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INTL 190:Democracy in the Developing
World
Spring 2012
THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY: OVERVIEW
• Schedule and Assignments
• Synthesis: Diamond, Spirit of Democracy, Introduction and Part I
• Collier and Levitsky, “Democracy with Adjectives”
• Munck and Verkuilen, “Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy” <maybe>
“SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY”• Purposeful action: “struggle, strategy,
ingenuity, vision, courage, conviction, compromise, and choices by human actors… politics in the best sense of the word.”
• “Increasingly, democratic values and aspirations are becoming universal…”
• “a change of heart”
• Question: “can the whole world become democratic?”
POLITICAL REGIME TYPES
• Electoral democracy = free and fair elections
• Liberal democracy = democratic elections + “thick” dimensions (citizen rights)
• Illiberal democracy = elections without all other attributes (citizen rights)
• Pseudemocracy 6 electoral authoritarian regimes
• Note: authoritarianism ≠ totalitarianism
QUERIES• Is democracy a luxury? Proposition: “the
richer the country, the greater the chance that it would sustain democracy”
• Is democracy a Western concept? – therefore not universal– “clash of civilizations” thesis– Islam the problem? [see p. 35]– “Asian values” thesis– Survey support for democracy [p. 33]
THE DEMOCRATIC BOOM
• “the greatest transformation in the way states are governed in the history of the world” [p. 6]
• Waves (à la Huntington):– First 1828-1926, reversals 1922-42– Second 1943-62, reversals 1958-75– Third 1974-present? reversals 1999-– Key events: Philippines 1986, Eastern Europe
1989, North Africa 2011?
FEATURES OF THE THIRD WAVE
• 1. snowballing
• 2. negotiated (“pacted”)
• 3. role of civil society
• 4. electoral process
• 5. global phenomenon– Of 110 nondemocratic states in 1974, 63 (57%)
underwent democratic transition– About 60% of all countries democratic
REVERSALS• Pakistan (1999)
– deterioration in rule of law
– ethnic and religious polarization
– economic failure, corruption
• The curse of oil
– resources for repression
– corruption
– socioeconomic inequality
– escalation of internal conflict
– no taxes, no representation
– wealth an illusion
WHAT DRIVES DEMOCRACY?• Internal factors
– Authoritarian failures and divisions
– Economic development + middle class
– “psychic mobility” and democratic values
– emergence of civil society
• External factors– Diffusion and demonstration effects
– Leverage and linkage
– Sanctions and conditionality
– Democracy assistance
• Regional influence– Organization of American States
– European Union (EU), Commonwealth of Nations
– African Union, Arab League
WHAT SUSTAINS DEMOCRACY?
• Political culture• Civil society• Management of diversity• Accountability and rule of law• “… the lesson of India’s remarkable experience is
that even modest but consistent economic development, combined with a decent functioning and gradual deepening of democratic institutions, can sustain a free political system just about anywhere” (p. 168).
THOUGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS
• Acceptance of authoritarian rule:– Claims to legitimacy– Economic (or other) performance– Repression and fear
• Protest against misrule:– Economic failure, international humiliation– Corruption and inequality– Exclusion of new elites
• Support for democracy? Or for an alternative dictatorship?
ANALYTICAL TOOLS
Collier and Levitsky,
“Democracy with Adjectives”