However, Clegg's statement that 'in all the stable
democracies there is a system of industrial relations which can fairly be
called the industrial parallel of political democracy '(p. 131), simply is not
correct. He argues that recent democratic theory has shown that the main
requirement for democracy is the existence of an opposition (p. 19). In
industry this opposition is provided by the trade unions with the employers (the management) performing the role of 'government'. It is not
the latter analogy which is objectionable; the point is that the whole
comparison of the authority situation in industry with the contemporary
theory of democracy is not a valid one. As several commentators have
pointed out-here in the words of Ostergaard-in industry 'the government (the management) is permanendy in office, is self-recruiting, and
is not accountable to anyone, except formally to the shareholders (or
the state)' .• It would be a most curious kind of 'democratic' theorist who
would argue for a government permanendy in office and completely
irreplaceable! In the contemporary theory of democracy, of cou'rse, the
defining characteristic is just that there are replaceable, competing teams
of leaders.