to more citizens (women, the poor, minorities, the
young, etc.).
Questions arise then over “who” is “the people”
and “how” do they rule in a democracy. In the United
States of America, a typical modern republic, citizen-
ship has few requirements (basically being born or
naturalized in the country, being at least 18 years old,
and not being mentally ill or in prison). The purpose
or mode of governing in a democracy includes: (1) to
prevent dictatorship or TYRANNY; (2) to promote social
and moral well-being; (3) to advance economic wealth
and military power. All of these rationales for democ-
racy have been used to support it.
The Protestant CHRISTIANpolitical thinkers (Martin
LUTHER, John CALVIN) based their arguments for democ-
racy (in CHURCH AND STATE) on the universal sinfulness
of humans, recommending limited political power in
any single ruler or group. James MADISON, the leading
founder of the U.S. CONSTITUTION, adhered to this
Christian view that democratic PLURALISMwas neces-
sary to prevent sinful people from allowing political
power to lead to social oppression. The system of
CHECKS AND BALANCES in the U.S. government was
designed to pit “ambition against ambition” and pre-
vent tyranny. Democracy is seen as a necessary evil for
imperfect humans.
Early in the MODERN period, arguments occurred
over how representative a democracy could become.
MONTESQUIEUheld that a true democracy required a
small country like the Greek polis, where every citizen
knew everyone else. Given the larger, more complex
nations in modern times such classical or “direct”
democracy was impractical and representative
“republics” were formed, in which not everyone would
govern but could choose those who did govern,
through voting in elections. Thomas JEFFERSONtried to
combine the classical, participatory democracy with
the large U.S. republic through a system of local, state,
and national republics, or FEDERALISM. The fear among
classical or COMMUNITARIANdemocratic thinkers (such
as Benjamin BARBER) is that the larger a representative
democracy (or REPUBLIC) becomes and the more distant
the central government from most citizens, the greater
danger there is for an unresponsive, corrupt, dictato-
rial state. Alexis de TOCQUEVILLEargued that the less
personal contact each citizen had with the govern-
ment, the more likely a “tyranny of the majority” led
by a demagogue could occur in large democracies.
This is why he saw the U.S. jury system as preserving
democratic culture—it involves small groups of citi-
zens engaging in serious political discourse and public
decision making. Where modern society makes gov-
ernment more complex and distant from average citi-
zens, concerns for election reform, voter participation,
political parties, and media portrayal of politics
become topics for study in political science.
With the rise of COMMUNISTand SOCIALISTideology
in the 19th century (see Karl MARX), democracy took
on economic dimensions. The view that public owner-
ship of property and a state-planned economy (social-
ism) was “economic democracy” led to many “social
democratic” movements and political parties. This
Leftist argument that political equality and democracy
could not be realized where great inequalities of
wealth existed challenged Western or CAPITALIST
democracies. Because state operation of economics (as
in the SOVIET UNION) usually required centralization of
political power, this “peoples” or “socialist democracy”
usually resulted in less democratic governments, but
the concern with matching economic and social equal-
ity with political equality contributed to the mixed or
WELFARE-STATEdemocracies of the West.
Most study of democracy now has to do with how
“truly democratic” modern republics are or to what
extent formal democratic systems mask the true power
of ELITES in business, professions, unions, or other
interest groups. As democratic theorist Benjamin Bar-
ber summarizes it: “The democratic ideal remains one
of the most cherished and at the same moment most
contested of political ideals.” He sees current threats to
democracy more from mass society (consumerism, pri-
vatism, commercialism, and the trivialization of popu-
lar culture) than from power-hungry rulers.Further Readings
Arrow, K. Social Choice and Individual Values.New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1951.
Bachrach, P. The Theory of Democratic Elitism.Boston: Little,
Brown, 1967.
Barber, B. Strong Democracy.Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1984.
Dahl, R. Preface to Democratic Theory.Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1956.Democratic Party
Unlike that of other countries, the U.S. CONSTITUTION
does not mention political parties. Nevertheless,
despite opposition by prominent leaders such as
George Washington, the American political system
developed around a two-party system. The modern-Democratic Party 81