|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Defining Democracy
| Article
# : |
12103 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1987 |
6,847 Words |
| Author
: |
Claes G. Ryn
Claes G. Ryn is professor of politics at Catholic University
of America and chairman of the National Humanities Institute.
His most recent book is Will, Imagination and Reason (Regnery
Books). |
Western constitutional democracy is under increasing pressure from hostile forces. Its ability to defend itself against foreign threats and internal corrosion is in serious question today. One reason why Western democracy has great difficulty asserting itself coherently is its failure to articulate its essential identity. This failure is not merely intellectual but symptomatic of a larger inability to satisfy the moral and cultural prerequisites for this demanding form of government. The Western democracies are torn by deepening contradictions. Within a system of government that is singularly dependent on a realistic view of man and the world, utopian notions of politics enjoy great influence.
It is widely overlooked that democracy can be defined in radically different ways. The same term is used for ideas of government that are in effect incompatible and that imply sharply contrasting views of man and society. In both academic and journalistic discussion of popular government, a fundamental distinction is usually lacking, that between what may be called constitutional democracy and plebiscitary democracy. The former is in important respects a modern manifestation and a development of classical and Judeo-Christian traditions. Popular government as it has existed in the United States is inextricably intertwined with those traditions. Plebiscitary democracy, on the other hand, has its main theoretical origins in the eighteenth century and is based on assumptions that clash with the older view of man and society. The blurring of these forms of government is causing endless intellectual confusion, which spills over into the formulation and conduct of public policy. The purpose here is to develop the distinction between constitutional and plebiscitary democracy and to demonstrate its relevance for democracy's ability to rule--specifically, to handle the most basic responsibility of government, that of national survival.
I
Recalling a few elements of the classical and Judeo-Christian traditions will help in making the distinction. The civilization inspired by ancient Greece, Rome, and Christianity recognizes both lower and higher potentialities in man. It stresses the existence of universal values to which man needs to adjust for the sake of his own happiness. It also discerns the chronic presence in man of a perverse self-indulgence, the lure of which constantly threatens his humanity. Just as there are types of action and contemplation that tend to lift man's spirit and satisfy his innermost longing, so are there types of action and contemplation that, despite the temporary pleasure they may bring, tend to
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
