Representative Democracy

Representative democracy (also indirect democracy, representative government or psephocracy) is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy. These should not be confused with directly democratic libertarian socialist confederations, in which 'representative's (called delegates for the sake of simplicity) are subject to recall, short-terms and only represent a small interest.

History

See Also: Timeline of Representative Democracy

The development of representative democracy has been a long and unstable process, and that have been constant waves of representative governments forming as well as backslides into more authoritarian governments.

Precursors

Although numerous direct democracies have existed throughout history (Ancient Athens, Haudenosaunee, possibly the Indus River Valley Civilisation) there are few examples of representative democracies.

First wave

The First wave of democracy, 1828–1926 began in the early 19th century when suffrage was granted to the majority of white males in the United States ("Jacksonian democracy"). Then came France, Britain, Canada, Australia, Italy and Argentina, and a few others before 1900. At its peak, after the breakup of the Russian, German, Austrian and Ottoman empires in 1918, the first wave saw 29 democracies in the world. Reversal began in 1922, when Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy. The collapse primarily hit newly formed democracies, which could not stand against the aggressions rise of expansionist communist, fascist and militaristic authoritarian or totalitarian movements which systematically rejected democracy. The nadir of the first wave came in 1942, when the number of democracies in the world dropped to a mere 12.^[7][8]

Second wave

The Second wave began following the Allied victory in World War II, and crested nearly 20 years later in 1962 with 36 recognised democracies in the world. The Second wave ebbed as well at this point, and the total number dropped to 30 democracies between 1962 and the mid-1970s. But the "flat line" would not last for long, as the third wave was about to surge in a way no one had ever seen.^[4]

Scholars have noted that the appearance of "waves" of democracy largely disappears when women's suffrage is taken into account; moreover, some countries change their positions quite dramatically: Switzerland, which is typically included as part of the first wave, did not grant women the right to vote until 1971.^[9]

Third wave

The Third wave began in 1974 (Carnation Revolution, Portugal) and included the historic democratic transitions in Latin America in the 1980s, Asia Pacific countries (Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan) from 1986 to 1988, Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and sub-Saharan Africa beginning in 1989. The expansion of democracy in some regions was stunning. In Latin America only Colombia, Costa Rica, and Venezuela were democratic by 1978 and only Cuba and Haiti remained authoritarian by 1995, when the wave had swept across twenty countries.^[10]

Huntington points out that three-fourths of the new democracies were Roman Catholics.^[11] Most Protestant countries already were democratic. He emphasizes the Vatican Council of 1962, which turned the Catholic Church from defenders of the old established order into an opponent of totalitarianism.^[12]

Countries undergoing or having undergone a transition to democracy during a wave are subject to democratic backsliding. Political scientists and theorists believe that the third wave has crested and will soon begin to ebb, just as its predecessors did in the first and second waves.^[13] Indeed, in the period immediately following the onset of the "war on terror" after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, some backsliding was evident. How significant or lasting that erosion is remains a subject of debate.^{[citation needed]}

After the Great Recession of 2008, a number of countries backslid from democracy including Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Honduras and the Maldives. Some other countries have had democratic transitions however, such as Tunisia and the Gambia. There has also been limited democratic reform in some countries, such as Burma and Morocco.

Positives

Peace

Representative democracies are significantly less likely to go to war than dictatorships and are far less likely to repress their citizens (and repression in democracies is significantly smaller) than dictatorships. Additionally, democracies have significantly lower violent crime rates. Although there are notably violent democracies (notably USA, Israel, South Africa and Colombia) and peaceful dictatorships there is an incredibly strong relationship between democracy and peace. Of the 40 most peaceful countries on Earth, only 2 (Qatar and Bhutan) aren't democracies.

Strength

Democracies are significantly more likely to win wars than dictatorship (despite being far less likely to start them). Wikipedia lists x wars between 1900 and 2019, x have been wars between states, x have been coalition wars, x have been rebellions/insurgencies against a state, x have been civil wars.

Negatives

Authoritarian Criticisms

Sociologist Robert Michels argued that all democratic institutions suffer from an Iron Law of Oligarchy, which states that power tends to be concentrated over time in ANY democratic organisations, effectively dooming democracy to always be a failure.