ABSTRACT
The procedural right to democracy could be described as a citizen’s right to free and fair elections on a periodic basis. 2 This incorporates the right to vote and the right to be elected in free and free elections. The AustrianAmerican economist, Joseph Schumpeter advanced a very unwavering rationale in Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy supporting the limitation of the right to the mere procedure of elections. 3 In his view, popular
Socialism, an ideal that he did not welcome. Instead, in the name of realism, he believed that democracy was a construct to preserve elitist dominance. Therefore, it should be stripped from its entire ethical context. 4
In terms of ethics, Schumpeter believed that there was no ‘will of the people’ and common good. This is significant in terms of assessing the notion in the context of international law, especially Article 21 of the UDHR which explicitly states: ‘The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.’ To Schumpeter, democracy was a leaders’ competition for votes, and the competing leaders thereof deliver the will of the people. This minimalist view of the procedural right to democracy cannot be taken into thoughtful account when assessing the context of the term in international law.
