Demokratibegreppet hos Elias Canetti - formering av ett perspektiv

Sammanfattning: When Elias Canetti was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981 it made him famous to a wider reading public, but his personal acquaintance with a range of European writers had already made him one of the central intellectuals of his time. His works include the novel Auto da Fé and his tour de force, a collection of aphorisms called Crowds and Power. Despite examining the eponymous themes and being released at the height of the Cold War in 1960, it failed to take a strong stance for democracy as a political system. Canetti, who was a Sephardic Jew and a young man during the rise of national socialism in Germany and communist socialism in Russia, despised all those who gathered in crowds, and greatly favoured individualism. A professional faiblesse for intellectual and creative people made him consider them the most fit to rule a nation. Given that, where did he actually stand on democracy? By using the ideal type method developed by Max Weber, this essay determines that Elias Canetti was an advocate of parliamentarism and democracy, even though he did not express it outright. Unsurprisingly, due to his roots in the early 20th Century, he would most likely have favoured a two-chamber parliament that would allot the lion’s share of political power to citizens of highest merit.