Political Participation and Representation in Liberal Democracies
In liberal democracies, citizens participate in government through various means. Political participation in a liberal democracy is an activity designed to influence the government through the exercise of political rights. Modern participation has diverged from the classical ideal of citizenship, occurring within a broader societal context. Political participation has evolved, ranging from direct forms of governance to representative systems.
Robert Dahl highlights the importance of political culture, emphasizing direct citizen participation in government. It’s crucial to specify the context and type of political regime when discussing representation and participation. As Wittgenstein noted, we must address these applications with specificity, similar to members of a family. Political representation and participation function in this way. To avoid vagueness, we must define the political system we are discussing in terms of time, geography, and political structure.
Representation and Liberal Political Participation
Discussions about political representation and participation often focus on liberal democracies. These systems combine liberal mechanisms that limit power with the election of rulers. Liberal democracies differ in how they organize political representation and participation, particularly in institutional, electoral, and territorial aspects.
Schumpeter sought a definition of democracy consistent with existing democracies, moving away from purely philosophical justifications. He proposed an alternative, more realistic theory of democracy, emphasizing competition for political leadership. The defining feature of democracy is the process by which those who wield political power gain access to it. This process requires fair competition and authorization granted exclusively through voting. This demands a plurality of options and elections conducted under acceptable conditions of information and freedom from coercion, including limitations on clustering of options.
Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition
Robert Dahl refined this understanding to evaluate it in terms of its operation process. He retained the concept of democracy and popular government, but as a normative ideal that allows for policy evaluation. The democratic process would be one that responds to the preferences of its citizens. Dahl describes actually existing democracies as polyarchies. Polyarchy references a plurality or fragmentation of power in democratic societies. Polyarchy as a political order has two main features: participation and opposition. The process refers to citizenship must include at least a high proportion of adults. Another central feature is that these citizens should have the opportunity to oppose and change through the vote.
Representation here means the government is in the hands of rulers who are under their control and to be electoral preferences or representative of the governed. Political representation has a precise meaning and a more diffuse one. Symmetrically, political participation has another facet accurate and more inaccurate.