---
bibtex: @article{martin1990democracy,
title={Democracy without elections},
author={Martin, Brian},
journal={Social Alternatives},
volume={8},
number={4},
pages={13--18},
year={1990},
publisher={Social Alternatives}
}
---
Are elections the proper way forward? "electoral politics is the standard, traditional approach, which has led to those traditional parties which have so frustrated many a radical." p1
"It is no wonder that electoral politics is sanctified. If a country has no elections, or only sham elections, this is taken as a sign of failure" p2
"An elected representative is not tied is any substantial way to particular policies, whatever the preferences of the electorate....Once elected, the representative is released from popular control" p2
"Politicians are morally little different from anyone else...It is not the individuals who should be blamed, but the system in which they operate." p3
"Time after time, the 'radical' parties have become chains to hold back the process of radical change." p3
Voting "is a diversion from grassroots action." The purpose of politics becomes: "get the politicians to do something." p4
"The centralisation of power in social movements which is encouraged by the desire to influence politicians" p5
"It should be a truism that elections empower the politicians and not the voters." p5
"Ginsberg's basic thesis is that elections historically have enlarged the number of people who participate in 'politics,' but by turning this involvement into a routine activity (voting), elections have reduced the risk of more radical direct action." p6
"voting serves to legitimate government...Worker representatives on corporate boards of management serve to coopt dissent" p6
"elections operate to bring mass political activity into a manageable form: election campaigns and voting." People learn they can participate but there are strict limits. p6
Voting reinforces state power. "elections give citizens the impression that the government does (or can) serve the people....Rather than seeing the system as one of ruler and ruled, people see at least the possibility of using state power to serve themselves." p6
Voting represents "a change in the running of government, not in the basic mechanisms of governance....it relies on the state and reinforces state power." p7
"If the structure of the state is assumed to be neutral, then the exercise of state power can be seen as the playing out of various power struggles, such as capitalist power versus workers' power or male power versus female power. If the structure of the state is neutral, then the state can be seen as a site for class struggle, gender struggle, etc." p8
"The basic anarchist insight is that the structure of the state, as a centralised administrative apparatus, is inherently flawed from the point of view of human freedom and equality." p8
"Voting can lead to changes in policies. That is fine and good. But the policies are developed and executed within the state framework, which is a basic constraint. Voting legitimates the state framework." p8
"Participation in decision-making means not just voting on predesigned questions, but participation in the formulation of which questions are put to a vote....the limitation of referendums is the presentation of a single choice to a large number of voters." p9
"The biggest problem for consensus, though, is irreconcilable conflict of interest." p11
"consensus has a complementary weakness: it can't handle deep-seated conflict." p12
"Much of such [consensus] conflict is based in inequality of power...Consensus is most likely to work in small self-selected groups." p12
"A delegate differs from a representative in that the delegate is more closely tied to the electorate: the delegate can be recalled at any time, especially when not following the dictates of the electors. Federations are a way of combining self-governing entities." p13
"One of the values of random selection was to increase participation and prevent the formation of factions." p14
"It is certainly the case that juries are hated by repressive governments. Judges can by pressured more easily by governments than can juries." p16
"Because there are no elections and no representatives, the problems of unequal formal power, disempowerment of electors, regulation of participation and so forth do not apply" p16
Because "the terms of service are strictly limited, so no permanent executive or clique can develop." p17
"Representatives justify their position in terms of repeated majority preference for their personal selection...The legitimacy of random selection lies in regular replacement rather than popular mandate or acquired experience" p18