The Pros And Cons Of Representative Democracy

Can social order be maintained without power? Some political thinkers believe that political order can be maintained with sources such as human nature, the natural harmony of interests, and customs other than power. Rousseau and Marx believed in human nature if men and women were basically good. Locke thought that humans were at bottom reasonable. Edmund Burke was a proponent of habit, prejudice, and respect. The concept of natural harmony of interest is essentially summarized by the theory of classical economists, which is basic rationale for free enterprise. The classical economist regarded humans as materialistic and self-seeking and the social order could be created and sustained with power. The government role would be to ensure and maintain

Idealists consider direct democracy superior to representative democracy. The representative system makes it possible to allow people as a whole to have a final world, to empower those who stand out for their skills and experience in political matters. Direct democracy tends to suppress minorities in the masses. Representatives can devote their time to government whereas the people on the whole cannot. A representative body provides better opportunities for objective participation whereas direct democracy is carried away by momentary emotion. Direct democracy is workable only in small population and area whereas representative democracy opens the way to large scale, even global, political integration.

Proponents of representative democracy stand on the ground of common sense that people in the future to be what they have been ordinarily been in the past. Proponents of direct democracy rely on hope than on experience on what people might become than what they actually

The self respect of all humans depends on assurance that the government they obey has a moral right to be obeyed otherwise what if it turns from authority to naked force. Humans have been offended by power by a demand of obedience unsupported by any reference to moral right that has caused feeling of offense and disobedience. Political obligation is based on consent subordinates government to freedom through “general will” and “will of all”. According to Rousseau “will of all” is sum of all particular wills that considers only the common interest, which must be directed toward the good of everyone. The point that human beings are essentially united tells that a government can legitimately claim obedience only when its commands represent the true, ultimate interest of all the people through general will. The theory of the general upholds that even though a law does not rest on individual’s consent, it may yet command contributions to individuals’ real good and thus enhance his/her