parties, for all their chicaneries and infighting, can achieve simi-
lar results where the weight of party policy and accountability, as
well as requirements of personal integrity, inhibit strategies of
personal aggrandizement. That said, political culture is a precious
achievement. It is a miracle of political science that the major a
priori weakness of immature systems of representative democracy
- their liability to legitimize the power-seeking antics of nature’s
commissars – has been exposed in so few of the new democracies of
Eastern Europe.
If in the spirit of Rousseau we value democracy because of the
ways it advances citizens’ freedom and equality, we shall place a
particular premium on opportunities for citizens to participate in
ruling. We should not take it for granted that the efficiency which
is purchased by having decisions taken by a few people outweighs
the particular kinds of freedom and equality which direct dem-
ocracy embodies. And yet we so often do. Experience shows us that
no sooner does any collective body set itself up for the pursuit of
some interest than a committee is formed to expedite the business.
We start off with a convener, a secretary, a treasurer; we add a few
members with special enthusiasm and expertise... and, ‘Hey
Presto!’, we have a decision-making body as well as a secretariat.
No group or club seems so small that it cannot establish a council,
executive, or assembly with powers to decide policy.
The practical objections to direct democracy look formidable,
and none are as weighty as the desire of subjects to have a quiet
time and leave the exercise of self-government to others. Who
wants to be casting votes in front of a television set every evening?
So the greatest danger is probably the tendency of citizens to show
respect for those of their fellows who have aspirations to leader-
ship and to acquiesce deferentially in ploys to achieve unequal
decision-making power. The checks on the exercise of such powers
are rarely as effective as the resources representatives find for cir-
cumventing them. It is against this background that citizens
should seek out every opportunity for taking decisions out of the
hands of representatives and placing them directly in the hands of
the community at large. Representation may often be necessary,
but that necessity very quickly becomes the occasion of collective
bad faith. To make a judgement on the issue which I raised at the
start of this discussion: I can think of plenty of reasons that may
DEMOCRACY