Dictatorship Of Real Democracy
...at a rally of Hugo Chavez supporters, a phrase that can provide great insight into the Venezuelan “Bolivarian Revolution.” But depending on how we analyze the phrase, we could come to many different conclusions about its meaning. How to combine the terms dictatorship and democracy within a single coherent meaning? Did he mean a system in which democratic power is absolute and unchallengeable? Maybe the imposition of democratic reforms upon an unwilling structure of power? The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines these terms as dictatorship being “a : a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in a dictator or a small clique b : a government organization or group in which absolute power is so concentrated c : a despotic state,” and democracy as “: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.” So how are these two completely opposite concepts combined into such a dictatorship of real democracy?
To answer the question we must focus closely on what is meant by the word “real” within the phrase, as the idea of what a democracy truly is, and how a truly democratic state is structured is vague and subject to legitimate disagreement. If we look at the definition of democracy provided above, democracy means government by the people, and if we consider government to represent power, and power as being the ability to achieve one’s goals, we could conclude that democracy is the will of the people. But it isn’t, and such an argument is not only incorrect, but dangerous. The foundations of democracy are within the level of institutionalism reached by the different structures within a particular political system. It is not...
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