Lecture 1 Meaning of Democracy R.S.damian

7/29/2019 Lecture 1 Meaning of Democracy R.S.damian

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R.S. Damian, The Meaning VsDefinition of Democracy

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Lecture 1: The Meaning Vs Definition of Democracy

Are the terms meaning and definition the same?

Probably not.Meaning-simplifies the reality into words so that we canshare the understanding.

Definition-means a formal statement of the meaning of a

word/concept on basis of selected criteria like; nature,scope, origin, structure, procedure, or the degree ofdistinctness from other known objects, images, processes,or concepts. In this sense, the meaning of democracy and

the definition of democracy are two different things. Themeaning aims at bringing a shared understanding of theconcept, but the definition aims at elevating certain criteriathat can help us tell the meaning into a meaning


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R.S. Damian, The Meaning VsDefinition of Democrac

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Meaning Vs Definition of Democracy

Concept usually have one root meanings, but the so calledother meanings are delivered from the root meaningthrough

Collocation-E.g...., democracy is liberty Connotation-E.g..., democracy as privatization

Context-E.g., democracy as public ownership and equalityin communist societies

The meaning of the reality denotes the reality, but thedefinition can be based on collocative, contextual, orconnotative experiences of how we know the reality. Thus,as students of Political Science we need to be careful

when working with definitions. We should go beyondand try to understand why somebody defines a concept ass/he defines it.


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Meaning of Democracy

Democracy etymologically comes from a GreekLanguage demos Kratos. Demos" means"People" while "Kratos" mean "Power."

Altogether, they mean "Power to the people,.It basically denotes rule by the people or asystem in which people have the power to rule.

It is a ruling system in which power andauthority is vested in the hands of the peopleor people participate in ruling (participating inmaking collective decisions that affect them).There is a great intellectual consensus that

democracy is about the idea that people mustrule themselves (participate in decisions thataffect their own life).


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Meaning of Democracy

There is agreement that people can rulethemselves through participation. Thus, themeaning of democracy is clear.

However there is no agreement on the definition(what is democracy across societies and times),since there has been no agreement on three basicquestions;

1. Who are the people?

2. How and to what extent can the people rule?

3. What does it mean by participating? And how

should participation be effectively exercised.NOTE: Our debates and discussions in this course shall surround on

these three questions and how they affect the theory andpractice of democracy across the history and the traditions.


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Defining Democracy

There are more than 550 known definitions of democracy.Not possible for us to cover all of them, but at least fewpopular definitions shall be reviewed here. However, thedefinitions can be commonly classified as they look at

democracy as:1. A process-Robert Dahl, Schumpeter2. Procedure-

3. Institutional arrangements e.g.. Multipartysm.

4. Outcome5. Ideology

6. Beliefs7. A style of ruling

Each of the above ways of looking at democracy has itsstrength and weaknesses (examine some of thesedefinitions).


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Definitions of Democracy

Larry Diamond (1990)defines democracy as a system ofgovernment that meets three essential conditions:

meaningful and extensive competition among individualsand groups (especially political parties) for all effectivepositions of government power, at regular intervals and

excluding the use of force; a highly inclusive level of

political participation in the selection of leaders andpolicies, at least through regular and fair elections, suchthat no major (adult) social group is excluded; and a level

of civil and political liberties - freedom of expression,freedom of the press, freedom to from and joinorganizations - sufficient to ensure the integrity of political

competition and participation


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Definitions of Democracy.

Schumpeter (1947):system for arriving at politicaldecisions in which individuals acquire the power todecide by means of a competitive struggle for thepeoples vote (see pp.269)

Samuel Huntington (1991), Democracy is a systemwhere the most powerful collective decision makersare selected through fair, honest, and periodic

elections in which candidates freely compete forvotes and in which virtually all the adult populationis eligible to vote.


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Definitions of Democracy..

David Beetham (1993), democracy is mode ofdecision-making about collectively binding rules andpolicies over which the people exercise control, andthe most democratic arrangement to be that where

all members of the collective enjoy effective equalrights to take part in such decision making directly -one, that is to say, which realizes to the greatestconceivable degree the principles of popular control

and equality in its exercise (pp.55).


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Definitions of Democracy

Adam Przeworski (1991) a system inwhich parties lose elections. There

must be political parties; divisions ofinterests, values and opinions;competition; organized by rules; andthere are winners and losers.


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Definitions of Democracy Continues

Yash Tandon (1979) argues that democracy is not justan idea. To him, democracy is a material question. Itconcerns the lives of people in their daily struggles

for material existence (pp. 1)Chachage (2001), Looks at democracy has always

existed as a historical mode of politics that is basedon respect of peoples' rights as individuals and as

communities rather than putting inordinate emphasison Multipartism and period electioneering.Democracy is a social project that is based on thequestion of people's rights and democracy with a

sense of social and political determinism rather thaneconomic determinism.

Kiondo (1997), Democracy entails culture and beliefsamong the people.


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Definitions of Democracy Continue

Robert Dahl (1989), democracy as a decision makingsystem where each person in a political communityis entitled to have his/her interests given equalconsideration in binding collective decisions (notnecessarily that all people are equally satisfied bythe collective decision). He uses the term

polyarchyto describe societies in which thereexists a certain set of institutions and procedureswhich are perceived as leading to such democracy.A polyarchy should practice regular occurrence of

free and open elections which are used to selectrepresentatives who then manage all or most of thepublic policy of the society.


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Robert Dahl (1989)

To live together in an association, then,people need a process for arriving atgovernmental decisions: a political

process.


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Definitions of Democracy Continues

Anthony Downs (1957), Democracy is a politicalsystem in which two or more parties competein periodic elections for control of thegoverning apparatus; the party (or coalition ofparties) winning the majority of votes gainscontrol of the governing apparatus until thenext election; the loosing parties never attemptto prevent the winners from taking office, nordo winners use the powers of office to vitiatethe ability of losers to compete in the nextelection; And all sane, law abiding adults whoare governed are citizens and every adult has

one and only one vote in each election.


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What Democracy is.and Whatit is not

Schmitter and Karl (1991), argue that apartfrom Schumpeters competitiveness,democracy must have the followingqualifications. Firstly, citizens must be able toinfluence public policy between elections;secondly, properly elected governments must

be able to exercise power without control by

unelected officials; and third, the polity mustbe self-governing.

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Lecture 1 Meaning of Democracy R.S.damian

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