Technocratic realism is descriptively accurate but costs citizens their political autonomy

Evidence

The ‘expertocratic’ approach is also realistic insofar as it highlights the slim budget of time, motivation, attention and cognitive effort that ordinary citizens, preoccupied with their professional and personal lives, expend on their role as citizens. At the same time, it reminds us of the growing complexity of the tasks that government and administration have to cope with in modern societies. The complexity of the various self-regulating societal subsystems does tend to relieve the pressure on a state organization that has itself become an independent functional system. But when the political experts become the default option for repairing the malfunctions of almost all other functional subsystems, or even when they pursue constructive political goals, they have to acquire diverse and detailed expertise. Therefore, the argument goes, politics inevitably overtaxes not only the citizen’s willingness to respond and their attention, but also their ability to respond. The allegedly unbridgeable gulf between the specialized knowledge required to deal with the problems and common sense makes it impossible, according to the technocratic view, to involve the citizens themselves seriously in the formation of opinions about political alternatives. Moreover, this seems to be confirmed by the plebiscitary character of the election campaigns: party manifestos that no one reads are replaced by professional advertising for candidates. This description is also not unrealistic. But the price the citizens pay for this deficit is, in turn, the renunciation of any meaningful use of their political autonomy. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 102

Categorization

• XREF: The expertocracy critique parallels Adorno’s and Husserl’s critiques of specialized reason’s eclipse of practical life. — connects to: Political realism is an inherited skill of ruling classes, not universal knowledge; Systemic realism and active political commitment can coexist rather than exclude each other; Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Political realism is an inherited skill of ruling classes, not universal knowledge #complicates (0.78)
• Realist political theory adopts the powerholder’s viewpoint #expands (0.78)
• Systemic realism and active political commitment can coexist rather than exclude each other #responds-to (0.75)
• Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace #corroborates (0.75) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74