False Democracy

• Authors: Holowka J.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

JJ.S. Mill criticizes all political systems that rely too much on direct majority rule. Political rationality can be achieved only if voters cease to lend their support to political parties and try instead to find in their numbers such individuals that can best defend their conception of functional political organization. Voting for them will create 'a true' democracy. A 'false' democracy will continue to prevail, however, if political voting will be used as an opportunity to bring to parliament groups that are motivated by their own economic or social interests. They will tend to form in the legislative body an internal majority of the selected house members who will do their best to impose their rule on others. To stop this practice Mill proposes several remedies: plurality of votes, tests of literacy, limited expenditure for election campaigns, etc. He speaks in favor of a voting scheme proposed by Thomas Hare, which favors various kinds of minorities. The project is not described by Mill with the precision that it deserves. The author tries to make up for this deficiency.

Keywords

EN

MILL JOHN STUART ('FALSE' DEMOCRACY)

Discipline

• PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Przegląd Filozoficzny. Nowa Seria
• Year: 2006
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 4(60)
• Pages: 301-319
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Holowka J.

• J. Holowka, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Filozofii, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 3, 00-047 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

07PLAAAA02425048