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Article 4 of Nigeria’s Constitution grants citizens the right to vote for members of the House of Assembly. Article 117 states that any citizen over the age of 18 that is registered to vote may do so in these elections. (Constitute Project, “ Nigeria’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1999]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2011]]” ). +
Under Article 6, citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are granted the right of universal, equal and direct suffrage. Citizens over the age of 17 can vote for members of the Supreme People’s Assembly according to Article 89 and the local People’s Assembly under Article 138. (Constitute Project, “ North Korea’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1972]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2016]]” ). +
Article 22 in the Constitution of North Macedonia grants citizens over the age of 18 the right to vote in universal and direct elections with secret ballots. If a person is “deprived of the right to practice their profession by a court verdict,” they lose their right to vote. Citizens vote for the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia under Article 62 and the President of the Republic under Article 81. (Constitute Project, “North Macedonia (Republic of)'s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1991]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2011]]” ). +
Article 50 of Norway’s Constitution grants nearly all citizens over the age of 18 the right to vote. Citizens residing outside Norway during the election or who “Suffer from a seriously weakened mental state” are subject to the determination of law on whether or not they may vote. (Constitute Project, “Norway's Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1814]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2014]]” ). +
Under Article 58bis 9 of Oman’s Constitution, members of the Majlis Al Shura are elected through direct and secret votes. Citizens of Oman must be 21 or older to vote for these members. (Constitute Project, “ Oman’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1996]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2011]]” ). +
Article 51 states that an individual in Pakistan may vote if they are a citizen, are over the age of 18, are registered to vote, and have a sound mind. Members of the National Assembly are elected via direct and free suffrage. (Constitute Project, “ Pakistan’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1973]], reinstated in [[Probable year:: 2002]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2018]]” ). +
Article 7 of the Constitution of Palau grants citizens over the age of 18 the right to vote in National and state elections. The Olbiil Era Kelulau (the legislative body) determines the residency requirements of voting in these elections. (Constitute Project, “Palau’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1981]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 1992]]” ). +
Article 135 states that it is the right and duty of all citizens of Panama to vote in their free, universal, direct, and secret elections. The voting age in Panama is 18. Article 150 states that the members of the National Assembly of Panama are voted into office. (Constitute Project, “ Panama’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1972]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2004]]” ). +
Under articles 50 and 126 all citizens over the age of 18 may vote unless they are serving a sentence over 9 months, have been convicted of a crime or have dual citizenship. Voters elect the members of Parliament via universal suffrage. (Constitute Project, “ Papua New Guinea’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1975]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2016]]” ). +
Article 118 of Paraguay’s Constitution states that it is the right and duty of citizens to vote in their universal, direct, equal and secret elections. Article 120 states that the voting age is 18 and that Paraguayan citizens living abroad may also vote. (Constitute Project, “ Paraguay’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1992]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2011]]” ). +
Under articles 111 and 191 the President and the Regional Governors are elected through universal suffrage. The voting age in Peru is 18 years of age. (Constitute Project, “ Peru’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1993]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2021]]” ). +
Article 5 of the Constitution of the Philippines concerns suffrage, stating that citizens over the age of 18 that have resided in the country for the previous year are entitled to vote. Article 6 states that the members of the Senate, House of Representatives, and the President are elected to office by universal suffrage. (Constitute Project, “ Philippines’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1987]]” ). +
Article 62 of the Polish Constitution grants citizens over the age of 18 the right to vote for the President and representatives of the Sejm and Senate and participate in referendums. Article 127 states that the President of the Republic is elected by the people every 5 years via universal, direct, and secret voting. (Constitute Project, “ Poland’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1997]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2009]]” ). +
Article 10 states that political power is exercised via universal, direct, and secret suffrage granted to citizens of Portugal (over 18 years of age). Article 121 states that the President of the Republic is elected via universal, direct, and secret suffrage. (Constitute Project, “ Portugal’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1976]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2005]]” ). +
The philosophical school of pragmatism relies on the success of practical application to determine truth (McDermid, n.d.). Pragmatism has been applied most frequently to social and political issues since being linked to civic interaction by American philosopher John Dewey (Talisse 2014, p.123). This seems straightforward, however it proves difficult to objectively evaluate the success of something abstract, such as voting rights. The pragmatist would support voting rights if they were considered practical for society or were seen as making society function in a better way. Establishing the extent to which democracy makes life “better” is no simple task. Comparative political scientists have long debated which metrics offer the best comparisons of quality of life between democracies and autocracies. Likewise, Dewey and his pragmatist contemporaries explored the ways in which suffrage shapes civil and political society.
John Dewey’s political philosophy embraced democracy as a solution for social and political disfunction. Modern pragmatists like Robert Talisse have used the term “Deweyan Democratic Perfectionism” to reference Dewey’s idealistic theory about suffrage perfecting the function of society (Talisse 2014, p.123). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy links Dewey’s pragmatism to his political stances, reading: “As a public intellectual, Dewey was a supporter of such causes as women’s suffrage and the Settlement House movement” (Festenstein, 2019). Dewey also served as an early member and co-sponsor of organizations like the ACLU and NAACP, both of which have long fought to expand suffrage and defend minority voters against disenfranchisement. This political advocacy work speaks to the ways that pragmatism guided Dewey’s support for voting rights. In thinking that democracy can lead to perfection in society, the pragmatist would certainly support the rights of all citizens to vote. “While Dewey sometimes refers rather scathingly to the ‘machinery’ conception of democracy, he is committed to improving this machinery (by supporting the equal distribution of the franchise, for example) rather than merely dismissing it as unimportant” (Festenstein, 2019). The institutional “machine” of democracy allows citizens to pursue their interests in a collective way, and a way that pragmatists see as beneficial to society.
Dewey’s work alone cannot provide a complete understanding of pragmatism’s connections to voting rights. It is also important to consider the ways in which suffrage can shape political events as an outcome of practical application- the pragmatist’s primary tool. Citizens are generally content when their government meets their perceived needs. When public needs are not met, two different possibilities emerge. In democratic societies, citizens exercise their right to vote in a way that rewards those who seek to meet their needs and interests and punishes those who do not by legally stripping them of power. The second possibility occurs when citizens do not have the right to vote yet no longer consent to the way in which they are governed. If needs continue to go unmet, the public has no legal recourse to air their grievances and could eventually make the collective decision to work against their own government. The difference between these two scenarios is the presence of voting rights. Pragmatism dictates that the concept of voting or the ideals of democracy have merit if they succeed in practical application. The voting society described here is successful in that it has measures in place that incorporate and accommodate political dissent. Dewey himself noted that suffrage allows individuals to pursue their own interests while also making civic contributions. We can see this relate once again to Deweyan Democratic Perfectionism, encapsulated here in the idea that “democracy is a way of life in which each individual exercises and cultivates his unique capacities in a way which contributes to the flourishing of the whole society” (Talisse 2014, p.123). The belief in such a level of “perfection” underscores the pragmatic argument in favor of voting rights.
Another well-known pragmatist, William James, also studied pluralism and how it can cause disfunction when not incorporated or accepted politically. With labor strikes as the example in mind, James’ view is described: “Far from being the basis for reconciliation, we see here how the contradictory pluralism within radical empiricism explains the emergence of social insurrection, but also civil war” (Rogers-Cooper 2017, p.257). Labor strikes are an example of what James labels “radical pragmatism” because the workers seek to disrupt typical societal function but do so because it appears to them a pragmatic and effective type of political activity. If the workers are instead presented with the option to voice their approval and disapproval by voting (and they have faith that the voting system is fair and equal), then they are likely to take that option rather than bear the costs of insurrection. James’ outlook is likened to a theory known as formal democratic enclosure, which states that “elections operate ‘at the level of the demonstration’ to prevent ‘outlaw’ forms of collective politics” (Rogers-Cooper 2017, p.244). In other words, the “outlaw” approaches like strikes and insurrections are made to appear impractical if citizens feel they can express themselves sufficiently through voting. The citizens are thereby “enclosed” into the formal, regulated spheres of democracy and kept away from the populist democratic uprisings that threaten order and stability. In relation to pragmatism, James’ outlook seems to prioritize societal function similar to Dewey’s. He indicates that voting rights are beneficial as a bulwark against explicit class conflict and revolutionary sentiment.
Through the analytic lens of pragmatism, democratic choice and voting rights seem to excel. Because it reduces the threat of class conflict and improves public health outcomes, there is much evidence to conclude that suffrage improves societal function. Professor and philosophy scholar Dr. John R. Shook writes: “Pragmatism can criticize the mistakes of public democracy, but at the same time pragmatism praises public democracy as the best form of government that has been invented at this time” (2010, p.12). Given that pragmatism hinges on the results of practical application, modern democracies serve as natural experiments which provide adequate evidence that voting rights are advantageous to society.
References:
Festenstein, Matthew. 2019. “Dewey’s Political Philosophy.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Winter 2019. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/dewey-political/.
McDermid, Douglas. n.d. “Pragmatism: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed July 15, 2021. https://iep.utm.edu/pragmati/.
Rogers-Cooper, Justin. “Truth Written In Hell Fire: William James and the Destruction of Gotham.” William James Studies 13, no. 2 (2017): 240-81. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26493681.
Shook, John R. 2010. “Pragmatism, Pluralism, and Public Democracy.” Revue française d'études américaines. 124 (2): 11–28.
Talisse, Robert B. 2014. “Pragmatist Political Philosophy.” Philosophy Compass 9 (2): 123–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12102.
Under article 93 of Qatar’s Constitution the President is elected via secret ballot by the majority of votes from attending members of the Council. Qatar is not a democracy and therefore citizens have not traditionally had the right to vote for political officials. (Constitute Project, “ Qatar’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 2003]]” ). +
Under Article 16, all Irish citizens over the age of 18 have the right to universal elections of the Dáil Éireann. Under Article 12, all Irish citizens who have the right to vote for the Dáil Éireann have the right to vote for the President through Single Transferable Vote elections. (Constitute Project, “Ireland’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1937]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2019]]” ). +
Under Title I, Of The State and Of Sovereignty, Article 6, suffrage is direct or indirect and is free, equal and secret. Established by the law all Congolese 18 years of age, enjoying their civil and political rights are electors. (“Congo (Republic of the)'s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 2015]]” ). +
Article 36 of Romania’s Constitution grants citizens over the age of 18 who are mentally sound and have not had voting privileges revoked in court may vote. Articles 62 and 81 state that The Chamber of Deputies and the President are elected via universal, equal, direct, and secret suffrage (Constitute Project, “ Romania’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1991]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2003]]” ). +
Article 81 states that the President is elected every 6 years via universal, equal, and direct suffrage by a secret ballot. The voting age in Russia is 18 years of age. (Constitute Project, “ Russia’s Constitution of [[Probable year:: 1993]] with Amendments through [[Probable year:: 2014]]” ). +