Democracy training Because “it’s democratic” doesn’t mean it’s a good idea

Why do we like Democracy? – Intrinsic reasons 1: Self-ownership – individuals have a right to pursue future as they see fit. Democracy is the only political decision-maker to achieve this. 2:Creates (theoretical) equality of citizenship – perhaps a concern governments should have. These are reasons we might prefer democracy EVEN when it makes worse choices as a result Things to think about – giving more votes to certain types of people, ability to hold office etc.

Instrumental 1 – aggregate of preference Competing preferences exist in what we want the government to do If everyone (or as many as possible) have a say – this should manifest in a government that acts in the most agreeable way to most people BUT given we have political parties governing for large periods of time with an agenda is this possible Do certain preferences get more loudly heard (is this down to being able to fund campaigns)

Instrumental 2 – public deliberation Policies tend to be discussed in the public eye This means that everyone has fair input to highlight failings and strengths of a policy The deliberation leads to the removal of bad policy and the retention of good policy that wins the debate BUT policy often manifests different ideological starting points Tribalism can also mean that policy is not really considered properly thinking there’s an ideological dispute

Instrumental 3 – legitimacy seen Most policy choices depend on some level of buy-in. The more “democratic” a policy seems the more buy-in you’re likely to get Limiting the amount people can donate to parties may not actually have an affect on policy or ideology or anything but it does remove a perception barrier

Democracy is captured by interest groups Wealthy groups & organisations have disproportionate power Media outlets tend to have political agendas skewing the information that can be received It is very hard for a party to go against its financial backers – see the fallout of Miliband vs. the Unions These financial backers are often suspected of driving politics – see things like failure to enact banking regulation

Median voter theorem Political parties ultimately want to be elected Political opinion in the public exists roughly on a bell curve of “left”-”right” It makes sense to go as close to the centre as possible assuming 2 dominant parties to capture as many of those votes either side

Legitimate purview of democracy We don’t believe that some choices should be in the hands of voters We would never give a democracy the ability to vote away human rights for certain groups for instance Sometimes information spread on technical issues is minimal The reason we elect representative is that it’s a good thing they occasionally make unpopular choices

Example motions THW give more votes to citizens according to their performance on a current affairs test. THW ban political parties and require all candidates for national public office to seek election as independents THR the High Court decision compelling the BNP to alter its constitution to accept black members