Download Lecture Notes on Chapter 2 of Main Text, Part II

Chapter 2 – The Democratic
Ideal (Part 2)
Aristotle’s Six-fold Classification of
Government
In Whose Interest?
Rule By
The Public
The Ruler(s)
Monarchy
Tyranny/Totalitarianism
THE FEW
Aristocracy
Oligarchy
THE MANY
Polity (Republic)
Democracy
ONE
Source: Adapted from Ball, Terence and Richard Dagger, Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal,
5th ed. (New York: Pearson/Longman): 22.
CLASSICAL REPUBLICANISM & ITS LEGACY
Aristotle’s, Plato’s, & Polybius’s fears of democracy
foreshadowed the fears held by the American
founders
Ancient Rome inaugurated the concept of the
separation of powers
Mixed government in Ancient Rome divided power
among the classes. Each class participated in its
own institution of government
• Assemblies: The People (Democratic Element)
• Senate: The Aristocracy
• Consuls: Enacted policy (Monarchical Element)
As with an alloy, mixed government would be
stronger, less prone to the dominance of any one
class, and less likely to create corrupt citizens.
Republic: from the latin “res publica,” meaning
the public place
Fall & Renaissance of Classical Rome
Roman Empire (44 AD – 476 AD) – Emphasized rule of
monarchs and later emperors at the expense of the
Republican principles of mixed government
Middle Ages (5th Century AD through 13th & 14th Century) –
Society was based on Fuedalism & Christianity, not
Republicanism & Democracy
By the 1200s, some Italian city states won a measure of
political independence from the Church
Looked back to Ancient Roman Republicanism to
provide new justification for self government, esp. after
the death of Frederick II in 1250
Aristotle’s Politics translated into Latin (1260)
Renaissance 14th C – 17th C – Started in Italy as a rebirth of
classical Greek & Roman culture (in the arts, sciences,
astronomy & mathematics, as well as in ethics & politics)
Ancient Rome and Classical Republicanism:
The Great Niccolo Machiavelli
Machiavelli’s The Prince provided
recommendations for the seizure and
maintenance of Princely power
His more important work, Discourses on
Titus Livy, explicates the meaning and
nature of the Republican Ideal, through an
interpretation of the work of the ancient
Roman historian of the Augustan era,
Titus Livy
Ancient Rome and Classical Republicanism:
The Great Niccolo Machiavelli
Machiavelli is describing how to govern best. Really, he
wants to construct a great northern Italian “nation.”
Corruption was the greatest threat to a people
Was his conception of corruption the same as ours?
Foreign armies were pretty worrisome too
He excavates the essentials of classical republicanism:
Gov’t of laws, not men
Mixed government
Virtuous citizenry (alert to public affairs, rather than private)
Need for contestation and struggle between classes
Citizen army of able bodied men
The Atlantic Republican Tradition
In the 1640s, the British attempted to replace
monarchism with republicanism.
Efforts of James Harrington and other English
republicans were stymied by the restoration of the
monarchy in 1660 (Charles II).
Britain does eventually develop a “constitutional
monarchy” which is similar to republican government
Republican values fully informed the American and
French revolutions
The Atlantic Republican Tradition (con’t)
Drew on Aristotle’s civic humanism: the idea that people
become more moral, and become more concerned with the
public interest through their participation in public life
Republicanism and the American Founding
What was the problem that the colonists
had with the English arrangement of
Crown, House of Lords, and House of
Commons?
Was their initial complaint with the English
monarchy
or with something else?
The Framers’ View of Democracy
● Feared Democracy and minimized democratic
aspirations
● Favored an elitist conception of Government –
leave the ship of state in the hands of those with
more leisure, wealth, social standing and
education
●Roger Williams’ democratic government in
Rhode Island (est. 1647) was an exception
Why did the Framers fear too much
democracy?
● Feared that the demos would be concerned for
their own private gain, rather than the common good
- If not checked & balanced, could lead to majority
tyranny
● Feared that the demos would be swayed by
demagogues
● Feared that the masses would fight each other for
short term gain, leading to anarchy and civil war
Fears of the Framers – Eliminate
tyranny in all its forms
Tyranny from a Monarch or President, such
as King George III
Tyranny from a Democratic Majority
(Majority Tyranny)
Tyranny From an Aristocratic or
Democratic Minority that could gain control
of government
Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
Federalists
such as Hamilton & Jay opposed a Bill of
Rights; wished for stronger central
government
Less democratic, if at all
Anti-Federalists
(along with Madison, ultimately, and
Jefferson) insisted on Bill of Rights to
safeguard the role of the states (the
people)
A bit more democratic
Political Liberty and Democracy
Separate concepts
Fareed Zakaria argues that Political Liberty,
or liberalism, should precede democracy.
Democracy requires a polity that has some
history with liberalism, or political liberty