Abstract
This article aims to clarify issues in dispute between the ‘realist’ account of democracy and its deliberative and participatory democratic opponents. It argues that the classical fear of the corruption of government by the people has been a long‐standing feature of western discussions of democracy. The emergence of representative democracy has added a further set of concerns regarding the corruption of government by the private interests of politicians and bureaucrats. This fear of corruption itself rests on the belief that the proper purpose or telos of the government of a state is to serve the common interest. However, far from bringing the ‘realists’ and their ‘democratic’ critics together, this shared belief provides the central focus for their disagreements, with each perspective pursuing its own view of the most serious threats to good government.
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