What Democracy is . . . and is not
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Ideas of Phillippe C. Schmitter and Terry
Lynn Karl
A general definition
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Modern political democracy is a system
of governance in which rulers are held
accountable for their actions in the
public realm by citizens acting indirectly
through the competition and
cooperation of their elected
representatives
A system of governance
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A regime or system of
governance is an ensemble of
patterns that (1) determine
how people gain access to
public office, (2) the
characteristics of people who
are allowed to gain this
access, and the strategies
they may employ, and (3) the
rules that are followed in
making publicly binding
decisions.
To work, the ensemble must . . .
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Be institutionalized, or habitually known,
practiced, and accepted by most or all
of the actors.
A constitution is not necessary, but it
often helps codify the institutional
arrangements once the ensemble of
patterned behavior is accepted as an
institutionalized fact.
The public realm . . .
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This is the making of collective norms
and choices that are binding on the
society and backed by state coercion.
In the liberal view, this public realm
should be minimalized. In a more
socialist perspective, the public realm is
larger and extends via governmental
intervention.
Citizens
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All regimes have rulers and a public
realm, but only to the extent that they
are democratic do they have citizens.
Modern formal criteria for participating
citizenship are fairly standard . . . all
native born adults.
Informal criteria vary.
Competition
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Originally, democracy was built on the
idea of dialogue leading to consensus.
This is obsolete. Now competition
among factions is considered an
essential ingredient of a successful
democratic process.
This modifies Madison’s ideas in
Federalist Paper #10.
Elections
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The existence of elections does not
guarantee democracy
Merely holding elections does not
guarantee political action into peaceful
contests among elites and give public
legitimacy to winners.
But democracies MUST have elections.
Democratic participation
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Elections must happen
intermittently, and voters
choose between highly
aggregated alternatives
offered by political parties.
Between elections, citizens
may influence public policy
through various intermediaries,
such as interest associations,
social movements, locality
groupings, etc.
Competitive variety
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Modern democracy offers a variety of
competitive processes and channels for
the expression of interests and values
— associational as well as partisan,
functional as well as territorial, collective
as well as individual.
Majority Rule
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Democracy does not require majority
rule.
But all democracies must have some
means of aggregating the equal
preferences of individuals.
The problem with majority rule arises
when factional sizes conflict with
intensities of feelings.
Numbers meet intensities
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When a factional minority feels very
strongly and negatively about a decision
that is adopted by a majority, successful
democracies tend to modify majority
rule to include the protection of minority
rights.
The protection of minorities can assume
a variety of forms.
Protecting Minorities
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Bill of rights
Requirement of concurrent majorities
Local autonomy
Grand coalitions
Negotiating social pacts
Cooperation
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This is an essential feature of all
democracies.
Actors must voluntarily make collective
decisions binding on the polity as a
whole.
Actors must cooperation in order to
compete.
Representatives
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Modern democracies require
representation due to large
population sizes.
Representatives tend to be
professional politicians.
Democracies need
professional politicians.
The question is how these
politicians are chosen and
held accountable for their
actions.
Robert Dahl’s procedural minimal
conditions for a polyarchy
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Control over governmental decisions
about policy is constitutionally vested in
elected officials.
Elected officials are chosen in frequent
and fairly conducted elections in which
coercion is comparatively uncommon.
Dahl, #2
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Practically all adults have the right to
vote in the election of officials.
Practically all adults have the right to
run for elective offices in the
government.
Citizens have a right to express
themselves without the danger of
severe punishment on political matters
broadly defined.
Dahl #3
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Citizens have a right to seek
out alternative sources of
information. Moreover,
alternative sources of
information exist and are
protected by law.
Citizens also have the right to
form relatively independent
associations or organizations,
including independent political
parties and interest groups.
Schmitter and Karl additions to Dahl’s list
 Popularly elected officials must
be able to exercise their
constitutional powers without
being subjected to overriding
informal opposition from
unelected officials.
 The polity must be selfgoverning. It must be able to
act independently of
constraints imposed by
another overarching political
system.
How democracies differ
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Consensus
Participation
Access
Responsiveness
Majority rule
Parliamentary sovereignty
Party government
Pluralism
Democratic structural differences
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Federalism
Presidentialism
Checks and balances
Democracies are not . . .
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Economically more efficient than
nondemocracies
Administratively more efficient than
nondemocracies
More orderly, consensual, stable, or
governable than nondemocracies
Economically open as a necessity