Representative Democracy

Citizens elect representatives to make laws and policies on their behalf — the practical form of democracy in large, complex states; the “second-best” form but the most practicable way to apply democratic principles.

Foundations & thinkers

Consent of the governed · regular elections · rule of law · accountability · protection of rights · constitutional limits · political pluralism. John Locke gives the first major exposition (contract, consent, trusteeship); Thomas Hobbes treats representation as authority granted by the people; John Stuart Mill (Considerations on Representative Government) calls it the ideal form of modern democratic government.

Features

Elected representatives · delegated decision-making · free, fair, regular elections · accountability · rule of law · protection of rights · separation of powers · political pluralism · role of parties, associations & interest groups. Charles de Montesquieu’s separation of powers supports checks and balances; Alexis de Tocqueville praised civic engagement and voluntary associations.

Models of representation

• Trusteeship — representatives are trustees of the people; John Locke treats government as a trust; they must act for the public good.
• Enlightened representation — Edmund Burke: Parliament should address larger national issues with independent judgment, not merely reconcile factional interests.

Merits / criticism

Merits: practical & efficient in large societies; representatives specialise; elections create accountability; fixed terms give stability; minority rights may be protected. Criticism: limited direct participation; elite capture; weak accountability between elections; under-representation of the marginalised; campaign finance distorts fairness; risk of majoritarian or demagogic drift.

“Democracy … institutional arrangements for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote.”

Joseph Schumpeter

“The absence of participation in power by citizens is the first symptom of … the crisis of democracy.”

Hannah Arendt

“Our democracy has sold out to the highest bidder.”

Lawrence Lessig

Robert Dahl: a virtually powerless ordinary citizen leaves policy responsive to the privileged. Iris Marion Young: inequalities of public voice and access undercut democratic equality. Maurice Duverger: “the party in a democracy is the instrument of democracy”. Benjamin Barber: strong democracy emphasises debate and active participation. Pierre Rosanvallon calls the present a post-representative democracy — we cannot live with representative democracy, yet are not ready to move beyond it.

2020 spine: J.S. Mill — ideal government is both democratic and representative; good government promotes the common good by improving virtue & intelligence and uses citizens’ capacities; universal suffrage lets people control the general direction of policy; participation must exceed voting; local participation educates citizens; yet governance still needs expertise — a balance with capable leadership. Countered by Schumpeter (elitism) and by Rousseau, Pateman, Barber (too little direct involvement).

Representative Government — protective and educative

Government is a moral institution, not an administrative machine: the worth of a constitution lies in what it makes of its citizens. The best polity must serve present interests and improve the moral, intellectual and active qualities of the people.

• The ideal is direct participation; under modern complexity, the best practicable form is representative government — it reconciles equality with freedom, gives legitimacy through participation, and breeds self-reliant, alert citizens (despotism breeds apathy).
• It is a school of character combining “participation and competence.” Open voting matters because justifying one’s vote turns it into “an instrument of intellectual and moral growth”; Parliament should be “a committee of grievances and a congress of opinions.” Dennis Thompson: participation creates a “sense of political efficacy.”
• Two competences: institutional (workable means) and moral (better ends). Franchise wide but qualified — excludes the illiterate and “unfit”; supports women’s suffrage and proportional representation; devices include plural and weighted voting and a strong second chamber to check the tyranny of the majority, mobocracy and mediocracy.
• Economic democracy: partnerships between owners and workers, and worker cooperatives — Wendy Donner notes Mill is even more optimistic about participation in the economic than the political sphere, giving his liberalism a cooperative-socialist edge.