An Analysis of the Theories of Democracy

One of the theories of the limits of democracy is Democratic Elitism. Developed by Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter, Democratic Elitism is the theory that in a large-scale society, democratic participation is limited to the electing of political leaders. Weber believed that participatory democracy can only succeed when things that need to be done are very simple, and that specialized skills and knowledge are required for more complicated decisions. 

According to Weber, the development of mass citizenship makes it very necessary to have bureaucratic officials. A representative multiparty democracy will help keep a balance in the system and help prevent both political leaders from arbitrarily making decisions and power being completely taken by bureaucrats. 

Weber argued that in order for democratic systems to be effective there must be more than one political party that each represents different interests so that voters have a variety of choices, and there has to be political leaders who are able to abstain from the rule of bureaucracy. He believes that rule by elites is inevitable and that hopefully those elites will effectively represent our interest in an innovative and insightful fashion. 

Joseph Schumpeter’s view was pretty much the same as Weber’s. He felt that democracy can only offer the possibility of Replacing one political leader or party with another. 

The pluralist theory was influenced by Weber and Schumpeter, although they developed their ideas somewhat differently. They believed that interest groups limit the centralization of power in the hands of government officials. Competing interest groups or factions are necessary to democracy because they reduce the sole influence of any one group or class. There needs to be a balance among competing interests in order to be considered in democratic political order. This situation influences elections because parties need to be responsive to many different interest groups. The US is considered to be the most pluralistic of industrialized societies, and, therefore, is the most democratic.