Political Science I / Democracy and Polyarchy
Practice question · Fill in the blanks

Complete the account of democratic theory.

Schumpeter defined democracy as a competitive struggle for the people's ______. Dahl proposed ______ as the name for achievable arrangements, with the two dimensions of contestation and ______. Participatory theorists argue that participation is ______, so that a minimal democracy undermines itself.

Word bank: vote · polyarchy · inclusiveness · educative · deliberation · legitimacy

Hints
  1. The second blank is the term coined to avoid calling real regimes democracies.
  2. The last blank is the claim that people become capable of self-government by practising it.
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Schumpeter defined democracy as a competitive struggle for the people's vote. Dahl proposed polyarchy as the name for achievable arrangements, with the two dimensions of contestation and inclusiveness. Participatory theorists argue that participation is educative, so that a minimal democracy undermines itself.

Why

The last blank carries the sharpest disagreement in the lesson. If participation is educative, then a system that asks little of citizens produces citizens capable of little, which turns a descriptive dispute about definitions into a claim about what institutions do to people.

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