Essentials of Democracy: Liberalism and Pluralism

Abstract

Essentials of Democracy, consists of an analysis and discussion of two concepts on which liberal democracy was built: liberalism and pluralism. The origins and values underlying each are explored and discussed in some detail. The causes of the recent eclipse of liberalism by a 30-year shift in intellectual fashion affecting economic and social policy, as well as a wider political outlook are identified and discussed. A distinction is drawn between conservatism and reactionaryism, a distinction that has become blurred in the rise of populism. The origins and philosophy of liberalism are traced from Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, and its values concerning popular sovereignty, equality among people, the existence of civil right and freedoms and respect for individual autonomy are discussed. Pluralism is discussed as an integral part of liberal philosophy and is distinguished from relativism. Yet pluralism in a borderless world presents journalists with numerous ethical complexities, which are identified along with proposals for how they might be resolved. In doing so, it draws on the work of Immanuel Kant, Isaiah Berlin and A. C. Grayling. The chapter draws attention to a global paradox: digital technology allows the peoples of the world to communicate with each other as never before, but has also been an engine of discriminatory rhetoric which has created deep divides around national, cultural, ethnic and racial identities. Examples of the effects are provided: the rise of what has become known as the “assassin’s veto”, illustrated by the reaction to the Danish cartoons in Jyllands-Posten and Charlie Hebdo; the use by President George W. Bush of eleventh-century rhetoric in responding to 9/11.