samoqalaqo sazogadoeba - Center for Social Sciences

LECTURE 6. DEMOCRACY: THREE POLITICAL TRADITIONS
Modern liberal democracy in this lecture is presented as a product of uneasy tension of three
political traditions: republican, liberal and democratic. This is important for new democracies to
realize, that electoral rights and periodic change of government are not the only necessary
elements of democracy. Fareed Zakaria points out that, in differ from third wave democracies,
liberal constitutional state was introduced in core democracies before universal suffrage, while
Guillermo O’Donnell reminds, that elections are much easier to establish in new democracies, than
liberal and republican components.
These issues are especially well presented by Guillermo O’Donnell. So, democratic legitimation of
political is not the only one that exists in old established democracies. This is particularly salient in
a notion of representation. Democracy, which is devoted of liberal and republican components, will
have problems with representative governance, because democracy itself is not enough for the
creation of public representation, public sphere effective functioning. Lack of liberal component can
lead to oligopolic governance, and encroachment of power, which destroys constitutions limits of
governance, while lack of republican component will lead to plutocracy and corruption. In a new
democracies both emerge, while presidents of these countries tend to struggle with corruption
using extralegal and extra constitutional methods that in turn promote new waves of corruption,
and create vicious circles of bad governance.
Literature:
M.Muskhelishvili, Democratization. Societies in Transitional periods - Democratization in a Modern
World (co-author, with G.Jorjoliani and T.Berekashvili). Textbook, OSGF, Tbilisi, 2001 (in
Georgian), Chapter 5: demokratizaciis Tanamedrove gamowvevebi
LECTURE 7. THREE POLITICAL TRADITIONS, DISCURSIVE NOTIONS OF THE POLITICAL
AND CIVIL SOCIETY
This lecture provides students with easy and salient scheme, describing three ideal-type political
discursive ethics. These three political realms are distinguished by the ethics of legitimation:
legitimation by majority (political decisions), legitimation by one (knowledge, court procedure),
legitimation by all (social contract, basic norms of justice). Correspondingly, these discourses have
different actors (politicians, experts, elites), agencies (persuasion, prove, transformation), time
horizons (short, middle, infinite), etc.
All these types of legitimation can be found in day-to day political aspects of social interaction. Suppose,
group of students is going to spend weekend in countryside together. First they will have to decide where
to go (to the beach, to mountains, to the river, etc., decision made by majority), then they will have to
avoid such routs, which can be dangerous for one of them (i.e. somebody cannot climb mountains
because of health problems, decision by all), and, finally, they need somebody knowledgeable, who
knows, which road they should choose, and which side to go (i.e. has a map, or experience, decision
made by one).
Students will learn that not all political decisions are made by majority vote, and will realize, on an
example of real-life situation, how ethical conflicts can emerge, if one discursive ethics is
substituted by the different one.
Literature:
M.Muskhelishvili, Free but Not Liberal: Media and a Particularistic Social Context, conference
papers, CMI, Yerevan, Armenia (in Russian)2004, 15 gv.
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