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”