5. Democracy and Legitimacy

Legitimacy and Political Stability

  • Legitimacy refers to the rightfulness of a regime or system of rule.
  • It is linked to the fundamental political debate about political obligation: Why should citizens obey the government and respect the state's laws?
  • Modern political debate understands legitimacy in terms of political behavior and beliefs, focusing on why people obey a particular state.
  • Conditions and processes that encourage people to see authority as rightful underpin the stability of a regime.

Legitimizing Power

  • Max Weber's classic contribution categorizes 'systems of domination' based on how legitimacy is established.
  • Weber's three ideal types of authority:
    • Traditional authority: Based on long-established customs and traditions, regarded as legitimate because it has 'always existed'. Examples include patriarchalism and gerontocracy. Linked to hereditary systems.
    • Charismatic authority: Based on an individual's personality and capacity to make a direct appeal to followers. Examples include Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, Ayatollah Khomeini, Fidel Castro and Colonel Gaddafi. Often underpinned by 'cults of personality'.
      *Legal-rational authority: Linked to a clearly defined set of rules. Typical in modern states. Power is determined by formal, constitutional rules. Promotes limited government and efficiency through a rational division of labor.
  • Weber recognized a darker side to legal-rational authority, fearing a more depersonalized and inhuman social environment due to bureaucratic forms of organization.
  • Beetham argued that power is legitimate only if:
    • Exercised according to established rules.
    • Rules are justified by shared beliefs of the government and the governed.
    • Legitimacy is demonstrated by consent from the governed.
      *Highlights the importance of elections, party competition, and constitutional rules.

Legitimation Crises and Revolutions

  • Neo-Marxist theorists argue that capitalism is upheld by its ability to secure political support.
  • Jürgen Habermas identified 'crisis tendencies' within capitalist societies that make it difficult to maintain political stability.
  • Contradictions exist between capitalist accumulation and popular pressures from democratic politics.
  • Democratic processes lead to demands for social welfare, increased participation, and social equality.
  • Expansion of state responsibilities, taxation, and public spending constrains capitalist accumulation.
  • Capitalist democracies struggle to satisfy demands for social security and welfare rights while maintaining a market economy.
  • Government 'overload' occurs when governments face increasing difficulty governing due to over-demand.
  • Politicians and parties outbid one another to gain power, while pressure groups make unrelenting demands.
  • Government's capacity is undermined by corporatism.
  • The New Right's rise was a response to this legitimation or overload crisis, challenging the theories and values that legitimized the state's expansion.
  • The New Right promoted pro-individual and pro-market values, extolling rugged individualism.
  • When support falters and cannot be managed, legitimacy may collapse, leading to repression or revolution.
  • Revolutions recast the political order entirely, bringing an abrupt break with the past.
  • Examples of revolutions:
    • American Revolution (1776): Led to a constitutional republic with representation.
    • French Revolution (1789): Advanced democratic ideals.
    • Russian Revolution (1917): Provided a model for 20th-century revolutions.
    • Eastern European Revolutions (1989–91): Re-established the link between revolution and democracy.
      *Arab Spring (2011): Demonstrated the unpredictability of revolutions.

Democratic Legitimacy

  • Modern discussions about legitimacy are dominated by its relationship to democracy, with democratic legitimacy widely accepted as the only meaningful form of legitimacy.
  • Democracy promotes legitimacy through:
    • Consent: Citizens implicitly consent to be governed through participation in the political process.
    • Compromise: Democratic governance involves compromise and negotiation among rival interests.
    • Feedback: Democracy provides a feedback system to align government outputs with public pressures, managing legitimation crises.
  • Factors other than democracy may explain political stability, such as widespread prosperity and the delivery of goods.
  • Liberal societies offer personal freedom, self-expression, and social mobility, which may be important for maintaining legitimacy.

Is Democracy Failing to Deliver?

  • Mature democratic societies face political disenchantment and disaffection.
  • Popular disengagement with established political processes is reflected in declining electoral turnout and party membership.
  • New political forces and 'outsiders' challenge conventional democratic structures with the rise of populism.
  • Democracy's traditional success was linked to dispersing power and ensuring everyone had a political voice.
  • Developments like neoliberalism and globalization have compromised democracy's ability to generate legitimacy.
  • Neoliberalism and globalization have widened the gap between rich and poor, leading to political exclusion.
  • Globalization reduces governments' capacity to control economies and creates tensions between winners and losers.

Non-Democratic Legitimacy

  • Authoritarian regimes survive through coercion and repression, but also claim legitimacy.
  • Three key forms of non-democratic legitimation:
    • Elections: One-party or 'rigged' elections create an impression of popular support.
    • Performance: Delivering rising living standards, public order, and improved services.
    • Ideology: Upholding the leader's, military's, or party's right to rule.
  • When these strategies fail, regimes resort to draconian measures or collapse.

Understanding Democracy

  • Democracy originates from the Greek word kratos, meaning power or rule, thus democracy means 'rule by the demos' (the people).
  • The problem with democracy is its widespread use as a general term of approval, losing its specific meaning.
  • Definitions of democracy include:
    • Rule by the poor and disadvantaged.
    • Direct rule by the people without professional politicians.
    • A society based on equal opportunity.
    • A system of welfare and redistribution.
    • Decision-making based on majority rule.
    • Securing the rights and interests of minorities.
    • Filling public offices through popular vote.
    • Serving the interests of the people.
  • Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address defines democracy as government of, by, and for the people.

Who Are the People?

  • A core feature of democracy is political equality, distributing political power widely.
  • 'The people' is usually equated to the entire population, but every system restricts participation.
  • Early Greek writers defined demos as 'the many,' i.e., the disadvantaged.
  • Greek city-states restricted participation to male citizens over 20, excluding women, slaves, and foreigners.
  • Universal suffrage was not established in the UK until 1928, and in the USA until the 1960s.
  • Remaining restrictions include excluding children, the insane, and criminals.
  • 'The people' can be viewed as a cohesive body with a common interest or as 'the majority.'
  • Democracy can operate at various levels: local, national, or cosmopolitan.

How Should the People Rule?

  • 'Government by the people' implies self-governance and participation in decision-making.
  • Direct democracy entails direct involvement in decision-making through referendums or mass meetings.
  • Representative democracy involves voting for representatives who make decisions on behalf of citizens.
  • 'Government for the people' allows little public participation, with leaders claiming to articulate the people's interests.
  • Totalitarian democracies are a travesty of democratic rule.
  • Advocates of representative democracy limit participation to voting due to concerns about public wisdom and experience.

How Far Should Popular Rule Extend?

  • The extent of popular rule depends on the relationship between the public and private realms.
  • Liberal individualism restricts democracy to political life, defining politics narrowly.
  • Democracy establishes a framework of laws within which individuals pursue private interests.
  • Radical democrats extend democracy to all areas of social existence.
  • People have a right to participate in decisions affecting their lives.
  • Socialists call for 'social democracy' or 'economic democracy' to democratize economic life.
  • Feminists demand democratization of family life.

Models of Democracy

  • Democracy is often treated as a single, unambiguous phenomenon, but there are several rival models.
  • Four contrasting models of democracy:
    • Classical democracy
    • Limited or 'protective' democracy
    • Developmental democracy
    • People’s or 'socialist' democracy

Classical Democracy

  • Based on the polis of Ancient Greece, particularly Athens.
  • Direct democracy involved government by mass meeting.
  • Citizens actively participated in meetings and shouldered public office responsibilities.
  • Plato criticized political equality, proposing government by philosopher kings.
  • Athenian democracy excluded the majority of the population from political activity.
  • The classical model is kept alive in township meetings, communal assemblies, and referendums.

Limited or 'Protective' Democracy

  • Emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries, aiming to protect citizens from government encroachments.
  • Associated with early liberal thinkers who sought to maximize individual liberty.
  • John Locke argued the right to vote was based on natural rights and the right to property.
  • Democracy meant government by consent through a representative assembly.
  • Utilitarian theorists advocated universal suffrage to promote 'the greatest happiness for the greatest number'.
  • Protective democracy is a limited and indirect form of democracy.
  • Consent is exercised through regular, competitive elections, ensuring accountability.
  • Operates within constitutional rules that check government power.
  • Aims to give citizens the widest scope to live as they choose, compatible with laissez-faire capitalism.

Developmental Democracy

  • Focused on the development of the individual and community.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ideas differed from liberal conceptions.
  • Democracy was a means for human beings to achieve freedom and autonomy.
  • Citizens are 'free' when they participate in shaping their community.
  • Rousseau criticized elections, arguing for continuous participation.
  • Freedom meant obedience to the general will, the true will of each citizen.
  • Radical developmental democracy required economic equality.
  • Rousseau's theories shaped the idea of participatory democracy, emphasizing openness, accountability, and decentralization.
    *Grass-roots democracy' exercises power at the lowest level.
  • John Stuart Mill viewed democracy as promoting the 'highest and harmonious' development of individual capacities.
  • Political participation enhances understanding and personal development.
  • Mill advocated broadening participation but proposed plural voting based on education.
  • He feared the 'tyranny of the majority' and supported deliberative democracy.
  • Deliberation promotes understanding and consensus and should involve all affected citizens.

People's or 'Socialist' Democracy

  • Derived from orthodox communist regimes, referring to Marxist models.
  • Marxists dismissed liberal democracy as 'bourgeois' democracy.
  • Democracy designated social equality through common ownership.
  • Overthrow of capitalism would allow genuine democracy to flourish.
  • A communist society would exist after a transitionary dictatorship of the proletariat.
  • Lenin's vanguard party claimed to perceive the proletariat's interests.
  • Leninist democracy was accepted by communist regimes.
    *Rosa Luxemburg associated the vanguard party with substitutionism where a ruling party substitutes itself for the proletariat.

Democracy in Practice: Rival Views

  • Contemporary debate revolves around how democracy works in practice and what democratization implies.
  • Broad acceptance of liberal democracy with certain central features:
    • Indirect, representative democracy based on regular elections.
    • Competition and electoral choice through political pluralism.
    • Clear distinction between state and civil society.
    • Protection for minorities and individuals.

Pluralist View

  • Traced back to Locke and Montesquieu, systematically developed by James Madison.
  • Feared majoritarianism and the crushing of individual rights.
  • Stressed the multiplicity of interests and groups in society.
  • Proposed divided government based on separation of powers.
  • Resulted in 'rule by multiple minorities'.
  • Robert Dahl's study of power in New Haven concluded no ruling elite dominated the process.
  • Coined the term 'polyarchy' to mean rule by the many.
  • Competition between parties and interest groups creates communication between government and governed.
  • Criticisms question whether it ensures a genuine dispersal of power with the potential for 'Pluralist Stagnation'.

Elitist View

  • Developed as a critique of egalitarian ideas, highlighting elite rule.
  • Classical elitists, such as Pareto, Mosca, and Michels, viewed democracy as a delusion.
  • Mosca stated that in all societies, 'two classes of people appear – a class that rules and a class that is ruled'.
  • Michels developed 'the iron law of oligarchy'.
  • Modern elitist theorists highlight how political systems fall short of democratic ideals.
  • Mills' power elite model portrays the USA as dominated by a nexus of leading groups.
    *Some theorists argue that the political elite competes in a competitive elite model.
  • Schumpeter's model stated that the electorate can decide which elite rules but cannot change the fact that power is exercised by an elite.
  • Downs developed an 'economic theory of democracy'.

Corporatist View

  • Originated from Fascist Italy, integrating managers and workers into government.
  • Tripartite government' conducts government through state officials, employers' groups, and unions.
  • Integrated economic interests into government in the post-1945 period.
  • Corporatism can use a system of collective functional representation, in which individuals are articulated by the groups to which they belong rather than through electoral competition.
    *Threats include only allowing groups with privileged access to voice public opinion, benefiting the state rather than economic interests, and subverting electoral and parliamentary democracy.

New Right View

  • Emerged from the 1970s, critiquing 'democratic overload'.
  • Theorists highlight the danger of empowering sectional groups, enabling them to make demands.
  • Leads to state intervention and economic stagnation.
  • Politicians compete for power by making unrealistic promises to the electorate.
  • Leads to high inflation and a tax burden that destroys enterprise.
  • Democracy is a defence against unlimited government, rather than an institution to enable social transformation.

Marxist View

  • Rooted in class analysis, political power reflects the distribution of economic power.
  • Critiques the tension between political equality and social inequality generated by capitalism.
  • Liberal democracies manipulate capitalist economies and are controlled by ruling classes.
  • Power is concentrated in the hands of the few in parallel with Elites.
  • Economic factors are of prime importance related to control of production.
  • Eurocommunists advocate a peaceful and democratic 'road to socialism'.

Towards Cosmopolitan Democracy?

  • Cosmopolitan democracy has gained attention due to globalization.
  • Policy-making authority has shifted from national governments to international organizations.
  • One model: Construction of a world parliament to introduce greater scrutiny.
  • An alternative model would rely on the reform of existing international organizations and strengthening global civil society.
  • Relies on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to reconfigure global power.
  • States may block global democracy or create bodies, which lack credibility.
  • The egalitarian thrust from cosmopolitan democracy is not in line with disparities of the existent global system.
  • Criticisms state that democracy structured for public accountability is destined for failure as only local institutions can offer reliable insight.