SY103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Active Citizenship, Robert A. Dahl, Elite Theory
Document Summary
Formal elements of democracy: government, bureaucracies, leaders, political parties, special interest groups etc. Substantive basis of democracy: the people, social movements, community organizations, civil society etc. Democracy: demos (people) + kratos (power, rule) Substantive democracy: the ideal version where democracy works in the interests of the governed. Democracy flourishes with rational citizens who are capable of using their own judgement to make decisions and they actively participate in the political processes. Formal democracy: the realist version where democracy serves the interests of their rulers. Citizens are incapable of making informed decisions and they are excluded from most political decision making. (sometimes called procedural democracy ) Elite theory: the realist version of democracy. They justify the distance between the people and the ruling political and economic elites: humans are followers and need elites to find the way, democracy should not be aspired it should be oligarchy.
