What Is Democratic Technocracy?
Democratic technocracy gives experts a large role in designing and running policy while keeping elected officials and democratic accountability in charge. Part of the Technocratic family.
Definition
Democratic technocracy gives experts a large role in designing and running policy while keeping elected officials and democratic accountability in charge.
Atlas definition: written by The Ideology Atlas. Writers and movements define ideologies in different ways; this is a short working definition. Further reading: Wikipedia: Technocracy.
Core ideas
- Evidence and expertise in policy.
- Independent expert agencies.
- Democratic oversight.
How it is classified
A descriptive model rather than an organized movement.
Core ideas, origins and thinkers: Atlas summary.
Where Democratic Technocracy sits on the Atlas maps
| Map dimension | Score (0–100) | Position | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Collective / planned ↔ Market | 52 | near the center | |
| Social Progressive ↔ Traditional | 27 | toward progressive | |
| Authority Libertarian ↔ Authoritarian | 33 | toward libertarian | |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 41 | near the center | |
| Foreign policy Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 50 | near the center |
All nine underlying dimensions
| Dimension | Score | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Economic ownership Collective ownership ↔ Private ownership | 66 | toward private ownership |
| Civil liberties Civil liberty ↔ State restrictions | 40 | near the center |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 41 | near the center |
| Social and cultural values Progressive ↔ Traditionalist | 29 | toward progressive |
| Political governance Democratic ↔ Autocratic | 26 | toward democratic |
| Equality and hierarchy Egalitarian ↔ Hierarchical | 51 | near the center |
| Economic management Free market ↔ State planning | 68 | toward state planning |
| Military intervention Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 50 | near the center |
| Religion and government Secular state ↔ Religious authority | 22 | toward secular state |
These positions are estimates on the Atlas’s nine-dimension scale, produced by running the tradition’s core principles through the same questions and scoring used for test-takers. They are interpretations for comparison, not objective measurements. How scores are made.
Estimated positions on key questions
| Statement | Position | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Religious doctrine should take precedence over civil law when they conflict. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Opposition parties should be free to compete in elections. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| People should be free to criticize the government without fear of legal punishment. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| The means of production should ultimately be owned collectively. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Preserving a historic national majority is a legitimate immigration objective. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Regulations on business should be minimized whenever possible. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Society works best when established social hierarchies are respected. | Disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Non-intervention should be the default even when allies request military assistance. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Central economic planning is preferable to decentralized market decisions. | Disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
Related ideologies
Main differences from the closest ideologies
- Compared with Third Way, Democratic Technocracy sits 7 points further toward non-intervention on the foreign policy dimension.
- Compared with Radical Centrism, Democratic Technocracy sits 7 points further toward progressive on the social dimension.
- Compared with Modern Liberalism, Democratic Technocracy sits 12 points further toward nationalist on the national identity dimension.
Figures with the closest estimated positions
Closeness of estimated positions only; this does not mean these people identify with Democratic Technocracy.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Technocracy
- Wikipedia: Democratic Technocracy (Wikipedia search)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Democracy
Position last reviewed: not yet reviewed individually.