Democracy Requires Organized Collective Power*

Abstract

Democratic institutions awaken and flatter the passion for equality without ever being able to satisfy it entirely. 1 Alexis de TocquevilleTo turn from mechanisms and concepts to the social forces in play … 2 Karl PolanyiWhat is the value and function of democratic institutions? One prominent answer could be broadly called "liberal proceduralist": democratic institutions, by embodying fair procedures for resolving disagreements, contribute to a politically valuable ideal of relating to each other as equals. 3 As attractive as it is, this view falters, because it rests on a flawed understanding of democratic institutions. In

Institutional Responsibility is Prior to Personal Responsibility in a Pandemic

“…One of these roles is to provide mechanisms for efficiently realizing various obligations that exist somewhat independently of them. As Klein [ 85 , p. 2] puts it, democratic institutions are, in part, “substantive mechanisms for organizing different actors, interests and groups in society”. 3 While various state and other institutions are the most effective vehicles for the realization of many responsibilities that arise during a pandemic, these responsibilities are ones which we all owe to each another, and which are often best delivered through various institutions.…”

“… 3 Though as Klein [ 85 , p. 26] notes, we should not make the mistake of seeing the state as “a neutral medium for implementing collective decisions”, since it is also a political entity with its own set of interests. …”

Liberal Plebeianism: John Stuart Mill on Democracy, Oligarchy, and Working-Class Mobilization

“…The plebeian orientation thus works against the tendencies of some contemporary liberals to abstract away from the broader balance of social forces and to rely excessively on proceduralist crutches (Klein 2022). Importantly, however, the liberal orientation recognizes the dangers of the populist tendency to stray too far from these same procedural norms.…”

“…Ultimately, I suggest that Mill’s liberal plebeianism offers a robust alternative to, and corrective of, prevailing liberal approaches; it thus deserves a prominent place in contemporary democratic theory and normative political thought. Critics complain that mainstream Rawlsian liberalism lacks a sociological sensibility—that it fixates excessively on abstract rights claims and norms of procedural fairness to the neglect of concrete struggles by actual, institutionally embodied political movements (Klein 2022). These criticisms take hold amid wider debates about the role of ideal vs. nonideal (Mills 2005) and realist vs. moralist (Rossi and Sleat 2014) approaches in political theory.…”

Intra‐party Democracy: A Functionalist Account*

“…As Steven Klein has recently argued in this journal, that is, democracy requires organized collective power. 50 In brief, the key challenge is that the alliance between labor unions and social democratic parties-once a robust source of opposition to oligarchic interestshas disintegrated along with the labor movement itself. 51 Globalization and other changes have gradually eroded the "cohesive social environments that helped structure the original growth of mass parties"-including trade unions, social clubs, and so on-as well as the collective class-based identities that were once supported by these organizations.…”