Socrates, Cleon, Kejriwal
What exactly is direct democracy? We know because the Greeks had it. Aristotle described it in The Athenian Constitution. Basically, every decision, whether executive or legislative, was taken by direct vote.
Athens was a direct democracy because with only 50,000 citizens, it had little diversity and was manageably small. But even there, since it wasn’t practical for all citizens to vote every day, only a few voted on a given day. These were chosen by lot (picking out a number or a colour from a pot) and by neighbourhood in rotation. Every citizen was equal and equally qualified.
Aristotle described how government servants, military generals and court jurors (there were no judges) were elected and picked randomly by lot.
Socrates had a problem with this. “In a storm, would you decide a ship’s captain by lot?” is his constant question in Plato’s dialogues. The answer is obviously no.
In the modern state, foreign affairs is the domain of experts, not popular opinion. This is because international relations are conducted in a snakepit with no rulebook.
Economics requires expertise, not collective wisdom. Interest rates, excise duties and deficits cannot be determined by popularity. Neither can income tax rates and their method of collection in a culture where morality is low and tax theft is common if not normal. If I remember it right, Kejriwal himself paid his own taxes tardily and after a stern notice.
Direct democracy is also susceptible to demagoguery and the passion of the mob (which in India is quick to form). The comic playwright Aristophanes had a favourite target, the demagogue Cleon, who kept pressing Athens to continue its ruinous war with Sparta.
Will India resist her Cleons, of whom we have many? I doubt it. Gujarat’s voters continue to vote for a party whose ministers are being convicted of mass slaughter.
Democratic opinion is not always infallible.
After the battle of Arginusae in 406 BCE, the Athenians executed their own generals after a vote in anger. The mercenary and historian Xenophon, who recorded this, said the Athenians then regretted the action. Socrates fought in that battle and was influenced by the wickedness of the citizen voters. He constantly asked if direct democracy had merit, angering those in power and resulting in his trial.
It was a jury of a few hundred Athenian men that convicted Socrates and instructed him to commit suicide. The charge against him was corrupting the young, but writer IF Stone in his Trial of Socrates showed that the execution was actually for opposing direct democracy.
Ultimately, everyone fell out of love with direct democracy and it produced a backlash that changed history.
Aristotle went on to tutor Alexander, who dismantled what remained of the democracies of Thebes and Athens. He then conquered and left colonised for centuries the area covering Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and some of Central Asia before being beaten back in Punjab.
Plato himself detested direct democracy as much as Socrates did. He had no faith in the mob’s wisdom. His Republic was the opposite of direct democracy. A Nazi-style supremacist state that had no place for individual freedom or even poetry. His last work, Laws, the only one without Socrates in it, was softer and less totalitarian.
All systems have been tried and all have failed before the wisdom of democracy with elected representatives, which India already has.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2012.
COMMENTS (22)
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India does not have "wise" leaders to run an indirect democracy effectively. The kind of ministers in the center is horrifying and the CMs in the state have proven to be corrupt to the core. The Athenians may have killed handful of their own generals, but the hundreds of millions of deaths in the wars were created by a handful of "wise" rulers. The unwise and evil men who usurp power manage to become leaders because the people take little interest in matters that are public. So if Kejriwal is trying to get the people to be more involved in the day to day matters which are local to them, then there should be no problem. Too much power to the "wise" men at the center has allowed corruption to reach high proportions and this will not auger well for anyone.
Lala Gee " Study histrionic statistical data and you will find the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer in relative terms in all the democratic countries without any exception"
This is true for any system without any exception. There is a saying that Paisa, paise ko kheenchta hai. Marx tried to change it but his followers couldn't achieve what was promised. Both USSR and China end up having power and money in few hands.
@Lala Gee: "One of the effective solutions could think was to establish a department of public opinion survey which would work in scientific manner using latest IT and Internet technologies and adjust the sample size according to the specific requirements of the issue. This way the size of the population, like India and Pakistan, wouldn’t be of much hurdle and the process can be effectively completed in a single day."
So you feel that this sort of sampling method which would overweight the samples of urban educated elite and minimize the voice of rural poor and women is preferable to the current system of indirect representation? Also assuming your system worked flawlessly, would it be called something different from democracy - which you seem to oppose strongly?
@Lala Gee: Are you ok?
In continuation to my previous comment, "democracy can be best described as a front for capitalism in which the rich own all the horses and the public is allowed to do the betting freely". Study histrionic statistical data and you will find the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer in relative terms in all the democratic countries without any exception.
I have spent quite some time in figuring out ways and mechanisms to ensure peoples participation in the decision making processes, especially in the important ones having greater effect on the lives of general public or major shifts in policies including foreign policy. One of the effective solutions could think was to establish a department of public opinion survey which would work in scientific manner using latest IT and Internet technologies and adjust the sample size according to the specific requirements of the issue. This way the size of the population, like India and Pakistan, wouldn't be of much hurdle and the process can be effectively completed in a single day. Further, a few words on democracy and the governance system. Any governance system can be as good or as bad as the people running the system. Look at the government systems in China and U.A.E. These are not democratic in the true sense, but still effective and working towards the progress of their people.
@Somesh:
There is hardly any need to shout. The story of how Kejariwal broke conditions of the Bond and had to be forced to pay the legitimate dues to the Govt is well known but if you have missed it, it is right here-
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-letter-to-cbdt-kejriwal-admitted-violating-bond-for--larger-public-good-/841704/
Abhi, "Also it is really nice to see many in Pakistan, try to call porus as punjabi king! While at that time the term punjab did not exist and by all means he should be considerd as Indian king" Porus was son of the soil we call Punjab.Like raja jaipal, Anandpal were also proud sons of punjab.(Shahiyya dynasty).
The act of taking the law into his own hands is what has been the foundation of corruption. If individuals start becoming police, prosecutor and judge as well as executor, where will be our nation. The most power full will manage this very well others will go to wall and just there will no law and order. I think we were told to bring strong lakpal bill, If that was the case Kejriwal would be in jail long time ago. People need to understand that on one hand they talk of law and order and on the other they take it into their own hands...these people are have no constitution no process and one would not know how an NGO funds can be used to promote political activities? I think they have just exposed their 'anarchist' tendencies that is used by many political groups in the past..they wind up people, big slogans and few sample incidents and then become leaders..no policies and no administrative capacity and just narebaji...the countries where law and order is more effective have spent years respecting laws and criminal justice system and working to improve it not destroy it.
If I remember it right, Kejriwal himself paid his own taxes tardily and after a stern notice. Apparently the author has selectively remembered it WRONG here..... I don't quite support the social activist's direct entry into active politics but to put the blunt truth - "THE GOVERNMENT DELIBERATELY DID NOT ACCEPT HIS RESIGNATION WHICH WAS LONG STANDING AND THEN WENT ON TO SLAP HIM WITH TAX EVASION AS A REVENGE TOOL". So, much for neat and clean party/dynasty politics of Songress................
The objections raised against direct democracy can be levelled with equal force against democracy with elected representatives as well.
@abhi If you are Indian you are brave to want to own a defeat.
If democracy of athens was not so good, Alexander was also not really great ruler. And Hitler has given us nice example of what an auoritarian regime can do besides conquering the world.
Also it is really nice to see many in Pakistan, try to call porus as punjabi king! While at that time the term punjab did not exist and by all means he should be considerd as Indian king.
In the end all economic decisions are political in nature. That is because governments decide through the political process of cabinet and parliament approval. But more so because economic decisions affect the lives of individuals. This is true for all countries. It is as difficult to raise taxes in USA as it is in Pakistan. On the other hand, we have repeated evidence of the failure of economic policies. The 2008 financial crisis was the direct consequence of Chicago School's deregulation mantra that helped USA keep interests low and fund its foreign misadventures. It wiped off trillions of dollars worth of assets (some of it paper). Kejriwal's movement is for both improved governance and redistribution. The latter in his case is the classic economic choice between 'guns and butter'. It is economically sustainable, but whether he can bring these changes about through the political process by kindling enough interest and making it in to a powerful movement is moot. Imran Khan's party has gone the route of all other political parties and cannot make the change. I cannot see Kejriwal succeeding either.
Western histories say Alexander was not defeated in Punjab but instead defeated Punjab's King Porus and reduced him to a satrap. After a few more conquests, Alexander's men revolted and demanded to return home.
Arvind Kejriwal has just entered into Political domain.in fact he was forced into it,while being challenged by certain political parties to get elected before speaking for people.he will take time to politically mature,but he has his heart at right place.he may not form a govt but will surely act as a deterrent for govt against acting irresponsibly and for opposition parties which now a days are more content with playing a B team to the party in power.
Well said! "tyranny of the majority" cannot be called democracy. Democracy, both in modern and traditional settings, is dependent on capabilities of the institutions. The institution building is thus more important than chanting populist shallow slogans.
India's middle class does not care for Kejriwal. In fact it does not care for anybody. It has no time. Besides it is lazy physically and mentally. Kejriwal is on TV because of TRPs. The moment his TRPs goes down, like that of Rakhi Sawant or Veena Malik, he will be forgotten.
Switzerland today has direct democracy. Thus characterizing direct democracy as an outdated idea is inaccurate. IT is inapplicable because it is logistically unfeasible in a country India's size. However for some key issues direct democracy is used to determine state level laws in US and that perhaps is a workable model in India as well.Determination of what is key ofcourse would have to be done indirectly by the elected representatives.
Whatever little doubts I may have had in my opinion of Mr. Kejriwal, none were left once I heard his statement that people's opinion would be mandatory in order to raise prices of essential commodities. Any lunatic who proposes an entirely new alternative to the market is anti-development not pro-people.
well i can say 1 thing no form of govt is fully accountable,responsible and successful...out of all the forms a country must choose its best............
"If I remember it right, Kejriwal himself paid his own taxes tardily and after a stern notice."
THIS IS A TOTALLY WRONG THING WRITTEN HERE!