18.3 Flaws in the Democratic System of Government

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Assess the median voter theory

• Explain the voting cycle

• Analyze the interrelationship between markets and government

Most developed countries today have a democratic system of government: citizens express their opinions

through votes and those votes affect the direction of the country. The advantage of democracy over other

systems is that it allows everyone in a society an equal say and therefore may reduce the possibility of a small

group of wealthy oligarchs oppressing the masses. There is no such thing as a perfect system, and democracy,

for all its popularity, is not without its problems, a few of which we will examine here.

We sometimes sum up and oversimplify democracy in two words: “Majority rule.” When voters face three or

more choices, however, then voting may not always be a useful way of determining what the majority prefers.
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