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    Liberal Democracy
    Liberal Democracy
    Liberal Democracy
    Ebook101 pages2 hours

    Liberal Democracy

    By Philip Tether

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    About this ebook

    LIBERAL DEMOCRACY. This is the fourth in a series of texts on government and politics designed for students and the general reader (see author's other publications or a full list of titles). All the books interlink and cross-reference but are designed to stand alone. This fourth text continues the series with a detailed exploration of liberal democracy. A democracy of course is 'government of the people, by the people, for the people'. In a democracy 'the people' are sovereign. Majorities rule and (it is assumed) they rule OK. What then does the 'liberal' bit in a liberal democracy signify? This book explores this central question. The text opens with a clear statement of Aims and Learning Outcomes to give clarity and direction to your reading. The subsequent text is then divided into easy-to-read sections on:
    Liberalism and democracy
    The roots of liberty
    The forms of liberty
    The separation of Church and State
    Freedom of speech and expression
    Liberty and ‘rights’ – natural and human
    The forms of liberty
    Equal opportunities
    The text concludes with:
    Liberal democracy: a summary
    Review questions
    References
    The material is carefully designed to equip the reader with a basic political vocabulary, an appreciation of the significance of politics as an important, pervasive and irreplaceable activity involving us all and a comprehensive understanding of the principles and values of liberal democracy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPhilip Tether
    Release dateJan 15, 2016
    ISBN9781311530769
    Liberal Democracy
    Author

    Philip Tether

    Philip Tether has taught government and politics for over thirty years at a number of higher education institutions in the UK. During this time he has taught a wide variety of students and supervised many Masters dissertations and PhD theses. He has set and marked government and politics papers for a variety of examination boards. He has published extensively on a variety of political topics with particular emphasis on the politics of health including alcohol and HIV-AIDS and his current research interest is the business – government relationship. Philip Tether enjoys the theatre, cinema and walking the dogs. You will sometimes find him in the garden.

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      Book preview

      Liberal Democracy - Philip Tether

      AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICS

      IDEAS, STRUCTURES, PEOPLE AND PLACES

      No. 4: LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

      Copyright 2015 Dr. Philip Tether

      Published by Dr. Philip Tether at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy.

      Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Cover design © Bob Croft

      Technical advice, layout and formatting by Bob Croft

      For further information or help designing and creating e-books contact:

      bob.croft1@gmail.com

      LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

      Dr. Philip Tether

      This is No. 4 in a series of introductory texts each addressing an aspect of politics. The current and forthcoming title list is shown below. They are free-standing but link together to present a multi-layered analysis of the ideas, structures, people and processes which go to shape the world of politics. The author has taught government and politics in various higher education institutions for over thirty years. The focus is largely but not exclusively on the United Kingdom (UK). Where appropriate, examples and illustrations are drawn from around the world. The material is designed to be accessible to students at all levels from beginners to university students. ‘Aims,’ ‘Contents’ and ‘Learning Outcomes’ are specified at the start of every text and each concludes with an overview summary and a set of review questions for independent learning.

      The current title list includes:

      No 1: The Purpose of Politics

      No 2: Political Systems

      No 3: Popular Democracy

      No 4: Liberal Democracy

      No 5: Political Ideology and the Liberal Centre

      No 6: Political Ideology: Politics on the Right

      Forthcoming titles are planned:

      No 7: Political Ideology: Politics on the Left

      No 8: The Politics of the European Union (EU)

      No 9: The politics of Global Governance

      No. 4: LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

      Aims of this text

      The previous publication in this series of introductory texts on politics (No 3) focused on democracy as a concept and explored the idea of popular participation in politics through its values, mechanisms and processes. However, ‘democracy’ is not the end of the story. Democracies are often called liberal democracies. What does ‘liberal’ mean and what does it imply when associated with ‘democracy’? Does it reinforce democracy, qualify it or are these terms sometimes in conflict and tension? This chapter explores the liberal part of liberal democracy through a number of broad topic areas (overlapping but analytically distinct): a suspicion of authority, an abiding concern for individual liberties and a tenderness towards minorities, the structure and conduct of government and ‘rights’ – the bedrock of the liberal defence of the individual against arbitrary authority. We conclude with a brief examination of how the concept of liberty is interpreted today in modern liberal democracies.

      Learning outcomes

      After reading this text you should be able to understand and discuss:

      * The origins of liberty and its relationship to democracy.

      * The importance and centrality of liberal values in the modern world.

      * The liberal suspicion of power and the nature of constitutional government.

      * The separation of powers in a liberal democracy.

      * The separation of Church and State in a liberal democracy.

      * Freedom of speech and expression in a liberal democracy.

      * The importance of ‘rights’ and their place in political discourse.

      * The distinction between negative and positive liberty.

      * The importance of equal opportunities in a liberal-democracy.

      At the end of this text you will find a selection of review questions to test your understanding of these learning outcomes.

      Table of Contents

      The Purpose of Politics - this book series

      Aims and Learning Outcomes

      Liberalism and democracy

      The roots of liberty

      The forms of liberty

      The separation of Church and State

      Freedom of speech and expression

      Liberty and ‘rights’ – natural and human

      The forms of liberty

      Equal opportunities

      The liberal in liberal democracy: a summary

      Review questions

      References

      About Dr. Philip Tether

      Other books by Dr. Philip Tether

      Connect with Dr. Philip Tether

      Liberalism and democracy

      The term ‘liberal democracy’ is used interchangeably with ‘democracy’ and is usually taken to mean much the same thing. Few stop to debate what the term implies or why we should use two words to describe one type of political system. The liberal part of liberal democracy is rather more difficult to characterise than its democratic element. However, it is important to understand what the term implies because a liberal democracy is far more than a system in which the electorate is sovereign and voters elect governments. Whilst lauded and applauded, democracy in terms of numbers and majorities is nothing without liberal values:

      "Democracy has few values of its own: it is as good, or as bad, as the principles of the people who operate it. In the hands of liberal and tolerant people it will produce a liberal and tolerant government; in the hands of cannibals, a government of cannibals. In Germany in 1933-34 it produced a Nazi government because the prevailing culture of Germany’s voters did not give priority to the exclusion of gangsters."

      (Davies 1996: 969).

      The ‘liberal’ in liberal democracy refers to a specific set of values and preoccupations relating to the conduct of government and the status and rights of the individual. In Britain these values and preoccupations predate universal suffrage and democracy by many centuries. Elsewhere, liberal values and the growth of democracy were not separated in this way – they occurred closely together. The gap in Britain was due to the early development of parliament.

      "One of the strangest facts in British history, and one which had the most lasting consequences, was that Parliament was six hundred years old before universal suffrage emerged in 1918. In most European states, parliamentary life only began at the same time, or shortly before, the arrival of full democracy. In Britain

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