Deepening Democracy: The Role of Civil Society
2016
There is more to democracy than the responsibilities and decisions of elected
representatives. This is as true for societies deeply divided along ethnic lines as for any
other kind of society. Democracy means rule by the people, which, in turn, assumes
that ordinary people can hold representatives to account and make them responsive to
their preferences and opinions. Yet according to one reading of democracy,
representatives need only be held accountable for the positions and policies they adopt
at election time. If voters are dissatisfi ed with the way in which their interests have been
served, they can use their franchise to register that dissatisfaction in the hope of bringing
about a change of government (Schumpeter 1942; Riker 1982).
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