Abstract

HAMILTON, Lawrence. Democracy in crisis. Acta acad. (Bloemfontein, Online) [online]. 2021, vol.53, n.2, pp.60-81. ISSN 2415-0479.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/24150479/aa53i2/4.

In this article I submit that the pandemic politics of the COVID-19 crisis have unmasked the inadequacies of existing representative democracies. Mixing the experiences and responses of various democracies and thinkers to this crisis, particularly from India and South Africa, I argue that a minimally functioning democracy must do two things at least: ensure the health and well-being of citizens and the equal means competitively to select prudent, empathetic and courageous leaders. For this, I suggest, we need a politics that allows us to express and assess our needs, and determine who is best placed to represent us in responding to these needs, all in non-dominating conditions. To this end, the article also proposes and defends four institutional reforms that would enable a dynamic, anti-oligarchic form of democracy to consistently empower the least powerful and keep elites properly in check.

Keywords : democracy; COVID-19; crisis; leadership; needs; institutions.

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