Plural Voting and J. S. Mill’s Account of Democratic Legitimacy
نویسنده
چکیده
This paper clarifi es some of the contested ideas put forward by John Stuart Mill by analyzing the reasons and arguments Mill used to support them and demonstrating how these ideas and arguments supporting them are connected into a coherent system. Mill’s theory is placed in wider explanatory framework of democratic legitimacy developed by Thomas Christiano, and is portrayed as a typical example of democratic instrumentalism—a monistic position that focuses on the outcomes and results of a decision-making process. Following this move, the focus is shifted on the understanding of political equality in Mill’s political thought. I claim that, contrary to some contemporary interpretations, Mill’s theory is based on a few fundamentally inegalitarian ideas. Finally, Mill’s view on the role of experts in democratic decision-making is analyzed and compared with contemporary theories advocating democratic expertism—Mill’s view is again portrayed as inegalitarian, both to the extent of setting political aims and creating methods for achieving these aims.
منابع مشابه
Mill’s Case for Plural Voting and the Need for Balanced Public Decisions
this paper revisits John Stuart Mill’s famous proposal for plural voting, according to which universal suffrage is conjoined with the possibility for some to claim and utilise multiple votes if they meet a particular set of qualifications . We observe the proposal in the light of Mill’s own historical context, but we also evaluate it with respect to the changing social and political conditions ...
متن کاملSAŽECI • ABSTRACTS Mill’s Case for Plural Voting and the Need for Balanced Public Decisions
this paper revisits John Stuart Mill’s famous proposal for plural voting, according to which universal suffrage is conjoined with the possibility for some to claim and utilise multiple votes if they meet a particular set of qualifications . We observe the proposal in the light of Mill’s own historical context, but we also evaluate it with respect to the changing social and political conditions ...
متن کاملThe Self-Extinguishing Despot: Millian Democratization
Although there is no more iconic, stalwart, and eloquent defender of liberty and representative democracy than J. S. Mill, he sometimes endorses nondemocratic forms of governance. This article explains the reasons behind this seeming aberration and shows that Mill actually has complex and nuanced views of the transition from nondemocratic to democratic government, including the comprehensive an...
متن کاملThe Study of Stage-like Development of Morpho-syntactic Structures in EFL Learners’ Writing Performance: A Processability Theory Account for Cases of “Plural -s” and “Adverb Fronting”
متن کامل
The democracy deficit in Canada
The past decade has seen intensified calls for the reform of democratic political institutions in Canada, on the grounds that there is a “democracy deficit” at the level of federal politics. Some commentators have even begun to describe the country as a “banana republic,” or a “friendly dictatorship.” Yet any attempt to assess the state of democracy in Canada must naturally presuppose some theo...
متن کامل