Abstract
Is there good reason to worry about celebrity involvement in democratic politics? The rise of celebrity politicians such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky has led political theorists and commentators to worry that the role of expertise in democratic politics has been undermined. According to one recent critique (Archer et al. 2020), celebrities possess a significant degree of epistemic power (the power to influence what people believe) that is unconnected to appropriate expertise. This presents a problem both for deliberative and epistemic theories of democratic legitimacy, which ignore this form of power, and for real existing democracies attempting to meet the standards of legitimacy set out by these theories. But do these critiques apply to democratic elitism? In this paper, we argue that recognition of celebrity epistemic power in fact represents a valuable resource for supporting the legitimacy and practice of democratic elitism, though these benefits do come with certain risks to which elite theories are particularly vulnerable.
Highlights
The election of celebrities like Donald Trump (USA) and Vladimir Zelensky (Ukraine) to national presidencies has reignited discussions about the role of celebrities in democratic politics
Our aim in this paper is to investigate whether the epistemic power possessed by celebrities creates similar problems for democratic elitism, the view that society should be ruled by political elites but that these elites should be subject to democratic contestation
An important issue for democratic elitism to address is how to manage the epistemic divide that may exist between the political elites and the people they are governing
Summary
The election of celebrities like Donald Trump (USA) and Vladimir Zelensky (Ukraine) to national presidencies has reignited discussions about the role of celebrities in democratic politics. As Best and Higley (2010: 12) write, “leaders who inspire trust, project strength, and gain wide appeal define issues, overshadow party platforms and dominate elections that are preponderantly referendums on competing leaders’ images” This focus on the leader has displaced the role of the party in vetting political elites and in setting agendas: “Leaders bring parties to power rather than the other way around” (Best and Higley 2010: 13). According to Best and Higley (2010: 14) leaders perform as, or even become celebrities: “Conscious of the impact that personalized media exposure has on voters, leaders comport themselves as, and are at the same time accused of being celebrities” (our emphasis) Together, these two trends point to important challenges that contemporary democratic elitism is called on to address. We further develop the worries expressed by Best and Higley concerning these trends, while revealing ways in which these trends may provide resources for democratic elitists
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