Democracy

It ain’t a spectator sport.

Pluralism:
Concept of distributing political power through several
different institutions, which can limit each one’s actions.
Ex: separation of powers In the United States.
Executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
Checks and balances.
Plurality of ideas, encompassed in different political
parties.
Belief that a country’s constitution ought to make room
for a diversity of social customs. But all political rights
traced back to the constitution.
Democracy as we now understand it was born in
Western Europe.

Why?

Toward end of middle ages: Modernization from within.

Not colonized by more technologically advanced
invaders.
Region could evolve slowly, along lines more
natural to its “indigenous peoples” and cultures
Feudal Roman-Catholic legacy
Feudalism and early capitalism created a very rigid class
structure.
Working class in most of Europe had to fight for the
right to vote.
Led to the creation of more class-based
political parties. (Ex: Labour Party in
the U.K.)
Role of church in politics overlapped with class issues to
create church-based parties. (Ex: Christian democrats
in various countries).

U.S. = exception to these European developments.

The Renaissance (~1300-1650)
Revolutionary in its notion of
human beings as the
center of all things.
New innovations in art,
science, technology, and
political philosophy came from
a belief in the surpassing
powers of human will and
intellect.
The Reformation (beginning in 1517)
Challenging the Catholic church was a big deal.
Inspired intellectual ferment, new ideas.

Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on

the door of the church in Wittenberg
and began a revolution
Reformation and Renaissance
 new, powerful intellectual, economic and
political movements that developed into:
mercantilism, the scientific revolution, the
enlightenment, the industrial revolution,
and imperialism.
Mercantilism (17th century): early form of capitalism
that was not about free trade. Countries’ trade policies
protected local producers against foreign competition.
Equated wealth with money.

New social class: The Bourgeoisie

And a Global System that judged nations by the size of

their balance of trade (surplus or deficit).
Mercantilism’s support for national producers and
manufacturers allowed Europe to develop its own
industry without a whole lot of competition from the
outside.
Resulting Economic growth  colonization.
Colonies inhibited from developing their own
native industries  dependence.

All of these new phenomena: extended sea travel,

economic growth and production + intellectual
foundations of the Renaissance and Reformation
Scientific Revolution
Changed people’s understanding of the
physical world.
Changing concept of world laid basis for modernity:
Science provided tools to conquer nature.
Philosophy of science and politics as a means
to solve social and economic problems.

 The enlightenment (eighteenth century)

Emphasized human reason over blind faith.

One effect = Ethical hedonism: ordinary

human desires = natural and good.
= support for capitalism.
French philosophers, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau
set about to do for the social sciences what the
scientific revolution did for the natural sciences.
Emphasized fact and experience.
Envisioned a new social order:
Rule of law bound rulers and
ruled alike.
All citizens guaranteed equal rights
“I may not be an aristocrat, but I’m
wealthy. I should have rights and
representation in government to
protect my wealth.”
Combination of the intellectual dissent of the
enlightenment + a series of complex social, economic
and political difficulties  French Revolution.
Stage 1: limited constitutional monarchy.

Stage 2: abolition of monarchy.

King Louis XVI’s head.
Execution of monarch =
turning point in European
political history.

Stage 3: Jacobins’ attempt at a

“Republic of Virtue”
Stage 4: Thermidorean Reaction:
Oligarchy in the guise of a Republic

Napoleon’s
dictatorship

Nonetheless, French Revolution was a major step

toward democracy as we understand it.
Rejection of both popular rule and rule by heredity.
Industrial Revolution: increased production
+
colonialism
+
increased global trade

Rising middle class (bourgeoisie)

+
Demand for political rights to
protect economic interests.
New technologies + factory system had other
socioeconomic consequences:
Urban industrial working class (proletariat).
Decline and fall of Feudalism.
Better transportation, larger cities.
But also made production less labor intensive.
unemployment, poverty, exploitation.

Child factory labor

Worker’s tenement housing

 the Renaissance, the Reformation, the rise of
capitalism, the scientific revolution, the
enlightenment, the industrial revolution

Liberalism
The dominant point of departure for world politics today
Liberalism
Liberty
Liberté
Libertad?
What does it all mean?

FREEDOM!!
Ideal ideology for the emerging middle class.

Politically: opposed to arbitrary and repressive rule,

press censorship, special privilege, and
discrimination on the basis of race or religion.

Economically: stressed property rights and other

middle-class interests.
Liberal philosophers, Adam Smith, Malthus, and
Ricardo:
Free competition among nations and individuals,
without the limits of tariffs or monopolies
 greatest prosperity for the greatest number of
people.
= Free market capitalism!!!!

Unemployment, hunger, deprivation = nature’s way of

regulating population growth (Social Darwinism)
Reactions to Liberalism:

Socialism

Conservativism
Modernity, via liberal politics and economics,
eradicated the scourges of feudal society.

Myth and blind faith  science

Hereditary privilege  concept of merit.
Constitutional Democracies:
Including presidential, parliamentary, and mixed
systems.
Contract between the government and the citizens.
Presidential democracy:

Chief executive = popularly elected

Checks and balances

President = both head of state and head of govt

President’s power curbed by the Legislature

Parliamentary Democracy:

Chief Executive usually = Prime Minister

Fusion (not separation) of powers

Major Advantage: less gridlock
Parliament can government with vote of “no
confidence”

But, executive can dissolve parliament and call

for new elections
(Allowed once every five years in the British
system)

Majority party can wait for favorable time to

hold elections.
Different democratic systems, same goal:

Government of laws, not of individual rulers