True meaningful democracy cannot exist in capitalist systems. This video will explore in what ways capitalism itself is undemocratic, and how it also has the tendency to undermine political democracy. The underlying reason is that capitalism organizes the economy in a very unequal way, giving much power to a small group of people. They then use this power to enrich themselves, creating inequality in the process. Inequality in turn undermines political democracy, because it allows wealthy individuals to buy up the political system.

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References

Aristotle, Politics. See book 4 part 11 and book 6 part 5 for his comments on democracy and inequality.

Smith, A. The Wealth of Nations.

Ferguson, T. Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems.

Gilens, M., Page, B. I. Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Perspective on Politics 12(3) (2014).


Credits to images

Aristotle.
Picture by renjith radhakrishnan, flickr.com, Creative Commons.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/renjith...

Adam Smith
Picture by Ceyhun Ataman, flickr.com, Creative Commons.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9687099...


Video made using Animiz Animation Maker
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OpenShot Video Editor
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Free Sound Recorder
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