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1-Page Summary of Democracy for Realists

Overview

Achen and Bartels argue that the public, journalists, and political scientists rely on a common set of beliefs about democracy. These are known as the “folk theory” of democracy. The folk theory presents an idealized view of people’s behavior and what happens in elections. But it isn’t accurate or helpful for understanding how democratic governments work in practice.

Political scientists have tried to validate the intuitions on which political theories are based. One of those strategies is called the spatial model, which supposes that people vote for politicians who are closest to their own policy preferences. However, research has shown that most people don’t know much about politics and won’t be able to tell you which politician is closest to their positions.

Politicians who are in power often lose their jobs when people feel that the economy is doing poorly. However, politicians don’t really have much control over how well the economy does and voters tend to punish them for things they can’t control.

People tend to vote on the basis of their group identity, such as class, race, religion or gender. Most people identify with a political party and therefore vote for candidates from that party regardless of policy positions. People can change their views based on their group identity and even believe things that are false.

Politicians and commentators need to acknowledge the many failures of democracy, which is based on the “folk theory” that everyone has an equal chance to succeed. They should focus more on identity politics in order to empower marginalized groups. The best way for them to do this would be by studying how people form groups and influence each other in democracies.

Key Takeaways

Folk theories of democracy assume that voters have preferences about policy and express them when they cast their votes. Voters often lack coherent policy preferences, however, and it’s sometimes difficult for them to make informed decisions. Ballot initiatives are incorrectly believed to increase democratic control because voters can directly choose the laws they want passed.

People can’t hold politicians accountable for the economy, or even their own well being. People vote on identity issues and short-term crises that don’t have any long term effects.

People don’t choose their political affiliations based on what they believe is right. Rather, people’s beliefs are shaped by their party affiliation and the power struggle between different groups of politicians.

Key Takeaway 1: Folk theories of democracy assume that voters have preferences about policy and express them when they cast their votes.

Most journalists, historians, commentators and political scientists believe that democracy is an expression of the people’s will. They think that voters have different opinions about issues and vote for the policy they prefer. The majority wins in a democratic society because it has more information than others do. That’s why democracies are so successful.

Thomas Jefferson believed that the people would make mistakes, but they’d correct them. He said in 1788, “I have such reliance on the good sense of the body of the people and honesty of their leaders that I am not afraid of letting things go wrong to any length.” In another letter he wrote, “Whenever our affairs go obviously wrong, good sense will interpose and set them right.”

Thomas Jefferson believed that the people are good and have common sense. They will monitor their government to ensure it continues to do what they want. However, in his time, only a small percentage of the population could vote because women, slaves, and other groups were not enfranchised. Today most US citizens can vote but we still believe that everyone has good sense and self-governs via democracy.