Trivia: When were black women first able to vote in the US?
Why is that demagogues rise to power so frequently through democratic means?
David Bateman in his recent book and during this
discussion
provides a potential answer by examining how this occurs in several different Western
societies over extended periods. Well-positioned people ('elites') often work towards furthering their advantages
through means and alliances. This often involves two potentially unsavory actions --"othering" of some who are
comparatively disadvantaged, and at the same time ignoring potential flaws in those who are more advantaged--as
long as these actions lead to further their relative positions. The 'other' differs in Bateman’s examples from the
UK, US and France, but the dynamics are similar.
For Bateman, ultimately this type of process ensured that "democratization in America was premised upon
disenfranchisement or that racial disenfranchisement was an inevitable consequence of democratization," and this
particular type of disenfranchisement occurred in the first part of the 19th century.