constitution that establishes the basic laws, principles, and framework of the government

What are some problems with representative Democracy?

1. Representatives often act as trustees rather than delegates, using their own beliefs rather than their constituents.

2. Minority vote exclusion in a winner take all system.

Who was Robert Dahl?

An American democratic political theorist who came up with the idea of pluralism.

What were the two types of groups that Dahl came up with?

1. Permeant Groups: long history, fought many political values, bright future (political parties)

2. Temporary Groups: Created to fight one specific issue, then vanish away

What are the 3 definitions of pluralism?

1. Power (A has power over B if A can make B do something B would otherwise not do). The more power the better.

2. Politics (decisions about who gets what, when and where) Result of bargaining negotiating and compromising between groups

3. Means of politics (Bargaining, negotiating, and compromising)

What is the principles of power?

1. Power comes from Resources (the more the better)

2. All groups have some resources

3. No Group is all powerful

Who was Robert Michels?

A philosopher who was critical of pluralism. Created the Iron Rule of Oligarchy.

What does the Iron Rule of Oligarchy say?

Democracy will never happen, we will always end up with an oligarchy

1. anytime a group of people comes together, a leader emerges

2. Once the leader emerges, they acquire new values and interests

   1. They want to keep the conflict going in order to maintain their social standing because if the conflict ends, they no longer are the leader

What is the Irony of Democracy?

Democracy is ironic because in order to have democracy, you can’t have democracy. Includes two definitions of democracy ( All the things we love about democracy (freedom) vs people rule (taking away the things people love about democracy to people they do not like))

When asking Elites vs nonelites polling questions, what was the answer?

Elites supported more democratic ideas (no banning books) while nonelites supported anti-democratic ideas (ban books)

What Metaphor is involved in Elite democracy?

TREES! If you break off a twig, The tree will survive. If you break the trunk, the tree will die. Nonelites deal with twig issues that do not effect the government (legalize weed). Elites deal with trunk issues that do effect the government (who runs for office)

Difference between Elite democracy elites vs Karl Marx Elites?

Elite theory elites are dedicated to protecting democracy and they help us do what is right even when we don’t want to. Karl Marx Elites are dedicated to keeping the working class down and making as much money as possible.