Democracy and equality 10 marker
- Created by: Rachellowe
- Created on: 18-04-18 11:30
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- Democracy and equality
- Liberal Democracy
- Understand democracy in individualist terms
- There is a fear of collective power
- Belief in political equality
- Liberals are now concerned that democracy is the enemy of individual liberty
- 'the people' are not a single group but a collection of individuals
- De Tocqueville = 'the tyranny of the majority'
- Regular and competitive elections
- Consent through the ballot box
- Democracy constrains abuses of power
- It must always be conducted within a constitutional framework to prevent majoritarian tyranny
- LD creates external check on government that are designed to guarantee civil liberty and ensure a healthy civil society
- Lord Acton = 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'
- Understand democracy in individualist terms
- Freedom
- Give priority to freedom as the supreme individualist value
- If liberty is unlimited it can become a license to abuse others
- J.S Mill = the only time power can be rightfully used over someone else is to prevent harm to others
- Mill takes a libertarian stance meaning that only minimal restriction on freedom are needed
- J.S Mill = the only time power can be rightfully used over someone else is to prevent harm to others
- Rawls = everyone is entitled to widest possible liberty consistent with a like liberty for all
- Classical = negative freedom
- Free from interference
- Absence of external restictions
- Modern = positive freedom
- Emphasis on the capacity of human beings to develop and achieve self realisation
- Social contract
- Hobbes = humans are greedy and selfish so naturally we enter a 'war of all against all'
- Life would be 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short'
- Locke came up with the idea of a SC.
- Rational individuals consent to create a gov with the authority to keep life ordered and preserve liberty
- Individuals consent to sacrifice some liberty in order to set up a system of law, knowing that otherwise their rights would be in constant danger
- Political authority comes from below in a state created by the individual for the individual
- Government arises out of consent of the government
- Hobbes = humans are greedy and selfish so naturally we enter a 'war of all against all'
- Justice and equality
- Giving each person what they are 'due'
- People are born equal in the sense that thy are of equal moral worth i.e. natural rights
- All liberal advocate formal equality (i.e. legal, EQ o O)
- Classical = social equality threatens freedom and penalises talent
- Believe in Merritocracy
- Modern = true EQ of O cant be achieved without social equality
- Classical = social equality threatens freedom and penalises talent
- social justice = the fair distribution of wealth and rewards in society
- Individuals should have an equal opportunity to develop their unequal skills and abilities
- Rawls = economic inequality is only justifiable if it works to the benefit of the poorest in society
- MLK = 'content of character'
- People should be judges on their talents not the colour of their skin etc.
- Liberal Democracy
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