Elitist theory of democracy denies the possibility of democracy as 'rule of the people'. Elucidate. (UPSC CSE Mains 2022 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 1)
- The elitists argue that elite group rules because it includes the most capable person and thus by the qualities of their wisdom they can convince the people to obey their commands. The elitist view of liberal democracy originated in the positivist political sociologies of Vilfredo Pareto and Gaetano Mosca. Initially developed as a critique of socialism.
- The critics of Elite theories are of the view that the Elitists doctrine is opposed to, or critical of modern democracy. They argue that upholding the idea of elitism simply means the denial of democratic ideal or the denial of democracy. They have expressed their opposition in two ways. Firstly, the insistence in the elite theories upon the inequality of individual endowment runs counter to a fundamental stand in democratic political thought that emphasis on underlying equality of individual. The Elite theories are, therefore, critical of modern democracy and socialism. Secondly, the notion of a governing minority contradicts the democratic theory of majority rule.
- But the supporters of elitism do not agree with view. They believe that democracy is still compatible with elite theories. They argue that right from the day the representative democracy spread in Europe, there arose misgiving about its nature among intellectuals, conservatives and socialists. If democracy is regarded as being primarily a political system than in actual practice in modern mass society, government by the people is impossible in practice.
- But the significance of political democracy is primarily that the positions of power in society are open in principle to everyone. There is competition for power, and that the holders of power at any time are accountable to the electorate. Other elitists thinkers also point out that political democracy envisages that the choice of personal should be ‘open and subject to negotiation and bargaining’, among the various elements of the population. Democracy, therefore, provides an opportunity to the people to choose among competing elites. It needs to be emphasize at that political competition and of equality of opportunity can be presented as corollaries of liberal or laissez-faire economic theory. Democracy will then be treatted as a type of society in which the elites-economic, cultural, as well as political- are open in principle and are in fact recived from different social strata on the basis of individual merit.
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