Session 6-How democratic is the polyarchy?

With the balance of power shifting in favor of western countries in the last few decades, the ideal of a liberal democracy has gained popularity. Every country in the world aspires to achieve this system based on the principles of equity, liberty, justice and representation. While many states are self-proclaimed democracies, it can be argued that in reality these systems are at best polyarchies. In fact the characteristics of these polyarchies may prevent the achievement of democracy.

An essential principle of democracies is the concept of equal representation which means that the views of each and every individual are reflected in the political process. While countries such as the USA seem to be illustrative of this concept with the ‘one man one vote’ policy, the realities that underlie electoral systems are considerably more complex. There are, for example, socio economic constraints to representation. Evidence suggests that the outcome of the US elections tends to favor middle class interests rather than lower class interests because members of the lower class have considerably less political participation due to economic and cultural differences.

 Moreover,certain groups in the society are systematically excluded from the democratic process. For example, more than four million U.S. citizens residing in the U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are excluded from participating in the election of any voting-member of Congress, which are the political bodies that hold ultimate sovereignty over them.

Moreover, polyarchies tend to concentrate power in to the hands of the ruling elite and bar members of other classes from gaining power.

Therefore, it is difficult to attain the democratic ideal as the workings of the polyarchic governments prevent countries from doing so.