UNIT I
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
Keywords
• Decision making
• Fairness
• Collective living/existence
• Common good
• Legitimacy
• Considering opinion of all
• A commitment to do the above
• Values, behaviour
• Political community
• Debates – liberal, social, direct, indirect, deliberative,
procedural, substantive
• Consent
Keywords
• Participation
• Consensus
• Political equality
• Equal moral worth (against hierarchy and inherited
privileges)
• Diversity of opinions – liberty/freedom - tolerance
• Self govt
• Popular sovereign
• Information
• Rights
• Distribution of power vs. influence
• Conflict resolution model – majority opinion
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
Direct Participatory Model
 Athenian – citizen participation was all encompassing – magisterial,
judicial, enacting.
 Shared substantive idea of a good life for the whole community – good life.
 State-society distinction was not there.
 Participation in the community linked to duty and rational self
development.
 Civic republicanism in Rome – civic virtue supersedes private individual
interest.
 Rousseau – general will – freedom lies in obedience to the general will –
people cannot be forced to be free. Danger of homogeneity – can suppress
individual freedom.
 Liberal democracy – transition from feudalism to capitalism – state as a
neutral arbiter between competing interests – public realm as a realm of
politics – state as a neutral arbiter – strong but limited govt.
 Early liberals feared the tyranny of the masses – active & tacit consent
(Locke) – basic educational qualifications (J.S. Mill)
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
 James Mill – self interest, distraction, limited franchise.
 J.S. Mill – participation beyond voting – liberty is best realised in a
democracy – maximum participation at the local level.
 Pluralists would believe that power is spread across society – representative
democracy provides opportunities, choice & deliberation for all.
 Procedural, interest articulation, aggregation of choices, equality.
 Triumph of liberal democracy – post cold war.
Critique of democracy
 Democratic practice
 Democratic procedure
 Governance
 Populism & public interest – scepticism with the masses
 Majority rule – conformity, uniformity, suppression of minority voices
 Elitist view – better organised. Iron law of Oligarchy (Michels)
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
 Schumpeter – democracy provides legitimacy to the govt – role of the
masses – experts should rule. Preference for passive citizenship.
Debates
On difference – liberal v. emancipatory politics, equal moral worth of
individuals, difference also brings with it relations of domination and
subordination – multiculturalists & feminists.
 Liberals are difference blind – hence scholars like Young & Kymlicka would
argue for affirmative action, public funding, self governance rights to
indigenous groups etc
On representation & participation
 Representatives should have autnommy in though and action while
reflecting the views of the people they represent.
 Challenge of enhancing participation – public hearing, RWAs, RTI –
counter lack of transparency, centralization, accountability.
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
On Development
 Significance of civil liberties and freedoms – Lee Thesis – Lee Kuan Yew
who links an element of authoritarianism and denial of liberties to faster
economic growth.
 Development as freedom (Sen)
 Peoples’ movements help revisit claims of development linked to use of land
resources and development led displacements.
 Sustainability.
PERSPECTIVES
 Socialist – democracy protects the interest of a minority i.e. the
economically dominant class; unequal access to economic resources,
knowledge and information; challenge liberal neutrality; relative autonomy
of the state; electoral compulsions in a democracy force the govt to consider
the working class; however, structural inequality remains the same.
 Democracy provides the road to socialism it is incompatible with
capitalism.
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
 Ideological and cultural hegemony secures the consent of the working class.
 Participatory democracy – management of collective affairs – cooperatives.
 Communist countries seek the road to socialism through the single party
while social democracy reconciles socialist aims & liberal democratic
institutions – elections, affirmative action, regulation of economy, social
security.
Feminist
 public v private divide; gendered division of labour.
 political and public status.
 procedurally and substantively lacking representation.
 acknowledge difference; preferences are seen as a given restricting the view
of participation.
 democracy as empowering where women recognize their subservience,
exploitation and use democracy as a means of transformation.
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
Deliberative
 Political process as significant to people’s preferences i.e. unlike the liberal
perspective where individuals enter into a contract to preserve certain
rights, deliberative democrats believe preference formation occurs during
the political process.
 Democracy facilitates consensus building.
 Dialogue is key to this perspective.
ETHICS
 Aristotle: subject matter of ethics is human action – opinions and judgements
about human action.
 Study of ethics helps one acquire practical knowledge.
 Questions and reflections in ‘order to be able to act’.
 Philosophy of practical reason.
 Contemplative – engage with the truth
 Participating
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
Views of JOHN DEWEY
Skeptical view – Henry Maine
 “…is a product of a whole series of accidents”; “can be no delusion greater
than that democracy is a progressive form of govt.”
 Therefore, democracy as a form of govt.
 Challenge – to have a common will
 Manufactured – artificial unity through party and corruption
 Citizens are nothing but fragments of political power.
Significance of democracy
 Yet democracy as rule of the many is viewed differently by Aristotle who
gives primacy to laws and people as instruments of law.
 Social contract – people are highly individualistic till they enter into a
contract which makes them more social.
 Majority rules not just in terms of a numerical surplus but also as a
manifestation of the purpose of a social organism.
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
 Democracy as an act of individual sovereignty.
 This reiterates the position that govt is not constituted merely by those
who hold office but by all members of the political society.
 Democracy is a form of moral and spiritual association – Plato - the
development of the ethical man – the rule of the philosopher – rule in
the interest of all individuals.
 Democracy possesses a certain individualism – of ethics – constituted
by personal responsibility, initiation, personality is primary and from
here emerge ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity – symbols of highest
ethical ideas.
 Liberty of the individual – unparalleled – then again, in a democracy,
an individual is something more i.e. a personality.
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
 Likewise, equality is also an ethical conception – in every individual
there lies a possibility of being a king or priest.
 Industrial equality: industrial relations must have a social function –
industrial relations are subordinate to the law of the personality
 Industrial relations are to be a means of ethical realisation – of a
community of good.
 (for Plato & Aristotle, everything to do with wealth lies outside the
realm of the citizen)
 Therefore, democracy embraces an individualism that surpasses
its numerical character and is an ethical idea, of a personality,
of infinite capacities embodied in every individual.
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS












Liberal politics produces democratic structures.
Causal
Democratic politics itself is a kind of freedom
Who rules/method of decision making/regime is democratic if it has
competitive elections, universal suffrage and right to vote.
Liberal – recognition of basic civil and economic rights.
Range of civil liberties - the right to free speech, assembly, association,
conscience, bodily integrity, from abuse and assault, freedom of lifestyle
choice, rights to protest, the right to exit, and freedom of sexual choice.
Liberal procedural rights in justice system.
Liberalism and demo not conceptually connected.
https://youtu.be/Rz5oRtzUMN0?si=Rli2xTZpEHZ1kg1Y
Can we measure freedom?, Autonomy, non-domination.
Berlin – positive liberty/self mastery; Greeks and Romans – authorship of
law.
Extractive and inclusive regimes - power is concentrated in the hands of
the few and in inclusive regimes – power is widely dispersed. Inclusive
regimes recognize rule of law, respect for private property, respect for civil
rights.
DEMOCRACY & ETHICS
 Will of the people? Is the winning majority representing the collective will?
 Voting – autonomy only if her preference wins; else she is not the author
the laws.
 Agendas of politicians, support to a particular constituency.
 Collective autonomy v individual autonomy.
 Freedom as absence of domination.
 Who are politicians responsive to?
Unit I: EQUALITY









Moral capacities common to humanity.
Desire for self respect.
Egalitarian beliefs – not being instruments of another’s will.
Equality – intrinsic part of normative political theory.
It is a relationship between two or more people regarding some
aspect of their life.
History of an idea - interpretations - contextual, not textual.
Greek thought – reducing aristocratic hold over land, power,
honour; isonomia – equality before & within law – exclusion of
metics, slaves and women.
Formal equality – Aristotle’s Politics - ‘justice is held to be
equality, and it is, but for equals and not for all; and inequality is
held to be just and is indeed, but for unequals and not for all’. Like
cases alike and unlike cases unlike.
To rule one should have rational, deliberative & authoritative
capacities.
Unit I: EQUALITY
 Rousseau – focus on human psychology & history of social institutions
- human inequality and which are natural and those that are man made.
 In the state of nature, man is drive by pity and self-preservation –
neither rational, nor possesses ideas of good or evil – man in happy.
 Perfectibility – enables them to change with time – increased human
interaction – development of language – development of reason –
development of private property & division of labour – original social
contract – deceptive – natural inequality is that of physical strength –
modern societies – inequalities are of property.
 Karl Marx – critique of liberal equality. Idea of historical materialism &
every epoch having its ruling class & ruling ideas i.e. aristocracy, it was
honour, loyalty; capitalism – it is freedom, equality. Classless society is
conducive to human emancipation. Socialist society equal access to
means of prod.
 Tocqueville – appeals to people who wish to live without dependence
& servitude. Aristocracy links everybody, from peasant to king, in one
long chain. Democracy breaks the chain and frees each link.
Unit I: EQUALITY
Equality – uniformity. Problems of equal income.
Uniformity is required in fair procedures.
Fairness, self respect, duty to show respect to others, foster fraternity.
https://youtu.be/Uvoios7frIs?si=qNEHC9akEdzs-CBQ
https://youtu.be/SpPozOvNrKA?si=1nIILrGS2G-7x1gR
Equality of what? Distributive.
Of welfare – utilitarian – being well off is equated with being happy.
Preference satisfaction.
Resource egalitarianism – Rawls, Dworkin and Rakowski.
https://youtu.be/Ok59nOhP3cg?si=oTqhiCCIij8vRs8N
Sen’s capabilities approach. Well being understood in terms of function
i.e. reading is a function.
 However, social policy must focus on capabilities – here literacy would
be a capability & reading the function.
 While the egalitarian approach is likely to focus on deficiency –
capability approach would focus on the internal ability of the populace
to read and write.











Unit I: EQUALITY
 Inequality has to be looked at in the context of human diversity –
differences in internal & external conditions that affecting capabilities
like – special abilities, age, gender; social position, ownership of assets)
 Walzer would question the notion of basic goods having universal
value. He argues they can have a different social value in different
societies.
Unit I: FRATERNITY
 Has not been given much place in contemporary political philosophy.
 It has been invoked across a range of ideologies – socialism, anarchism;
the civil rights movement etc.
 Revolutionary trilogy – ‘Liberty, equality, fraternity’, though fraternity
was only part of the slogan and not part of the Declaration of the Rights
of Man.
 Reasons for fraternity not receiving sufficient attention in political
philosophy are - does not fit well with the language of rights; social
link expected by fraternity is difficult to establish in modern societies;
political, legal mechanisms are available to implement the ideals of
liberty & equality; similar mechanisms are difficult to get for fraternity.
 This makes fraternity a utopia.
 Realizing the ideal can be within the realm of coercion, totalitarianism
and revolutionary terror.
 Not in alignment with the capitalist tradition - public-private;
community v individual.
 Has become part of a realm of ethics than politics.
 Pluralism & fraternity & contemporary political theory.
 Unity among men to the exclusion of women.
Unit I: FRATERNITY
 Has not been given much place in contemporary political philosophy.
 Rawls and Dworkin have given a place to fraternity in their works.
 Liberal conception: (i) Rawls: difference principle – permits social and
economic inequalities to the extent that it makes the least advantaged
better off than they would be under strict equality. (ii) Dworkin:
fraternity as justifying political legitimacy. Political obligation should
satisfy conditions of fraternal obligations including that of obeying the
law. Legitimacy of a political community depends on whether it is a
fraternal community.
 Republican & Socialist conception: civic virtue & communal reciprocity
respectively.
 Fraternity – speaks of sharing values or goals, not goods. Shared goals
are indivisible. Involves feeling of loyalty, friendship, trust, empathy.
 Fraternal relations in the political domain are voluntary, though once
accepted, carry some responsibility & obligation.
 Indian Constitution – fraternity in the Preamble to the Indian
Constitution speaks of promoting ‘dignity of the individual’ and ‘unity
& integrity’ of the nation.
Unit I: FRATERNITY





The dignity of the individual precedes the unity of the nation and is thus
imperative when speaking of unity.
While Seervai was critical of fraternity being a vague idea & believed the
executive was in a better position to realise fraternal relations through its
policy; Ambedkar viewed fraternity as a means of improving relations between
different castes & religious communities.
Here it is important to briefly throw light on the Preamble and its legal status.
Justice Gajendragadkar questioned the legal status of the Preamble and said it
was not a part of the Indian Constitution in the Berubari case. This was
questioned by Justice Mudholkar in the Sajjan Singh case where Mudholkar
held that since the Preamble captured the basic values of the IC it should
logically follow that it is part of it. It was in the Kesavananda Bharti case that the
Preamble was recognised as a definite part of the Constitution.
Indian Judiciary and Fraternity – a few cases – first discussion took place in the
(a) Indira Sawhney v. Union of India where fraternity was used to defend the
practice of reservations and also to warn that if unguided, reservations can
hamper fraternity as well. Fraternity is used in affirmative action not to achieve
substantive equality but as a pre requisite to achieve equality itself (p. 455)
(b) Raghunathrao Ganpatrao v. Union of India - principle of fraternity to reject an
argument that the erstwhile princes formed a separate class under the
Constitution & this led to the abolition of privy purses. The privileges of the
princely class were seen as a threat to common brotherhood.
Unit I: FRATERNITY
(c) AIIMS Students’ Union v. AIIMS - Supreme Court held that reservation for postgraduate students in AIIMS was not supported by the Constitution – unlike in
the Indira Sawhney case, the Court saw no reason for this reservation
promoting fraternity and hence struck it down.
(d) Indian Medical Association v. Union of India – a legislation grating exemptions to
a private non-aided educational institution that wished only to admit students
of army personnel & deny the same to students of backward classes was
challenged. The Court said that access to education would promote the ideal of
fraternity & also linked equality & fraternity.
(e) S.R. Bommai v. Union of India – secularism as an essential feature of the basic
structure of the Constitution & held the ideal of fraternity is a pre-cursor to the
attainment of secularism. Court stated that India was historically a country
where religious tolerance and a culture of fraternity existed.
(f) Nandini Sundar – Appointment of SPOs/Salwa Judum – writ petition challenging
the Chhattisgarh Police Act that permitted this, hence violating Article 14 & 21.
SC employed the ideal of fraternity (i) as a buffer to unchecked state power;
(ii) as a mechanism to promote more inclusive economic policy aligned to DPSP
(iii) to reinforce the Centre’s responsibility of upholding human rights in a
federal structure.
Unit I: RULE OF LAW
 Protects rights, provides conditions for stability, upholding ROL is the
duty of politicians & citizens alike.
 Limits on state power, clarity of law, accessibility to the judiciary,
equality before law, protection of FRs, judicial independence.
 Important to check democratic backsliding i.e. weakening of democracy
over a period of time; concentration of power in hands of the executive,
erosion of pol and constl norms.
 Principle underlying constitutionalism.
 Prevents abuse of state power; ensures law is followed by all & legal
rights are guaranteed.
 A.V. Dicey considered it as one of the twin pillars of the constitution.
 ROL is …a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions
and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are
accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced
and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with
international human rights norms and standards.
 ROL covers & ensures the following:
i. legal certainty – state should act only within its powers & ministers
must also follow rules and processes.
Unit I: RULE OF LAW
 Protects rights, provides conditions for stability, upholding ROL is the
duty of politicians & citizens alike.
 Limits on state power, clarity of law, accessibility to the judiciary,
equality before law, protection of FRs, judicial independence.
 Important to check democratic backsliding i.e. weakening of democracy
over a period of time; concentration of power in hands of the executive,
erosion of pol and constl norms.
 Principle underlying constitutionalism.
 Prevents abuse of state power; ensures law is followed by all & legal
rights are guaranteed.
 A.V. Dicey considered it as one of the twin pillars of the constitution.
 ROL is …a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions
and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are
accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced
and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with
international human rights norms and standards.
 ROL covers & ensures the following:
i. legal certainty – state should act only within its powers & ministers
must also follow rules and processes.
Unit I: RULE OF LAW
ii. Warn on the use of ouster clauses that exclude courts from exercising
judicial review. Law must be clear and accessible to the citizens. Also
for them to understand their rights and duties/obligations.
iii. Citizens should be equally treated by law. Dicey would say ‘no man is
above the law’.
iv. Legislations that contravene fundamental rights are not consistent with
ROL which supports independent legal institutions and a culture of
legality which protects these FRs.
v. Availability of dispute resolution mechanisms; citizens must have access
to courts; should be heard by an independent judiciary and should be
under fair process. Security of tenure of judges and fair appointment.
 Upholding ROL is the responsibility of all, in particular the ministers
and MPs who are responsible for legislation and upholding ROL at the
time of policy making.