Democracies are based on:
(a) Regional equality
(b) Political equality
(c) Economical inequality
(d) Social inequality
Answers
Answer:
Bhargava, Juliana Bidadanure, Thomas Christiano, Ulrike Felt, Colin Hay, Lily Lamboy, Thamy Pogrebinschi, Graham Smith, Gayil Talshir, Nadia Urbinati, Mieke Verloo
3
Word count: [42,417]
4
Abstract: [Abstract 200 words]
5
Summary:
6
Democracy, as we understand it, is a process of collective decision making among persons, which issues in collectively binding norms for the society of those persons. It is a process of decision making in which persons participate as equals in determining the legal and conventional norms that bind them and in which the group of persons, taken collectively, are sovereign. Democracy can be understood as a descriptive term, referring to political societies that actually exist, or as a normative ideal for the evaluation of political societies. This chapter is primarily about the basic moral principles that can justify this egalitarian process of collective decision making and on the challenges to understanding and realizing this ideal in the modern world.
7
Challenges to articulating and implementing the democratic principle arise due to the reality of economic inequality, to the religious, ethnic, gender and racial pluralism of modern societies, and to the fact that these societies are part of a larger global society. We discuss and evaluate the appropriateness of democratic institutions, procedures, and organizations to translate the moral principles into the structural grammar of present day democracies and to what extent they can guarantee the fundamental principles and normative promises of democracy. The ideas of equality and sovereignty at the base of democracy cannot be fully appreciated without a grasp of the pluralism and complexity of modern societies.
8
We take public equality as the basic normative principle underwriting democracy and guiding our efforts to understand the challenges that democracy faces. The principle helps us think about democracy along two distinct dimensions: procedural and substantive. Democracy is grounded in the principle of equality in the sense that because persons have equal status and worth, the collective decision making process is meant to realize the equal advancement of the interests of the members of the society. The ideal of democracy is a uniquely public realization of the equal status and worth of each citizen in the sense that all can see that they are treated as equals despite all the disagreements and conflicts of interest that arise in modern societies. Democracy achieves this by giving people an equal say in the making of collectively binding decisions and by protecting basic civil rights. This equal say involves equality in capacities to deliberate with fellow citizens and equal voting power and capacities to negotiate when disagreements persist. The challenge is to extend and deepen this idea in the context of highly pluralistic societies and beyond the state.
9
The principle of public equality also grounds the fundamental civil rights of persons as well. There are certain basic civil and liberal rights whose respect and protection are as important to the public realization of the equal status and worth of persons as democracy itself is. And these rights must be respected and protected by democratic decision making just as much as democracy itself if persons are to be treated publicly as equals. This substantive dimension of public equality is also a source of debate and contention.
10
At the same time, the idea of equality at the heart of democracy is itself a contested notion. And the challenges we address in the subsequent parts of this chapter bring out some of the main sources of contestation. And so the ideal of public equality itself must be subject to continual discussion and revision. In this sense, democracy is an ideal that is never fully realized among persons.
11
We have structured the chapter along fundamental challenges democracy is facing in the 21st century. These challenges are:
Answer:
c) political equality
Explanation:
Democracy is a form of government of the people, by the people and for the people. In democracy, every citizen above a certain age has the right to vote, irrespective of his or her caste, creed, sect, gender and religion. Hence, it can be said that democracies are based on political equality.