Democracy is not that simple

“Global Democracy now” read the banner. But what sort of democracy? Democracy involves ensuring the will of the people is respected most of the time, while the interests of minorities are protected. Or put in another way democracy must not become three wolves and a sheep discussing what to have for dinner. There are multiple varieties of democracy, including shadow or fake democracy, a democracy in name only. Each has its pros and cons and tackles the wolf sheep problem in different ways. All suffer from apathy, or the desire to have a life not dominated by committee meetings, despite knowing that politics is too important to be left to politicians and too complex for the inexperienced.

Direct Democracy means the people vote on every issue. A majority vote carries the day. In a small group or society with well established customs direct democracy is feasible. The local social club for example can vote on where the annual dinner is to be held or who to invite as next month's guest speaker. In a complex rapidly changing society a referendum on everything would lead to the country grinding to a halt.

Perhaps Internet Technology would allow direct democracy. But there are problems: not everyone has internet access or can use it, an electronic vote is easier to rig than a paper one, ensuring (almost) everyone appreciate the issues and tradeoffs involved and preventing a smart demagogue and communicator ensuring the result is decided by emotion not logic will be hard in the absence of an educated and independent electorate – something those with power regard the way they would regard a scorpion in the bedroom.

In practice today direct democracy is rare. Organising a referendum is expensive and may give the “wrong” result.

In a representative democracy representatives are chosen to act in the name of the people. There is more than one way to make this choice. The advantages are that the people can get on with life and leave policy making to their representatives and that the people can in theory get rid of their representatives. Disadvantages include the possibility that the representatives act in their own interests rather than those of the people or become captured by special interests – the Business Lobby, the Finance Industry, the Religious Right etc. If as is common representative are selected by vote rather than by lot from say those who wish to be representatives ( and thus violate Plato's rule that anyone who seeks political power should never be allowed to have it) or from the population in general as for jury service, tribal voting can result in the venal and incompetent retaining power for long periods. On the other hand it can allow representatives to gather valuable experience and expertise.

In a majoritarian democracy, for example the US or UK, a simple majority vote wins. This means that if 51% of the population want those with short sight euthanised, that is what will happen – probably to the other 49%. Debate continues either for a fixed time or till there is a decision to call for a vote. Decisions are made relatively rapidly though in the case of a representative democracy there may be a lot of behind the scenes trading and arm twisting. Each country, handles this differently.

In a consensual democracy, for example Switzerland, debate continues till a consensus is reached. Decisions are made slowly and are normally more widely accepted. Unfortunately this means the debaters with the loudest mouths and strongest bladders tend to win by wearing down the opposition unless allowance is made for this.

Neither majoritarian nor consensual is perfect and perhaps a mixture of the two is needed

I have skimmed over the surface of the surface of a vast field. Here are a few take home lessons hung on the hook of this discusssion.

When someone talks about democracy ( or freedom or whatever) ask them to clarify what they mean.

When a slogan like “Global democracy now” resonates but makes no sense on examination be cautious.

And above all repeat to your self the following Mantra every chance you get

“It's not that simple”