The following is only a sketch of an article. More to come soon.

The general concept of democracy is very vague, its meaning differs almost every time it is used. It is rarely used in any other than a rhetorical fashion.

The concept of procedural democracy attempts to give a more precise meaning to the general concept. To a certain extent this is a success, but there is a downside.

It is pretty clear that a procedural democracy is one which is defined in terms of the democratic procedures it uses. A minimum set of procedures is usually regular general elections with secret ballots free from overt coercion (I'll call this a minimal procedural democracy). More explicit procedures could also be part of a particular procedural definition of democracy.

The problem with a procedural definition of democracy is that if one only talks about procedures it is difficult to say why this system is desirable. It is generally considered that a minimal procedural democracy is desirable, but why is it desirable? There is nothing inherent in having regular general elections and secret ballots that guarantees that such a society would be something which we would consider desirable.

What the minimal procedural democracy does seem to guarantee is the limitation of the worst excesses of government. It in no way guarantees equality or liberty (or for that matter fraternity), but it pretty much does guarantee that a situation like that in Orwell's "1984" won't happen.

Is this enough? Certainly, it is better than nothing and it would be a great thing if every country in the world had this basic minimal procedures of democracy. However, countries which already have a stable, working procedural democracy should begin to consider taking the idea of democracy further. The idea that we are at the "End of History" and that there is no further we can develop in our basic political structures has presumably always been argued throughout history by the powerful and wealthy, and the present is no different in this respect. It was a lie intended to perpetuate inequality then as it is now.

Thankyou for reading my short polemic - soon this article will be available in the shiny new Added-Content(tm), Rationally-Argued(tm) model, rather than the slightly grubby Opinionated-Nonsense(tm) one on display here.