Public Opinion and Democracy: Under the Influence? Term Paper

Introduction

This essay examines various issues surrounding public opinion and how it impinges the democratic fabric of the country,especially in the context of plurality of rulers and their divergent opinions of many strategic issues concerning state governance.

It also advocates how important a role public opinion plays in revitalizing and sustaining democratic systems. Public opinion is an important weapon in the hands of the common masses in democratic settings, which governments can ill afford to ignore. since it forms the bedrock of government’s stay in power.

However, it is also seen that public opinion could be influenced or diverted by rhetorics and gamesmanship. (Hollihan 246).

It is seen that different research scholars, political activists and practitioners develop divergent viewpoints about public opinion and how it influences lives of governments.

Different Approaches

These sets of essays follow two major approaches – in the first approach used by Walter Lipmann and Bernays, who advocate the aspects of stability and realistic picturization of public opinion in the democratic framework of the nation’s governing body. Set against this approach is the one adopted by John Dewey, Peter Bachrach and Bernard Berelson, et al, who dwell on the causal or subjective aspects of public opinion.

The views expressed by the various authors are often divergent and in sharp contrast.While, some extol the rule by aristocrats (Bachrach), the other (Dewey) believed in the rule of the common masses for greater administrative efficiency and sympathy for the working classes of the population.

Again, some authors have questioned the rationale of governance (Walter Lipmann) and said that since highbred nobles or aristocrats have experience in dealing with large affairs, and have affected administration quite efficiently, they need to be the men at the helm of rule in the countries. The approaches of democratic elitism (Bachrach) is pitted against that of rule by masses (John Dewey)

Research hypothesis

What are the pertinent factors that constitute public opinion in a democratic setup and what influences these factors?

Committee of Public Opinion

It is seen that history of many countries had proven testimonials of instances when the voices of the people have been subdued and subjugated by powers of vested interests. During these times, the press was muzzled and people were deprived of fundamental rights of speech. The affront to public opinion could be matched only with the need to brainwash citizens into lending financial and moral support for the war efforts. The Committee of Public Opinion is a case during which time public opinion was manipulated in order to justify and seek public funding of American intervention in the European War.

During those dark days for democracy, it was felt as though the public opinion ‘s credibility had been subdued by Governments proposals to promote national causes

In the context of manipulating public opinions, The 4-minute talks held by the expert speakers from CPI provided many Liberty Funds for the war efforts and were a tremendous success. (Hollihan, 1984, p.246).

The hallmark of democratic elitism is the total distrust of common people and their ability for self–rule. (Bachrach).As against this, it is seen that the classical theory was rejected because it was highly individualistic and did not account for public opinion or mass sentiments. A voter does not vote for individual satisfaction alone but also to protect and preserve group interests. He is more interested in what the ruling party would do for the masses rather than their characteristics and political affiliations.

Strengths and weaknesses of each approach

The approach of stability and realism pictured by Lippman and Bernays is in tune with the aspirations of the people. Again, the voting theories advocated by Berelson are also in line with populist inclinations. In a true democracy, the people elect their governments and offer them support to stay in power. In return, the elected government has to maintain close rapport and interact with the people. However, this approach has the inherent weakness that the alignment with people’s interests may not be always present and sometimes-political interests may claim preponderance over populist needs.

Rhetoric does not guarantee good governance and it should aim at containment and provide solutions. Mere rhetorics only serves to exacerbate tense situations. In a democratic setup, groups interests need to be sub-served by common interests of the democracy as a composite entity. It is widely believed that “unless local communal life can be restored the public cannot adequately resolve its most urgent problem: to find and identify itself. (Dewey, 1993, p.124).

Further, it is recommended that the voting population should be of different kinds and not homogeneous in nature in order to have wide-ranging representations. (Berelson, 1993, p.94).

Strength and weaknesses

Coming to the approach of John Dewey, Peter Bachrach and Bernard Berelson, et al, who dwell on the causal, or subjective aspects of public opinion.

it could be said that its strength lies in the fact that toiling classes should be at the helm of the administration rule so that the true character of public expertness lies just not in making and implementing policies but in finding out the ways and means of good governance and following it. The strength of this approach would be in terms of the fact that without the active support, the aristocratic would not be able to rule counties however well suited they may be for the position. The main advantages of this system, would be in terms of a working model for study and the weaknesses would be that empirical studies have shown that world has suffered more from leaders and their exercise of authority than from the masses.

The democratic ethos has to be maintained and the degree to which the basic tenets governing democratic values like political equality, holding of regular elections and rule by the majority party, as is the case in every democratic institutional process: (Bachrach, 1993, p.127).

Often, a conflict between elitist rule and the non-elitists, or proletarian rule becomes inevitable. Often the question arises as to who is the best people to rule democracies.Should be it is common masses, which is the classical theory of democracy, or should it be the wealthy classes, since they are more adept and have dealt effectively with dealing with large issues. “Thus democratic theory, starting from its fine vision of ultimate human dignity was forced by the lack of instruments of knowledge for reporting its environment to fall back upon the wisdom and experience which happened to have access to the voter.” (Katz et al, 1954, p.32 Committee of Public Information (CPI):

Conclusion

It is seen that the approaches to public opinion are varied and diverse depending upon the characteristics of governance and the populist support enjoyed by the government. Moreover, history bears testimony to the fact that the characteristics of public opinion may change over time and overriding circumstances, and public opinion may have to attune to such changes in order to remain politically conscious and alert to political needs and aspirations of the masses.

However, populist opinion demands that modern democratic processes often need to be upgraded to serve more useful roles in society.

The public opinions could receive a major boost if the right awareness is created among the masses regarding their roles in the democratic setup of the country and how they could go about in fulfilling their respective responsibilities in democratic settings that could be beneficial for all concerned- the people, the governance and the State.

Works cited

Katz, Daniel et al. Lippman Walter: The Image of democracy. Public opinion in a democracy: Public opinion and Propaganda: P. 32. 1954.

Hollihan, Thomas A. The Southern Speech Communication Journal. Propagandizing in the interest of war: A rhetorical study of the committee on Public Opinion. P. 246. 1984.

Dewey, John. Selection 14: From the Public and its Problems. Key concepts in critical theory: Democracy, Philip Green. P. 124. 1993.

Berelson, Bernard et al. Key Concepts in Critical Theory. Democracy. Selection 11 from voting. P 94. 1993.

Bachrach, Peter. Selection 15: From the Theory of Democratic Elitism. Key concepts in critical theory: Democracy, Philip Green. P.127. 1993.