Liberal Democracy Contradictions Analysis

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'Liberal Democracy is a contradiction in terms' Discuss. Liberal democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism. However, Liberalism has both endorsed democracy and warned against it.As a result, there can be several contradictions as with any system of government. Firstly, Liberal Democracy although gives everyone the right to vote, promoting pluralism, ultimately, the tyranny of the majority will overrule any views of a minority. This means the majority hold power over minorities and therefore everyone is not equal as those in majority may infringe on minorities in some form. Therefore, one can argue there are contradictions because not everyone's views are taken into account…show more content…
J.S.Mills was concerned over the political wisdom of individuals as it is unequally distributed and is largely related to education. The uneducated are more liable to act according to narrow class interests whereas the educated are able to use their wisdom and experience for the good of others. He therefore insisted that elected politicians should speak for themselves rather than reflect the view of their electorate, and he proposed a system of plural voting that would disenfranchise the illiterate and allocate one, two, three or four votes to people depending on their level of education or social position.Other Liberals expressed similar and even more significant fears that the arrival of mass democracy had led to the overthrow of civilised society and the moral order, paving the way for authoritarian rulers to come to power by appealing to the basic instincts of the masses, therefore undermining liberalism and the social contract between citizens and…show more content…
This is where citizens can enjoy positive freedom, where they can decide through rationalism on how to improve themselves by giving judgements based on personal experience's. Therefore, because citizens are allowed to participate, it allows them to decide and what they ultimately want instead of being out of touch and unheard in other systems which are authoritarian, most importantly,it ensures a developmental democracy, rather than one which is reactionary and looking to preserve the out of date tradition. Also, the democratic nature of liberal democracy ensures that all citizens can participate in a system of competitive elections, conforming to the principles of universal suffrage and political equality. In addition, this supports the Liberal core value of justice as democracy ensures political equality, by the equal weighting and opportunities to vote. Most importantly,it ensures a developmental

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