One of the most fascinating aspects of Schumpeter’s book, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy , is his definition and perspective on the nature of democracy. Schumpeter sees democracy as primarily a political method, . . . that is to say, a certain type of institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions and hence incapable of being an end in itself, irrespective of what decisions it will produce under given historical conditions. What seems to be implied through this definition is the propensity for people to give unqualified allegiance to certain ideals and interests which they cherish, and only qualified allegiance to a political method, such as democracy, which they expect will serve these ends.

Schumpeter goes on to document how the 18th-century ideas of the common good and the will of the people are primarily …