Democratic Institutions and the New Functions of Government
| Published date | 01 September 1958 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591295801100317 |
| Author | William H. Harbold |
| Date | 01 September 1958 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
702
right,
even
where
public
interests
are
included
as
a
countervailing
force,
does
not
produce
a
mutual
promise
to
abide
by
a
decision;
what
it
produces
is
a
decree
requiring
enforcement.&dquo;
By
no
stretch
of
the
imagination
can
this
be
said
to
account
for
the
process
of
government
in
a
democracy.
DEMOCRATIC
INSTITUTIONS
AND
THE
NEW
FUNCTIONS
OF
GOVERNMENT
WILLIAM
H.
HARBOLD*
*
University
of
Washington.
.
Whether
democracy
is
compatible
with
the
effective
performance
of
the
extensive
and
complex
functions
of
governments
in
the
contemporary
world
is
a
question
of
widespread
interest.
Any
attempt
to
answer
it
through
abstract
definitions
of
democracy
or
of
those
functions
can
only
lead
to
in-
determinate
conclusions.
The
question
is
unanswerable
on
purely
theoreti-
cal
grounds;
there
is
no
necessary
compatibility
or
incompatibility
of
the
two
if
seen
as
sets
of
abstractions.
The
result
is
quite
different,
however,
if
we
approach
the
question
in
.
more
concrete
terms.
Forms
of
government
and
social
functions
of
govern-
ment
do
not,
after
all,
exist
in
distinct
realms
of
existence.
If
we
are
to
say
that
democracy
is
on
trial
in
the
mid-twentieth
century,
we
must
also
recog-
nize
that
it
is
on
trial
as
to
its
ability
to
meet
needs
the
emergence
of
which
it
has
at
least
facilitated.
Its
situation
will
be
critical
only
if
it
has
lost
its
adaptability,
a
characteristic
necessary
to
any
government
if
it
is
to
survive.
Survival
is
dependent
upon
a
continuing
ability
to
co-ordinate
machinery
of
government
and
social
needs
as
they
emerge
in
mutual
interdependence
in
the
historical
evolution
of
those
societies.
That
this
framework
is
not
entirely
adequate
must,
of
course,
be
ad-
mitted.
Some
challenges
to
the
survival
of
a
regime
do
arise
from
without
the
domestic
evolution
of
that
regime.
International
tensions
are
at
present
a
particularly
serious
threat
to
democratic
regimes,
posing
demands
which
conflict
with
normal
social
objectives
of
those
systems
as
well
as
with
means
of
action
congenial
to
them.
This
paper,
however,
is
limited
to
consideration
of
problems
arising
out
of
internal
relationships.
Political
systems
are
not
the
embodiment
of
any
pure
theoretical
con-
cept,
or
system
thereof.
Because
they
contain
elements
from
diverse
stages
in
the
historical
evolution
of
the
community
they
inevitably
possess
mech-
anisms
which
discriminate
among
claims
of
need
and
keep
its
agenda
within
the
bounds
of
reasonably
possible
accomplishment,
as
well
as
reserves
of
strength,
leadership,
and
power.
Systems
we
call
democratic
are
particu-
larly
well
provided
with
such,
and
thus
would
appear
most
capable
of
meet-
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