1. BBC NEWS | Programmes | BBC Parliament | Political participation and democracy
Political participation and democracy
Unit 1: People and Politics
by Hugh Berrington
The Professor Emeritus at the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne writes for BBC Parliament
Power is the capacity to achieve desired results. Its sources are numerous
and diverse.
Although physical coercion plays an important part in the exercise of power, the
possession of power goes beyond the use or threat of physical force.
'Power' said Mao Tse Tung, 'grows out of the barrel of a gun' . But power may
accrue to a leader because of his personal gifts - charisma or competence.
People may do his bidding because of his skills in persuasion, his oratory, his past
success.
Power in society which relies wholly on armed force is inherently unstable. A leader
who rules by an army alone invites others to collect a bigger army, and try to
overthrow him.
To provide any stability, power has to be institutionalised. We come to obey
leaders not simply because they are stronger than we are, but because their right
to rule is widely recognised.
So, for instance, in some societies, at some times, a hereditary monarch has been
seen as having the right to exercise power.
A king such as Henry VIII was accepted as the legitimate King. Legitimate means
more than being in accordance with the laws of the country. To say a ruler is
legitimate is to say that he has a recognised right to rule.
There are few hereditary monarchs exercising real power left in the world. In
Western countries, even where the form of monarchy survives, as in Britain and
the Netherlands, political power is exercised by others.
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2. BBC NEWS | Programmes | BBC Parliament | Political participation and democracy
What usually confers the right to rule in such countries is election by the people.
Citizens elect their leaders, usually through the agency of a political party, and
these leaders hold power for a limited period, before a further election is held to
determine whether or not they should continue in office.
In such states, the governors are accountable at periodic elections, to the
governed.
Democracy literally means 'rule by the people' - in practice not by the whole people
(for unanimity is rare) but by a majority of the people.
But democracy, as understood in Western states, means much more than majority
rule.
Democracy tempers the notion of majority rule with the idea of individual freedom;
in particular, democracies seek to protect their citizens from the misuse of power
by the governors.
A government, representing a majority, could rule arbitrarily and tyrannically,
unless there were constraints on government.
A democratic constitution confers the right (and some would say the obligation) on
citizens to participate in the nation's affairs - through voting, through membership
of political parties, through membership of pressure groups such as trades unions,
through meetings and demonstrations etc.
Broadly speaking, the more such activity is diffused amongst citizens, the more
democratic rule and the rights of the individual will be safeguarded.
The phrase, 'broadly speaking ', is used because there can be circumstances in
which active participation is not congenial to stable democracy.
Thus, if all citizens are highly active, governments may have little leeway to act in
the face of unexpected events.
Moreover, the experience of some countries suggests that participation is greatest
when the animosities of different groups of citizens are at their most acute.
Thus the rise of the Nazis in Germany from 1929 to 1933 was accompanied by a
heavy increase in the number voting.
Some participated with the aim of destroying democracy. Commentators deplored
the sharp fall in turnout in Britain in the 2001 election, but it is notable that one
region - Northern Ireland - actually saw a rise in turnout, and with it increased
polarisation.
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