A ‘Schumpeterian’ Utopia: Schumpeter’s Realistic Assessment of Competition

• In Event: Realistic Pluralism: What Can We Expect From Elections?

Abstract

Many varieties of realist democratic theory hinge on the so-called “Schumpeterian” conception of electoral competition (Achen and Bartels 2018). In this regard, Schumpeter’s realism, I contend, is misunderstood: As opposed to celebrating elections as an adequate indicator of democracy, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy urges readers to focus on the institutional supplementation required to make electoral competition meaningful and lasting. This paper deconstructs each component of Schumpeter’s “alternate model” of competitive leadership (the procedural form that has become known as his more realistic alternative to participatory models of popular sovereignty) in order to show how Schumpeter’s conception of democracy undermines the electorally-centric theory of democracy associated with his name.

Aside from the infamous Part IV, in every other part of the book, 1) Schumpeter offers a more comprehensive, participation-based theory of democracy as a practicable vehicle for transformative politics (a model of democracy that cannot be reduced to mere procedure); 2) he elaborates a precise and powerful conception of popular agency, very much at odds with his often cited proposition that the “people’s will” does not exist; 3) he argues that the theory of competitive leadership applies to democratic procedures strictly under the rules of liberal capitalism, but that it should not be considered a normative or even descriptive model for democracy generally understood; and, finally, 4) he criticizes the uncompetitive, plebiscitary quality of elections generated under liberal capitalism and prescribes significant supplemental criteria that would make elections function more effectively.
When these elements are incorporated into his political thought as a whole, scholars may want to reconsider what elements precisely ought to constitute a genuinely “realist” approach to democratic theory. Instead of celebrating a model of democracy based on elections, Schumpeter emphasizes the perniciously utopian expectations that arise when too much is expected from electoral outcomes.

Author

• Natasha Piano, University of Chicago