2017/11/16 by Higley, John
#20. Jahrhundert #Demokratie #Demokratieverständnis #Elite #Eliteforschung #Freiheit #Individuum #J. #Liberalismus #Nachkriegsgesellschaft #Politik #Schumpeter #Weltordnung #Wertorientierung #Western world #conception of democracy #democracy #elite #elite research #free democratic basic order #freedom #freiheitlich-demokratische Grundordnung #individual #liberalism #politics #post-war society #social milieu #soziales Milieu #twentieth century #value-orientation #westliche Welt #world order
paper · doi:10.12759/hsr.37.2012.1.351-366
Many political thinkers have viewed democratic elitism as closing a democratic road they believe is or should be open-ended. Their view of democratic possibilities reflects the auspicious circumstances of Western societies during the past several centuries and especially since World War II. However, it involves a conflation of liberal and democratic values. I examine why and how this has occurred, and I argue that liberal and democratic values must be more clearly separated in today's dangerous world. In step with Schumpeter, democracy must be regarded as a method or instrumental value that in some but by no means all circumstances promotes the ultimate liberal value of actively individualistic free people.