All Men are Liars: Is Democracy Meaningless? 1 by Gerry Mackie St. John’s College University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3JP United Kingdom gerry.mackie@sjc.ox.ac.uk April 18‚ 1997 Forthcoming in Jon Elster‚ ed.‚ Deliberative Democracy 2 I. Introdu ction. One current of thought within the rational choice approach to the study of politics asserts that democratic voting and democratic discussion are each‚ generally‚ inaccurate and meaningless. 2 I will call an emphasis on these descriptive
Free Democracy Voting Voting system
Egypt‚ in terms of democracy‚ is limited. Superficially it contains all the basic requirements of a democracy: a parliament‚ a president and regular elections. However‚ "elections do not a democracy make." In Egypt’s sordid past it has been occupied‚ reoccupied and moreover controlled by external forces unique in the Arab world. Strong nationalism has led Egypt through social experiments that failed. Imitation has brought about a parliamentary monarchy cut short by a coup. In the end‚ "Rule from
Premium Democracy United States United States Constitution
The collapse of the democracy in Germany between 1928 and 1934 was not contributed by one single event but by a wide ranging‚ and large number of factors‚ making it vulnerable to sudden shock. In some ways‚ the complexity of contributing factors to the collapse of democracy can be depended on the shaky foundations‚ lack of a democratic tradition and flaws within the constitution. Like the article 48‚ it created opportunities for the corrupt high commands to abuse the democratic authority‚ the appointment
Premium Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler Nazism
I believe that there were multiple occurrences contributing the end of Greek‚ or Athenian democracy. These back to back occurrences contributed to the weakening of their city as a whole and as a result the eventual end of democracy. Though it seemed like there might be moments of democracy from time to time‚ these events were really the death knell. The most major were the Decelean War‚ the plague and death of Pericles‚ and the Macedonian take over. When Sparta turned its military attentions to
Premium Ancient Greece Classical Athens Sparta
Democracy without discipline is a body without soul. If there is no discipline in the country‚ democracy will degenerate into a monocracy i.e.‚ a Government by a unruly crowd. In fact‚ in Greek ‘Demos’ means crowd. The word ‘curacy’ is from the Greek word ‘Krait’ or ‘Cratos’ which means power. A lack of discipline in democracy justifies Plato’s criticism that democracy is the divine right of the ignorant people to rule ignorantly. 6It is true that democracy is based on the free will of the people
Premium Democracy Government Autocracy
EQUALITY AND DEMOCRACY South Asian countries have fundamentally regarded economic development as a political matter. Another thing that differentiates South Asia is her commitment to egalitarianism in terms of planning. In terms of guiding beliefs‚ there is a similarity between South Asia and the West. However‚ a time dimension is involved. During West Asia’s development period‚ social welfare was still in its early stages. Social welfare was part of abstracts by scholars and even rebels
Premium Democracy South Asia Economic inequality
What is Democracy? There seems to be a great confusion what the word Democracy means. In spite of the fact that at least in some parts of the world one can hear it from the media every day. Democracy by definition means the government by people. That means that all the people should be able to have their say in one way another in everything that affects their lives. Dictionaries usually say that this right can either be exercised directly (by every member of a community having the possibility to
Free Democracy
Fundamentalism and Democracy Political systems and religions have consistently coincided in a climate of pressure. The same applies to relations between democracy and religion. There are natural contrasts between the two. Democracy is pluralism‚ while religion is uniqueness. Democracy is power by the individuals‚ for the individuals‚ it is along these lines dependent upon the differences of truths and on conceivable bargains between them. Religion is dependent upon the expressions of God‚ which
Premium Religion
Bhutanese democracy 1 Bhutanese democracy Bhutan has transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a multi-party democracy. The development of Bhutanese democracy has been marked by the active encouragement and participation of reigning Bhutanese monarchs since the 1950s‚ beginning with legal reforms such as the abolition of slavery‚ and culminating in the enactment of Bhutan’s Constitution. The first democratic elections in Bhutan began in 2007‚ and all levels of government had been democratically
Premium Bhutan
So‚ the question asks are elections good for democracies? When I analyze this question‚ I immediately think about the word democracy and the type of democracy that is implemented within the U.S. The website “whatisdemocracy.net” describes democracy as the government by the people. The website also explains how people should be able to have their say in one way or another in everything that affects their lives. Which Is why democracy is either direct (by every member of a community having the possibility
Premium Democracy Voting Elections