Kettering Foundation

Around the world, democracy has been embraced as in no other time in history. Amartya Sen has written that “the idea of democracy as a universal commitment is quite new, and it is quintessentially a product of the twentieth century.” Yet there are competing notions of what democracy is, all with different implications for the role of citizens. In the various declarations made about what democracy is or what it shouldn’t be, and in the various efforts to reform political systems, certain trends seem to be emerging.

Below are brief descriptions of four possible trends. We invite you to participate by sharing your thoughts on trends you see emerging in democracy.

Article Text

1. Managerial Democracy: Citizens as Consumers

This form of democracy is managed by a bureaucracy with either political authority or professional expertise, and often promises things like stability, order, equity, or efficiency. The economic well-being of the country is often a major objective. Citizens are the beneficiaries or consumers of services that the government provides.

2. Strong Representative Democracy: Citizens as Voters and Advocates

The dominant form of democracy is representative government. This system operates through elected representatives whose candidacy is advanced by political parties (defined in ideological, religious, or ethnic/racial terms) and by lobbyists and advocacy groups. Citizens exercise their power through voting and through pressure on the government. While no one argues that free elections aren’t essential to a democracy, recent trends suggest that although they are necessary, they are not sufficient to deal with contemporary political problems, such as ethnic and religious conflicts that turn violent.

3. Democracy as Public Work: Citizens as Producers, People Who Make Things that Have Public Benefit

This form of democracy gets its power from the ability of citizens to join forces for all kinds of collective efforts, particularly the problem solving that requires action by an organized citizenry. Citizens are not passive consumers of service, nor are they just advocates of actions to be taken by others. Citizens do and make things. It is in the doing and making that private individuals are transformed into public citizens.

4. Democracy by Networking: Citizens as Expressive, with a Direct Voice

This form of democracy values individual expression of interests and concerns. New technologies have helped facilitate citizen participation, providing citizens with a direct voice that can influence elections and policymaking. The ability to connect with those from across vast geographic reaches who share their convictions greatly expands the power of citizens to mobilize and network.

What Do You Think?

What do you see happening in democracy? In your country? In your community?

What role do citizens play? What role would you like to see them play? Is it changing? How? Why? What trends do you see emerging?

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Comments

6/22/2009 10:44:00 AM

Margaret Holt [Watkinsville]

I really appreciate the pieces we were provided on What Kind of Democracy Will Prevail in the 21st Century. For me thinking about the role of citizens as consumers, producers, voters, and networkers will depend on what evolves regarding the following determinants: • Transparency – citizen access to the workings of government, full disclosures of everything possible, recognizing guidelines that call for limited classification of materials in light of national security and welfare. The following quotation is from Dan Mulhern's Read to Lead, June 22, 2009: On the back-side of Fathers Day in this new era that invites men to be (like women): more relational, authentic and collaborative, I offer an argument and a question. The argument: Every authorized leader should live as though they’re governed by the Freedom of Information Act. No ”fathers knows best.” No executive privilege. No “information on a need to know basis,” where your manager decides what you need to know. Open book – on strategy, systems, right down to pay, including executive compensation! The shift from control to empowerment is scary, just ask Ahmadinejad, Gorbachev, de Klerk or others who thought they could open things up a lot but still keep control. But it’s worth it to open up. The upside in empowerment and trust and collaboration is huge. [Excerpt from Dan Mulhern’s blog, Read to Lead, June 22, 2009.] • Separation of Church and State – a fuller recognition of the secular definition of our democracy while respecting the rights of all people to practice their religions of choice • Population Explosion (Scale)- ways and means to manage fairly a democracy with wide diversity and increasing numbers of people • Polarization- finding ways to achieve civil exchange; diminishing unbeneficial, unproductive, inflammatory and damaging screaming • The capacity to enlarge individuals’ self-recognition to be part of a society/collective beyond individual self-interests • A more sophisti

6/22/2009 4:31:00 PM

Margaret Holt [Watkinsville]

Here is the rest of my comment - as all of it was not printed earlier: • A more sophisticated and deeper realization that the act of voting is not as meaningful as the actions one takes to prepare to vote and to maintain engagement with the outcomes of voting • Elimination of a sense of “exceptional status” for any nation as a result of a fuller realization of international interdependence. World citizenship elevated.

6/22/2009 7:57:00 PM

Greg Laudeman [Chattanooga]

The essence of democracy, it seems to me, is active engagement of citizens with each other. Traditionally, we speak of action being coordinated via the government or the marketplace. "Democracy" (maybe we need a different term) is both but it is also neither. At its best democratic outcomes do not depend on the market or the regulators. They are the means, not the ends. Can we find other means, can we improve these means? Only with active participation from the citizens. That then is, I believe, the challenge and opportunity: To develop means of engagement that leverage but do not rely upon markets and regulators.

8/27/2009 3:11:57 AM

Dr. Uday Singh [ujjain]

i want to discussion to you about civil society and backward community

8/28/2009 8:09:39 AM

Folorunsho Moshood [Ibadan, Nigeria]

Nigerians have realized that no system of government is better than Democracy. Gone are the days when the military would say 'Fellow Nigerians...we hereby announce the change of government' and Nigerians would throw themselves into wide jubilation. Nigerians now know that the worst form of Democracy is better than the military rule. This has sustained the nascent democratic setting in Nigeria in the last ten years. What Nigerians need to know now is that there are certain practices that can make our democracy work as it should. These practices are what Nigerian citizens should start using to govern themselves in the homes, communities, wards, local government areas, States and country. Some Nigerian citizens, over the years, have been engaging in some of these practices, but they don't know. The CSO environment in Nigeria is very vibrant, but most of their activities/practices are inward toward themselves instead of outward toward the communities/societies they meant to serve. CSOs leaders need to be aware of this and find away of redirecting their developmental programs and projects outward toward the communities.