ABSTRACT
As we have seen, the controversy surrounding judicial review centers on the question of whether judicial review is or is not consistent with democracy. But we have yet to explore the meaning of the term “democracy.” In fact democracy has long been a contested term within the discipline of political science. e Greek root of the term is the word demos, which means “people,” so everyone agrees that democracy means rule by or of the people. But ever since the middle of the eighteenth century, and beginning with Rousseau’s arguments in On the Social Contract, political theorists have debated whether democracy requires that the people should rule directly or merely indirectly, by means of their own participation or through the participation of those they choose to represent them. is theoretical debate, of course, has contemporary political implications: our evaluation of actually existing democracies such as the American government and the government of other mainly Western societies will depend decisively on what side we take on this debate. If we accept the case for representative democracy, then we will be more-or-less satised with the democratic character of these types of governments. But if we agree with the partisans of participatory democracy, then we will inevitably come to the conclusion that such governments, despite their conventional designation, are not in fact authentically democratic, and that many dramatic, far-reaching changes would have to be made before their people would actually be able to rule.
