Electoral theories of democracy and the problem of socioeconomic inequalities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7984.2025.e102013Keywords:
Democratic Theory, Socio-economic inequalities, Elections, DemocracyAbstract
This article will discuss the tension between democracy and socioeconomic inequality, investigating how this relationship was understood and problematized by theorists who conceived democracy based on the presence of competitive elections. Based on the definition and dilemmas introduced by the work of Joseph Schumpeter, I will argue that the issue of economic inequality has become a democratic problem, that must be addressed within democracies, starting with the introduction of political equality as an important principle for their functioning. Unlike interpretations that advocated its unimportance and a coexistence mediated by certain values, authors such as Robert Dahl and Anthony Downs point to economic inequality as a source of risks to the responsiveness and stability of the democratic regime.
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