Political Science 1020E Lecture 6: poli sci Lecture 6 Notes

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: Nigmendra Narain

Document Summary

Who should rule: what sort of government is best, rule by whom, default answer: everyone aka democracy, political power should be distributed equally, every citizen should have the right to an equal say. What is democracy: rule (kratos) by the many (demos, collective self-rule (wolff, government of, by, and for the people, historically unpopular view. Degrees of democracy: directness of decisions, accountability of representatives, equality of opportunity for influence, scope of authority of democratic will. Directness or indirectness of decisions: direct everyone votes on each issue, more direct is more democratic but not necessarily better. Indirect voters choose representatives who then make decisions. Accountability of representatives: extreme accountability immediate recall, extreme lack of accountability representatives elected for life, our system retrospective recall , division of labour. Equality of opportunity for influence: democracy aims for equal capacity of citizens to process info relevant to decision- making, watch for the impact of economic inequality on citizens opportunity to participate in politics.