J. S. Mill - a reluctant democrat

John Stuart Mill is a 'reluctant democrat'. - C. L. Wayper.  UPSC 2018 Paper 1A Qn 1a

John Stuart Mill believed that citizens develop intellectual qualities of reason and judgment through political participation. Although Mill championed Liberty, Women's political rights, and a representative form of government, C. L. Wayper referred to Mill as a reluctant democrat as - 

He focused on the arbitrary concepts of civilizational advancements and educational standards of people to extend the luxury of democracy to the people of colonial societies of Asia and Africa.

Instead, he advocated for an aristocratic rule as he believed people were Barbaric.

Though direct democracy is the best form of government, due to the complexities of societies, representative democracy, the second best form of government became unavoidable.

Inspired by De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, he introduced Weighted and plural voting for educated and rich people as opposed to Bentham's 'one person one vote'.

The reason for Mill's reluctance toward Democracy is that he considered democracy as an end in itself rather than as a means, unlike Gandhi and Nehru.

 

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