Political Competition Is Under Attack: Does It Merit Defense?

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

Abstract

In many countries the normal back and forth of political competition is under assault. Why should we value or defend what Nancy Rosenblum calls “regulated rivalry”? One answer is that competition is democratic. But political competition can mark regimes marked by undemocratic inequality—political, social and economic. Should we mourn the destruction of competitive regimes in these cases? I argue that we should. My paper offers an intrinsic or non-instrumental defense of competitive, pluralist political systems. Political competition allows for many individuals to exercise their political agency together. In this way competitive systems are respectful of individuals’ agency, while many of political competition’s real-world rivals are not. As I show, this remains true of competitive regimes even when they are unjustifiability elitist and inegalitarian.

Author

• Alexander Kirshner, Duke University