Must Egalitarians Condemn Representative Democracy?

A. Lovett
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引用次数: 4

Abstract

Many contemporary democratic theorists are democratic egalitarians. They think that the distinctive value of democracy lies in equality. Yet this position faces a serious problem. All contemporary democracies are representative democracies. Such democracies are highly unequal: representatives have much more power than do ordinary citizens. So, it seems that democratic egalitarians must condemn representative democracies. In this paper, I present a solution to this problem. My solution invokes popular control. If representatives are under popular control, then their extra power is not objectionable. Unfortunately, so I argue, in the United States representatives are under loose popular control.
平等主义者必须谴责代议制民主吗?
当代许多民主理论家都是民主平等主义者。他们认为民主的独特价值在于平等。然而,这一立场面临着一个严重的问题。当代所有民主国家都是代议制民主国家。这样的民主国家是高度不平等的:代表的权力比普通公民大得多。因此,民主平等主义者似乎必须谴责代议制民主。在这篇论文中,我提出了这个问题的解决方案。我的解决方案调用流行控制。如果代表处于民众控制之下,那么他们的额外权力就不会令人反感。不幸的是,我认为,在美国,代表们受到了松散的民众控制。
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