Postscript: Democracy

Abstract

Democracy in the late twentieth century is not only a contested concept but also a remarkably ambiguous one. Outside the few remaining outposts of strongman rule or party tyranny, virtually everyone with a claim to leadership seeks to legitimate that claim in democracy’s name. It is probably impossible to eliminate ambiguity and even contradiction in these multifold usages, for they may well be built into the very concept; the moment we say something as (we think) innocuous as “democracy means rule by the people,” we have already plunged into a definitional as well as practical morass. Thus conservatives in the United States oppose affirmative action programs in the name of democracy—that is, of majority rule. Liberals support the very same programs in the name of democracy—that is, of equal rights for minorities. The definition of democracy has, in fact, become a political project, ultimately to be decided, if not on the battlefield, at least in the voting booth.