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CHAPTER 2. THE PUBLIC SPHERE 21
or common interest. Consequently, a society which supports a democratic public
sphere would require its citizens to participate in it, and would view the function
of such participation as both contributing to the discovery of the general will, as
well as educating citizens to recognize those interests that they have in common.
This vision of democracy suggests that government is an instrument to identify
and promote the common interests of the public, and not only to regulate the allocation
of resources to meet the private interests of individuals. Democratic theory
which supports such a vision seeks to energize individuals as citizens; to enable
citizens to identify themselves as members of a community with an obligation to
actively participate in its public affairs; to encourage them to discover that their
own private interests are interdependent with others’ interests; and to integrate
their private goals into public policies. To achieve these goals, these theories argue
that institutions such as the public sphere must be designed to help individuals
discover the means of satisfying the “common wealth” without sacrificing the individual
autonomy necessary to democracy.
This vision of democracy is expressed in the work of Aristotle, the theoretical
writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and modern interpretations by “participatory
democratic theorists” such as Carole Pateman, Benjamin Barber and Jane Mansbridge.
The key concept in this vision is the promotion of direct and public participation
in political life. This participation has both a psychological and instrumental
component. Greek democracy, as an idealized portrait of political life, offers a
clear statement of participatory principles. As Dahl (1989, 18) has summarized,
for a democratic order to satisfy the idealized requirements of Greek democracy,
several conditions need be met. Citizens must be able to develop and articulate a
common interest, “a strong sense of the general good that is not in marked contradiction
to their personal aims or interests.” In order to meet the first condition, citizens
would need to share a relatively homogeneous ethnic and social background,
and enjoy a relatively equal distribution of income and other resources. The size
of the democracy must be small enough to a) ensure the necessary cultural homogeneity,
b) allow citizens to personally know most of their fellow citizens, and
c) accommodate the entire polity in face-to-face assembly. The face-to-face assembly
was essential in Greek thought; representative government forced citizens
to abandon their autonomy and escape their responsibility for service and deliberation.
In addition to participating in the Assembly, citizens were also required
to staff the administrative offices of the polity; no professionalized class of bureaucrats
was to be tolerated. Finally, the polity was to remain fully autonomous,
avoiding treaties and associations with other democracies. Democracy based on