Stealth Democracy: A Vıew on the Relationship Between the Crisis of Representative Democracy and Demand for Direct Democracy

Year 2018, Volume: 18 Issue: 2018 Özel Sayısı, 23 - 43, 30.09.2018

Yavuz Selim Alkan

https://doi.org/10.25294/auiibfd.463390

Cited By: 1

Abstract

This study provides a
brief examination of the concept of “stealth democracy” developed by John R.
Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse. Stealth democracy is a view on the
prevalent and dominant perspective in the scholarly literature on democracy
that (i) representative democracy is in a crisis, and thus (ii) there is a
growing demand for direct democracy. Hibbing and Theiss-Morse acknowledge that
representative democracy is in a crisis. However, contrary to the prevalent
view in academia, they maintain that the crisis of representative democracy is
overcome by allowing less direct citizen involvement for political decision
making processes, but more expert opinion in the policy formation process. They
therefore build their understanding of stealth democracy on the basis of a less
participatory but a more elitist perspective. In this sense, the aim of this
study is to examine the concept of stealth democracy, to the best of our
knowledge, on which there has been no comprehensive study in the
Turkish-written scholarly literature by focusing on the perspectives to which
it provided itself as an alternative and to provide a brief critique of the
concept with the aim of building a foundation for further research.

Keywords

Democracy, stealth democracy, representative democracy, direct democracy, deliberative democracy

Gizli Demokrasi: Temsili Demokrasi Krizi ve Doğrudan Demokrasi Talebi Arasındaki İlişkiye Yönelik Bir Görüş

Abstract

Bu
çalışma[1], John
R. Hibbing ve Elizabeth Theiss-Morse tarafından geliştirilen “gizli demokrasi” kavramı
üzerine kısa bir inceleme sunmaktadır. Gizli demokrasi, demokrasi üzerine
akademik literatürde yaygın ve baskın konumda olan (i) temsili demokrasinin bir
kriz içerisinde olduğu, ve bu nedenle de, (ii) özellikle doğrudan katılıma
yönelik giderek artan oranda bir talep olduğu iddiasına yönelik bir görüştür[2]. Hibbing
ve Theiss-Morse, temsili demokrasinin bir kriz içerisinde olduğunu kabul
etmektedirler. Bununla birlikte, akademideki yaygın görüşün aksine, temsili
demokrasi krizinin aşılmasının politik karar alma süreçlerine daha az doğrudan
vatandaş katılımı ve siyasa oluşturma sürecinde daha çok uzman görüşüne yer
verme ile sağlanabileceğini savunmaktadırlar. Gizli demokrasi anlayışını da
böylece daha az katılımcı fakat daha çok elitist bir temel üzerine inşa
etmektedirler. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışmanın amacı, bilgimiz dahilinde, Türkçe
akademik literatürde henüz üzerine yazılmış kapsamlı bir çalışma yer almayan
gizli demokrasi kavramının, kendini alternatifi olarak sunduğu yaklaşımlara
odaklanarak, kısa bir incelemesini ve sonraki akademik çalışmalara esas
oluşturması amacıyla temel ve kısa bir eleştirisini sunmaktır.

---

[1] Bu çalışmanın erken bir
taslağı, 1-4 Kasım 2017 tarihleri arasında Isparta Süleyman Demirel
Üniversitesinde düzenlenen, “KAYFOR 15: Dijital Çağda Kamu Yönetimi ve
Politikaları” ana temalı uluslararası kongrede sözlü bildiri olarak
sunulmuştur. Bildirinin tam metni ise bahsedilen konferans tam metin bildiri
kitabı da dahil olmak üzere hiçbir yerde yayımlanmamıştır. Bu çalışma, bahsedilen
kısa taslak bildiri özetinin; yeni, geliştirilmiş ve zenginleştirilmiş bir
makale halidir. Özet bildiri metni için bkz. http://sempozyum.sdu.edu.tr/kayfor15/tr/images/Kayfor15BookofAbstracts.pdf,
erişim tarihi 4 Mayıs 2018.

Yazar, makalenin son şeklini almasındaki
değerli katkıları için dergi editörü ve (kimliği saklı tutulmuş) üç hakeme
teşekkür eder ve makaleyle ilgili her türlü akademik sorumluluğun bizzat kendisine
ait olduğunu kabul eder.

[2] Gizli demokrasi için
makalenin başlığında “görüş” ibaresinin kullanılmış olması bilinçli bir
tercihtir. Makalenin ilgili bölümlerinde de belirtildiği gibi, bu tercihin
yapılmasının ilk nedeni gizli demokrasinin bir kuram ya da yaklaşım olarak
kabul edilip edilemeyeceğinin tartışmalı olmasıdır. ABD’de yapılan, ulusal
kamuoyu araştırması ve odak grup çalışmalarından elde edilen bulgulara dayalı
bir durum tespitinden yola çıkarak bir demokrasi anlayışı veya kuramına ulaşmak
sorunlu ve tartışmalıdır. İkinci neden de, çalışmada da sunulmaya çalışıldığı
üzere, Hibbing ve Morse’un demokrasi üzerine oluşturdukları görüş ve
önerilerinin aslında “yeni” veya “orijinal” olmadığıdır. Bu iki sebeple bu
çalışmada, gizli demokrasinin akademik literatürdeki yerini belirlemek için
“görüş” ibaresi kullanılmıştır. 

Keywords

Demokrasi, gizli demokrasi, temsili demokrasi, doğrudan demokrasi, müzakereci demokrasi

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