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43 - Elections

from Part III. C - The Democratic System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2025

By
Daniel Weinstock
Edited by
Richard Bellamy  and
Jeff King
Richard Bellamy
Affiliation:
University College London
Jeff King
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

Elections are central to the institutional life of actually existing democracies. Though the presence of elections is not a sufficient condition for a society to be considered democratic, it would seem to be at least a necessary condition. Given this fact, it is surprising to note that the question of elections has only been dealt with in a piecemeal way by political philosophers. A research agenda placing elections at the centre of the concern of political philosophers would have to focus on (at least) the following questions. First, are elections the best way in which to instantiate the democratic principle of the equality of all citizens, and if not, what institutional complements should accompany them? Second, which among the very many electoral systems that have been proposed by theorists of elections and attempted in actually existing democracies is best? Third, who should receive the democratic franchise, and are the exclusions that are practiced (along lines of age, residency, citizenship status, and so on) in many societies justified? And fourth, should we seriously consider other methods, such as sortition, to choose our political representatives? These, and many other questions besides, would be at the centre of a research agenda focussed on elections.

Keywords

democracyelectionssortitionepistocracyfranchise
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory , pp. 753 - 775
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Recommended Reading

Achen, C. & Bartels, L. (2016). Democracy for Realists. Why Elections do not Produce Responsive Government, Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, J. & Hill, L. (2014). Compulsory Voting, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dummett, M. (1984). Voting Systems, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dummett, M. (1997). Principles of Electoral Reform, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gastil, J. & Olin Wright, E., eds. (2019). Legislature by Lot, London and New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Lafont, C. (2020). Democracy without Shortcuts: A Participatory Conception of Deliberative Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Landemore, H. (2020). Open Democracy. Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lopez-Guerra, C. (2014). Democracy and Disenfranchisement, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maskikver, J. (2020). The Duty to Vote, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Matsusaka, J. (2020). Let the People Rule. How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
McCall Rosenbluth, F. & Shapiro, S. (2018). Responsible Parties. Saving Democracy from Itself, New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Przeworski, A. (2018). Why Bother with Elections? Cambridge, UK; Medford, MA: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Strangers in their Own Land. (2016). Anger and Mourning on the American Right, New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, D. (2002). Just Elections. Creating a Fair Electoral Process in the United States, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar

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  • Elections
  • Edited by Richard Bellamy, University College London, Jeff King, University College London
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory
  • Online publication: 27 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868143.050
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  • Elections
  • Edited by Richard Bellamy, University College London, Jeff King, University College London
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory
  • Online publication: 27 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868143.050
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Elections
  • Edited by Richard Bellamy, University College London, Jeff King, University College London
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory
  • Online publication: 27 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868143.050
Available formats
×