Thread by @GerardoMunck

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 affects how we discuss democracy. And a common and problematic tendency is to include all sorts of things we think are good in our definition of democracy.

🧵on how to avoid the problem of maximalist definitions of democracy.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Democracy is connected to the economy, the culture and the state. Yet if we overload the concept of democracy, we obscure those relationships.

Here are three ways to think about the meaning of democracy that avoid this problem.

𝗜. 𝗗𝗮𝗵𝗹 first argues that democracy is justified by the idea of intrinsic equality. And then he presents a discussion that distinguishes among elements that are “integral,” “external but necessary,” and “external but not necessary” to the democratic process.👇

𝗜. 𝗗𝗮𝗵𝗹 then offers a definition of democracy (or polyarchy) in terms of “seven institutions” that reflect his view of things that are “integral to the democratic process”:👇

𝗜𝗜. 𝗣𝗿𝘇𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗸𝗶 makes a distinction between 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 & 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 of democracy and 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 needed for democracy to function.👇

𝗜𝗜. 𝗣𝗿𝘇𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗸𝗶 then goes on to propose his well-known minimalist definition of democracy and to clarify how he will analyze a set of features commonly included in maximalist definitions of democracy.👇

𝗜𝗜𝗜. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘃𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. To these distinctions, I would add the one between constitutive and causal relations.👇

𝗜𝗜𝗜. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘃𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. The general idea is to define democracy in terms of conceptual attributes linked through constitutive relations and to treat causal relations involving democracy as a different sort of question.👇

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗜. Many scholars argue that democracy is more than a political regime (or a form of government) and that aspects of the state and society are part of democracy. Further, this way of thinking is pervasive among constructors of democracy indices.👇

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗜𝗜. But overloading the concept of democracy is problematic – it gets in the way of clear thinking about a range of problems related to democracy. And there are ways to theorize about democracy that avoid the conflation of distinct issues.