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4. DEMOCRACY, What is democracy?, Democracy can be understood in 2 ways., 1. In narrow sense as a form of government where people are, allowed to participate in policy making or atleast choose their, representatives, In democracy there is a assumption that all persons have equal, potential to participate in public policies. Citizens participation is, considered necessary for good governance in democracy. According to, Amartya sen Democracy has an instrumental value, educative value and, intrinsic value. Sometimes democracy is understood as western, obsession incompatible with Asian values. According to Amartya sen It, is wrong and says that Indian tradition has always been democratic ( In, his book Argumentative Indian). He gives example of Buddhist, Assemblies or councils to show Indian tradition of Deliberation and, public reasoning. Indian tradition always had toleration and pluralism, Democracy is decentralization of power, 2. Democracy as way of life (broader meaning), John Dewey has given an alternative theory of democracy which seeks, to connect democracy with process of How people form judgements,, communicate with each other and come together to solve common, problems. In his book democracy and education, he compared, democratic method with scientific method in which people are like a, community of scientists who are enquiring to solve common problems., Democracy in broad sense means a way of life, A value system and a, , 53

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type of society. A democratic way of life means democratization at all, levels such as political parties, University administration, Industrial, Management etc;, However increasing Urbanisation and industrilisation, Geographical, mobility and growth of state pose a challenge to development of, democratic way of life., B R Ambedkar was skeptical about future of democracy in India., According to him democracy is just a top soil of India. In his speech “, Grammar of Anarchy”, He observed that we are entering era of, contradictions. We are introducing political democracy even when India, lacks social and economic democracy. Samuel P Huntington has, explained the global expansion of democracy in form of 3 waves., , 54

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1st Wave – The mature democracies in the west ( Britain, USA, Europe, etc;), 1st reverse wave - b/w two world wars some countries came under, Authoritariansim (Germany, Italy etc.,), 2nd wave – After WW 2 democracy returned to western Europe and also, former colonies adopted democracy, 2nd Reverse wave – Democracy collapsed in 3rd world with the, exception of India. It is because democracy from top was not, supported by democratic way of life. India emerged as an island of, democracy outside western world., 3rd wave – After collapse of USSR and collapse of communism,, democracy became almost a universal value with the exception of Arab, world. In 2011, there was Arab spring where people demanded certain, democratic rights from dictators., Why democracy Survived in India?, 1. Choice of elites in India. Pt Nehru had the opportunity to make India, into an authoritarian system but his strong belief in democracy, ensured that India remains democratic. Pt Nehru was inspired by, both liberal democratic tradition and Fabian Socialism, 2. The legacy of India’s freedom struggle. India’s Freedom struggle was, not just about Political freedom from foreign rule but also a, movement for civil rights. It awakened the consciousness of people, w.r.t their rights., 3. Legacy of british. British introduced certain institutions, parliamentary democracy established system of rule of law,, 4. Indian tradition as argued by Amartya Sen., , 55

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5. Constitutional Provisions like Limited Government, System of checks, and balances, Independent Judiciary, Freedom of Press, Independent, bodies like ECI, UPSC, CAG, 6. Large and diverse nature of India., 7. Strict separation of military from political affairs. Because of this,, India never had a military coup or martial law, Why Constitutionalism precedes or should precede democracy?, In narrow sense constitutionalism means the degree or extent to which, a country is governed according to its constitutional provisions. In, broad sense, constitutionalism means practices such as Rule of law,, Limited government, People’s Participation, Civil and Political Rights., According to Fareed Zakaria, The chances of success of democracy is, higher in societies where rule of law is established first and Universal, Adult Franchise or democracy comes later. Ex: Britain, Rule of law became part and parcel of british political culture much, before democracy was introduced in Britain., Democracy collapsed in third world because of absence of, constitutionalism and democratic culture, It is to be noted that from the prespective of western scholars like, Christophe Jaffrelot (French Political Scientist), India democracies, remains procedural. In India people are not under Rule of law but Rule, of money and muscle power. It shows that Indian Procedural, Democracy is far from being perfect. India is yet to get a status of, Substantive democracy. Unfortunately India has being ranked lower, than its South-Asian Neighbours in various indices. In Hunger Index, 2020 India is ranked lower than Bangladesh., , 56

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Theories of Democracies, 1. Classical, 2. Contemporary, Classical theories of Democracy:, These theories are mainly concerned with democracy as a form of, government. They are normative theories. They emphasize on values of, democracy and substantive aspects of democracy (empowerment of, masses), 1.Protective Theory: [John Locke], John Locke looks at democracy as a means to protect the natural rights, of people. According to his theory, A democratic government is based, on consent or will of people. He thought of government as a trustee of, power vested in it by the people for protection of their natural rights to, life, liberty and property. But according to locke, government cannot be, fully trusted. He wanted the people to remain constantly vigiliant,, 2.Jermey Bentham:, Both Governors and Governed as Human Beings want to maximize their, happiness. The Governors who are given the power may tend to abuse, it in self-interest. Thus Governors should be directly accountable to an, electorate., 3.J S Mill: [Developmental theory], Mill has seen democracy as a system which gives opportunity for the, development of human personality. He believes that Freedom of, , 57

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Speech is necessary for development and only democracies provides it., Democracy creates wiser citizens capable of pursuing public interests., 4.A V Dicey, His book “Law and opinion in England”, He treated democracy as a form of government under which majority, opinion determines legislation. It is unwise in democracy to enforce, laws which are not approved by people., 5.James Bryce, He treated Democracy as a form of government and the rule of people, expressing their sovereign will through the votes. He justified, democracy by using relativity i.e; By comparing its merits and demerits, with other forms of government., Contemporary theories of Democracy:, , , , , , Focus on nature of democracy in the light of sociological findings, They are empirical in nature, Ignores substantive aspects and focus on procedural aspects, They believe that it is neither possible nor desirable for masses to, participate in elections because in reality empowerment of masses is, never possible. In reality democracy is oligarchy (power in hands of, few not masses), , (i) Elitist Theories, 1.Joseph Schumpeter, Leaders trade in votes and the better combination of policies will fetch, more votes. Role of common people is reduced to choosing their rulers, , 58

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from competing elites. The redeeming feature of democracy is that it, doesn’t allow political leadership to have absolute power. Elitist theory, is also called market model of democracy, 2.Raymond Aron:, In liberal democracy there is system of checks and balances and, plurality of elites. In soviet type society there is a unified elite belonging, to communist party whereas in western type society there is divided, elite, (ii) Pluralist or Group theories:, Pluralist theories donot agree with elitist theories. They believe that in, democracy decision making process may look centralized but actually it, is decentralized. The policies in democracies are not the outcome of the, will of elites but the outcome of interaction among various groups., According to Robert Dahl Liberal Democracies are not oligarchies but, polyarchies., He is referring to powers exercised by people’s associations ( pressure, groups, interest groups, civil society, trade unions etc.,), Theories of Democracy, 1. C B Macpherson, 2. Cosmopolitan Model, Radical Theory of democracy:, It tries to combine the essential features of both procedural and, substantive democracy. Radical theory gives a moralist view and, humanist vision. It is best represented by theory of C B Macpherson, , 59

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Macpherson’s Contribution:, Macpherson has done one of the most exhaustive work on democracy., He is a liberal egalitarian. He has analyzed various models of, democracy. Macpherson appreciated theories for their focus on, substantive aspects like empowerment of masses, Freedom of speech,, Protection of Rights but he criticized classical theories for ignoring the, procedural aspects ( real world of democracy), Macpherson criticized the contemporary theories for ignoring, substantive aspects of democracy. He believed that there is no, significant difference between elitist and pluralist theories because, both focus on procedural aspects. Focus of elitist theory is on political, parties while pluralist theory has focus on pressure groups. Thus he, mentions Schumpeter-Dahl Axis, Macpherson believes that it is wrong to claim the monopoly of, liberalism over democracy. There can be other models of democracy., For Example, Even communist countries may be considered democratic, provided they have intra-party democracy and They opened up their, closed bureaucratic systems. He also include one-party dominant states, in definition of democracy Ex: South Africa, India during Congress Era., These countries will qualify as democracy if there is mass support to the, political programmes of one party and governments are legitimized by, mass enthusiasm., He investigated the reality of democracy found in western liberal, societies. He came to the conclusion that there is no equatible, distribution of power in these societies. Western Liberal democracies, are not egalitarian. They are also far from being perfect. They need to, , 60

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be more egalitarian and need a more humane touch. According to him, there are 2 dimensions of power, 1.Developmental Power- It refers to the power to use one’s own ability, and efforts to achieve self-appointed goals., 2.Extractive Power – The power to use another man’s ability and efforts, to achieve ones’s self appointed goals. In present liberal societies,, capitalists have maximum developmental and extractive power., Whereas workers have negligible. Liberal societies should move, towards the system where no one has extractive power over another, and all have equal developmental power i.e; The oppurtunities to, achieve creative freedom, A term used by Macpherson., Macpherson’s concept of creative freedom comes close to ideas of, Amartya Sen who defined freedom as being and doing, Cosmopolitan Model of Democracy: (By David Held), Context of this model: The impact of globalisation on democracy and a, democracy deficit., According to him, globalization has weakened democracy because it, has weakened Nation’s state. So far the highest democratically elected, government is at level of Nation states. Its ability to take decisions has, been diluted. The institutions of global governance are neither, representative nor transparent and accountable. They are bureautically, managed with the exception of Europe which has a European, parliament, There is no democratically regional parliament., He proposes the following to address this democracy deficit, 1. In Long-term, Electing a world government, , 61

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2., 3., 4., 5., 6., , In short-term, Reform UNSC, Make IMF and WB democratic and accountable, Strengthen Grass-root Democracy, Strengthen Independence of Judicary, Restore Freedom of press, Models/Forms of Democracy, Representative democracy, Considering the size of modern democracies and modern way of life,, Representative democracy became inevitable, According to J S Mill, Representative Democracy is the second best, state., One of the major challenges in representative democracy is to ensure, the representativeness. Hence there have been a movement from, simple majority model towards proportional representation. A simple, majority model leads to a majoritarian government. Within, representative democracy scholars have also discussed the powers of, representatives., Reactionary theory:, It depends on superior knowledge and wisdom of politicians who are, regarded as the best custodians of public interest. People’s, representatives can only convey popular feelings. It is an elitist theory, with no control of public., Conservative (or) Enlightened model (or) Uninstructed model :, It is more progressive than reactionary theory because it gives a, measure of public control but doesn’t encourage popular participation, in process of government. It is also an elitist theory because it allows, people to choose their representatives from an elite group. People are, , 62

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free to convey their feelings to their representatives but depend on, their good sense rather than issuing them any instructions., According to J S Mill, Our representatives has more democracy and, therefore should be given more flexibility, Delegate Model/ Liberal Model/ Instructed Model, This model was supported by Locke and Bentham, This theory depends on wisdom of masses. It treats people’s, representatives only as agents or messenger. It doesn’t give any, freedom to representatives and requires them to stick to the mandate., Radical Theory of Representation, This theory ends up challenging the representative democracy itself., Criticism of Representative Democracy:, A) Rousseau: He was inspired by direct democracy in Geneva., According to him English men are free only once in five years., B) Gandhi, M N Roy, J P Narayan: They supported Party less, democracy and believed that political parties promote immorality., Gandhi Compared political parties with prostitutes. He favoured, panchayat raj instead of representative democracy, C) Dilution of People’s will: Low voter-turnout, First Past the post, system, Simple majority for making laws, D) Representative democracy give little opportunity to its citizens for, any significant participation in decision making process. Its, consequences are,  Electorates have little knowledge and understanding of political, problems, , 63

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 Voters are indifferent to voting,  Political representatives are averse (hate) to accountability,  Corruption and abuse of power, Participatory Democracy/ Grass-root Democracy, Democracy has an essence of people’s participation. Democracy, originated in ancient Greece. Aristrotle’s Polity was the first example of, such democracy. He believe that laws should be made by citizens, deliberations. Although he was criticized for narrow definition of, citizens., Rousseau was also a supporter of direct democracy. According to him,, People’s deputees are not their representatives but merely agents of, people., Hannah Arendt believes that Man is Zoon Politicon (A social being)., Hence she believes that participation in politics is real human action., Civic Participation is necessary to prevent rise of totalitarianism., According to Habermas, The only basis to treat a particular policy as, legitimate is that it should be outcome of people’s participation in ideal, speech situation., How can people participate?, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., , Referendum, Initiative, Recall, Gram Sabhas, Social Audit, RTI, , 64

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7. Community Policing, 8. Jan Sunvai/ Public Hearing, 9. Resident Welfare Associations, Criticism of Participatory Democracy:,  Critics point out that the champions of participatory democracy, insist only on increasing people’s participation within existing, democratic system. They don’t suggest any alternative system for its, implementation. Promotion of participation needs concrete action,, not theory.,  According to critics, the advocates of participatory democracy are, too optimistic. People’s Participation can be increased only to a small, extent. Beyond that encouraging participation may lead to, disruption by people.Also ordinary people don’t have adequate, insights and patience, Deliberative Democracy, Deliberative Democracy requires that democratic decision making, should strike a balance which mean personal freedom and popular, rule. Deliberative Democracy is a conceptual improvement over a, simple participatory democracy., A simple participation is not enough but they should be active, participation which requires capacity building and supportive, environment, The element of deliberation is found in works on Hannah Arendt, who talks about active participation of people in civic affairs., Similarly idea of deliberation is also found in works of John Rawls, who’s theory of justice was outcome of deliberation among rationale, men., , 65

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1., 2., 3., 4., , There is no need to add the prefix deliberative with democracy, because democracy has to be deliberative. The very idea of, democracy is a government where laws are formulated as a result of, rationale debate. However in recent times, the deliberative aspect of, democracy has been ignored by the people. There has been a decline, of status of legislature., Around the world, there is rise of authoritarianism by executive or, activism by judiciary and decline of deliberative organ, Ex: In Sep 2020, The monsoon session of Indian Parliament held after, six months didn’t have question hour., We are witnessing rise of noisy democracies or audience, democracies., Amartya Sen talked about a democratice political culture which has, public debate in his book “Uncertain Glory” , He suggested that there, has been a neglect of public debate on health in India, Government, has always ignored it. Also people’s capacity to speak should be, promoted., According to Hannah Arendt, Action is Speech., Joshua Cohen: He was influenced by John Rawls and gave the, benefits of deliberative democracy, Best way to solve disagreements, Gives legitimacy to public decisions, Encourages Peoples’s Participation on matters which concern people, It helps people to know their real preferences, , 66

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Liquid Democracy, It falls in between direct and representative democracy. It is a solution, to growing dissatisfaction with legislatures in democracies (including, USA). In liquid democracy, people can elect their delegates and, empower them on some issue. On other matters people decide by, direct vote., Democracy and Development: Debate in context of Lee thesis, Lee Kyaun Yu, The founding father of Singapore, believed that, democracy is a western obsession not compatible with Asian Values. He, compared Indian model of development with Chinese model and, proposed that developing countries should follow Chinese model. He, was doubtful of India’s ability to achieve development and poverty, alleviation. He considered democracy as an obstacle in development., Democracy brings indiscipline, Leader prefer populist policies., According to him, Indian Bureaucracy lacks the right mindset. According, to Lee, Political and Civil liberties can be compromised and a measure, of authoritarianism is advantageous for economic growth. Democracy is, a Luxury which poor countries cannot afford., Amartya Sen counters Lee thesis. According to him, Democracy is not, just western obsession. He mentions the Indian Democratic decisions., Also there is no homogeneity in asian values because asia itself is not, homogeneous. According to him, China’s development was not because, absence of democracy, Chinese Leaders realized the importance of, capacity building of masses., It is wrong to believe that people give preference to social and, economic rights over civil and political rights. Also want constitutes, , 67

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economic needs and economic growth is also subjective and should be, democratically decided. Economic growth doesn’t mean development, as argued by Egalitarians and Environmentalists., COVID-19 AND DEMOCRACY, If citizens of democracies are not vigilant, democracy can be the biggest, victim of COVID-19. Democracy has seen a decline during COVID-19 in, following ways, 1. Violation of FR like Freedom of Movement, Right to Privacy., 2. Not allowing Protests Ex: Anti-CAA protests were also ended because, of restrictions due to COVID-19, 3. Executive powers increased many times Ex: In Hungary the PM gave, executive the power to govern by executive order, 4. More than 80 countries declared emergencies, 5. Elections have been postponed or cancelled, 6. Increased role of military in civic affairs, , 68

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5. WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT, The terms Politics and polity are derived from the Greek word Polis which, means city-states. Hence A State is the core area of study in Political, thought. It is said that Political Science begins and ends with state. A state, is a abstract notion while Government is its concrete shape. Hence Political, science is about Good Government. The terms State and Government, should not be used interchangeably. Government is an instrument to, govern the state. According to Aristrotle (Father of Political Science) A, state is a self-sufficient entity. A state has 4 main components, 1., 2., 3., 4., , A defined Territory, People, Government, Sovereign, , A state is different from nation. Nation is a psychological concept It refers, to a group of people united by a common culture, language, race or, history. The concept of Nation-State is often linked to capitalism., Capitalism in its initial stages requires law and order, protection from, external competition. Therefore emerged the need of an administrative, entity which can give protection from external competition and maintain, stability., The term Political refers to something that is “Public” as against personal, or something applicable to few persons., Thought is understood with respect to time and space. Thought is thinking, of an age or society. Observations of distinguished thinkers and, philosophers regarding political aspect of our social life constitutes, political thought., Political Theory has to be differentiated from political thought like any, other discipline,The purpose of political theory is to understand, analyze, and predict political phenomenon or political events., , 69