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Analysis of Liberalism and Democracy Essay

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Analysis of Liberalism and Democracy Liberalism has an ambivalent relationship with democracy, as liberals are against collective power, but support political equality. In the nineteenth century liberals were often opposed to democracy as they saw it as a threat to individual rights - the people are not a single entity but rather a collection of individuals with different opinions and interests, and so it is impossible for every view and opinion to be respected. Since the twentieth century most liberals have come round to the idea of democracy, and support it, but they still have reservations.

Liberals defend democracy for a variety of reasons. First of all it ensures public accountability. …show more content…

Leading on from this is the issue of property - according to John Locke, it was crucial that those with property were able to protect their rights against the government. The government has the right to expropriate property through taxation, therefore the owners of property have the right to control who makes up the tax-making body. This idea was summed up in the slogan ‘no taxation without representation’.

Also, liberals believe that political participation is important in itself, as it allows personal self-development and political education. Self-development is very important to liberals - modern liberals in particular see freedom as the ability to develop skills, broaden understanding and gain fulfilment. Therefore any kind of self-development is very important.

Democracy also allows individuals more control over their own lives - they play an active part in government, and indirectly affect all decisions made over their lives. This self-determination is very significant to liberals, as they believe that freedom is very important, and noone should have power over another individual without some degree of consent - democracy provides this consent, as people are able to choose a representative for themselves.

Liberal democracy is based on competition and electoral choice,

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