POL114H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Robert A. Dahl, Consociationalism, Polyarchy
Document Summary
What democracy is and is not. Democracy - scholars, conversely, hesitated to use it without adding qualifying adjectives because of the ambiguity that surrounds it. Democracy - scholars, conversely, hesitated to use it without adding qualifying adjectives because of. Polyarchy, in its stead in the (vain) hope of gaining a greater measure of conceptual precision. One of the major themes of this essay is that democracy does not consist of a single unique set of. Citizens are the most distinctive element in democracies. The most popular definition of democracy equates it with regular elections, fairly conducted and honestly counted. All are integral to its practice. Majority rule to protect minority rights. Representatives whether directly or indirectly elected do most of the real work in modern democracies. Procedures that make democracy possible specific procedural norms must be followed and civic rights must be respected. Elected officials are chosen in frequent and fairly conducted elections in which coercion is comparatively uncommon.
