Episode 84: Amanda Greene discusses the legitimacy of democracy
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, Matt Techman here from Elucidations. Before we get going today, I just thought I'd ask if you're a fan of the show, to maybe go to our iTunes page and leave a rating and a review, and that way more people can discover it. Alright, thanks.
Hello and welcome to Elucidations, a philosophy podcast recorded at the University of Chicago. I'm Matt Tykman.
And I'm Emily Dupree.
Amanda Green is a lecturer in philosophy at University College London. and Law and Philosophy Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. And she is here to discuss the legitimacy of democracy. Amanda Green, welcome.
Thank you. So our topic today is the legitimacy of democracy.
Why does Amanda Greene consider democracy the most legitimate form of government?
But before we get into that, I just wanted to ask why democracy is something that you're interested in in writing about and trying to justify its legitimacy.
That's a great question. I think that democracy is something that we have come to take for granted in the contemporary era. Базиклі, ітснал should be organized. I'm interested in the history of how it came to be the gold standard, but I'm also interested in justifying it as the best form of government. One of the things that I've noticed about our contemporary political discourse is that everyone claims to be a fan of democracy. Everyone favors democracy. You see it as a politically useful term in the democratic arena when people say, we must have this policy because this fulfills what it is to be a democracy, or we ought not to have that policy because it wouldn't be democracy. Democratic.
Another way that we see democracy used in political discourse, which I'm very interested in, is in the international arena. So increasingly democracy is considered the only legitimate form of government in international politics, and you see that in the rhetoric that surrounds international institution building. So we criticize countries that are Not democratic enough? And we also um Are trying to institutionalize forms of democratic decision making in the international arena. So you see this explicitly in debates in the European Union that um forms of governance above and beyond the state are also being expected to be democratic. in various ways involving elections, involving processes of public consultation.
involving public accountability, these sorts of features. And so It seems to me now that democracy just has this positive valence. It's the kind of word that we think of as a good thing. How could you not think democracy is good? And partly that's because politicians and diplomats have used it in their rhetoric, but also I think it's fairly widely shared in the public culture. We do tend to think democracy is a good thing. So as a philosopher, my job is to question everything. And so I started thinking through why are we so accepting of democracy as this thing that is good by default, as this way of doing government that is the best way of doing government or the most favorable way of doing government?
If you look back Across the span of human history there have been many different kinds of ways of doing government.
How did democracy become the ‘gold‑standard’ of modern political discourse?
There have been many different forms of political orders. And I'm not necessarily saying that we should return to some of the older forms of political organization, but I think that to the degree that we consider democracy better. We should really understand why because it's something that we just accept by default as the best way to govern.
Okay, so democracy in the contemporary media is really hot right now, at least in modern industrialized Western society or something like that. It's considered as you set the gold standard. A system of rule is often judged good or bad according to how democratic it is. Is that right, or is it just a fad? Like, is democracy actually the best form of government? What do you think about that?
Great question. So Democracy, I think, actually has become an idea that's quite broad and all encompassing. In some ways it reflects a lot of the things we aspire to achieve in politics. So it reflects our desire for equality, for eliminating hierarchies.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:59
2
Why does Amanda Greene consider democracy the most legitimate form of government?
0:59–3:46
3
How did democracy become the ‘gold‑standard’ of modern political discourse?
3:46–6:41
4
What are the core democratic ideals that people associate with equality and self‑rule?
6:41–9:36
5
How do minority rights and individual liberties clash with majority voting in a democracy?
9:36–13:48
6
What definition of political legitimacy does the podcast propose?
13:48–16:53
7
Can a regime be legitimate without being democratic? (Examples from authoritarian states)
16:53–20:48
8
What are the ‘anxieties of democracy’ and how do they affect political equality?
20:48–42:56
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Elucidations
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