Abstract
Ian Shapiro identifies three traditions of democratic thought: aggregative, deliberative, and minimalist. All three are apparent in the Pacific Islands despite most commentators and donors assuming that the meaning of democracy is fixed. The focus in development studies on institutions and their capacity to deliver pro-poor growth has generated a fourth tradition that revolves around the now pervasive governance concept. Rather than focusing on the general will of a sovereign people, this perspective is predominately concerned with the legitimate use of violence as a precursor to any development-orientated democratic state. Having reviewed the literature on democracy in the Pacific to parse out these four meanings, this article concludes that paying greater attention to this ideational equivocality would extend discussions about the suitability and transferability of this type of regime.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 22-40 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Democratic Theory |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Democracy
- Democratic theory
- Governance
- Ian Shapiro
- Pacific Islands