Democracy & Democratization

Will the trend continue?

Democracy:

• Basic Rights Do these have to be protected in a written

constitution?

• Competitive Elections Which is the better electoral system?

Way of counting the votes

• Rule of Law• Capitalism and Affluence

Is this necessary?

Common and Not So Common Themes

Elections determine who governs but Not ALL are ALIKE

– Electoral systems: Direct v. indirect

U.S. & France elect their chief executives Great Britain and Germany do not

Proportional v. plurality (single member districts) German Bundestag gives half its seats

proportionally U.S. & Great Britain use “first past the post”

Separation of powers (U.S.) v. fusion of powers

Four Different Elections• United States

Electoral College

France Directly elects its

President Ballot has multiple

candidates Only top 2 participate

in a runoff

Great Britain No scheduled elections Prime Minister calls for

elections within 5 years

Germany 4 major parties that form

coalitions to pass legislation

Understanding Democracy

• Democratic Regime – a set of institutions that allow the citizens to choose the makers of public policy in free, competitive elections

• Industrialized Democracy – the richest countries with advanced economies and liberal states.

Procedural v. Substantive Democracy

Procedural democracy Presence of “free, fair,

competitive” elections BUT

Hurdles are present for real democratic procedures

Opposition parties silenced

Votes not counted Illiberal Democracy/Guarded

Democracy- A true “free and fair” election is a façade as a dominant party, military, or person is in control

Substantive Democracy Procedural standards

met More political rights

and civil liberties are offered

Democratization The

transformation process from a nondemocratic regime to a procedural democracy to a substantive democracy

Samuel Huntington's “Three Waves of Democratization”

→ The introduction of democracy in different stages after 1900

Late 19th century Increased education and

urbanization Post WWII era (1945-1960)

decolonization Late 1970s

Collapse of Soviet Union

The Origins of the Democratic StateThe Origins of the Democratic State

• Origins of democratic thought– The early democracies: individualism, capitalism,

Protestantism, scientific revolution, and exploration– Hobbes– Laissez-faire– Locke– Suffrage

The Origins of the Democratic StateThe Origins of the Democratic State• Building Democracies

– In Europe and North America, the way democracy developed was largely a result of the way countries and their rulers handled four great transformations over the last five hundred years:• The creation of the nation and state itself• The role of religion in society and government• The development of pressures for democracy• The Industrial Revolution

– Cleavages (social divisions)– Authoritarian Leaders, Fascism, and WWII– The Cold War

The Emergence of the Early Modern State

http://www.democracyweb.org/young/young3.php

Read about the early modern state

Political Culture and Participation• The Civic Culture

Legitimacy: government v. regime• Political Parties and Elections

Catch-all Parties• New Divisions

– Gender– Post-materialist

3rd generation affluence – reasonable assumption of productive careers

Vote on “higher-order” values• Interest Groups• Political Protest

The Democratic StateThe Democratic State• Presidential and parliamentary systems

– Presidential: three branches of power used to prevent abuse of power (only in the U.S.) → lengthy legislative process

– Parliamentary: secure majority party or coalition, the prime minister rarely has to compromise, which allows their government to act more quickly and decisively Fused, not separated

• Cabinet responsibility – principle that requires a prime minister and government to retain the support of a parliamentary majority

• Votes of confidence – a vote in which the members express their support for (or opposition to) the government’s policies. If it loses, the government must resign

Democracy and Public PolicyDemocracy and Public Policy

• The interventionist state – governments in industrialized democracies that pursue an active economic policy

– Basic health care– Subsidized and/or free education – Unemployment compensation– Pensions and other programs

Alternatives to Democracy

• Authoritarianism - power depends on the coercive force of the political authorities

• Oligarchies - power is held by only a few, usually wealthy people

• Totalitarianism - a political system in which the state controls all aspects of public and private life