L4: What causes Democracy?

Question 1

Modernization Theory

Answer 1

Newly created states (decolonization) become fully-fledged democracies:
“Primitive” agricultural societies will eventually “grow up” to become modern industrial economies. This will lead to increased wealth, which will lead to democratization.
ie. In Europe and America democracies tend to be richer (proportion of democracies at various levels of income: positive linear relationship)
ie. Richer democracies are less likely to become dictatorships and richer dictatorships are more likely to become democracies.

Question 2

Democracy and Development (Lipset 1959)

Answer 2

Economic development (wealth, industrialization, urbanization, education; changes in the socioeconomic structure ) leads to democracy 
England case: A representative government is more likely to emerge and survive when the rulers depend on people holding liquid or mobile assets.

Question 3

Resource curse

Answer 3

Countries that depend on revenue from natural resources (oil, diamonds, and minerals), will find it difficult to democratize; rulers can “pay off” population and use resources for repression.

Question 4

Primordialist (“strongly culturalist”) argument (Geertz 1973; Montesquieu 1752)

Answer 4

• Culture exists prior to, and cannot be changed by, political interaction.
• Some cultures not amenable to democracy)

Question 5

Constructivist (“weakly culturalist”) argument

Answer 5

• Culture is not a given.
• Culture is malleable and can change in response to social, economic, and political factors—all of which can be shaped by internal or external actors

Question 6

Civic Culture

Answer 6

• Belief by individuals that they can influence political decisions (efficacy)
• Positive feelings toward political system
• High levels of interpersonal trust
• Preferences for gradual societal change

Question 7

The Civic Culture, (Almond and Verba 1963)

Answer 7

• Only culture provides the “psychological basis of democratization.”

Question 8

Definition of Culture

Answer 8

set of attitudes held by citizens towards the political system

Question 9

Different cultures

Answer 9

• Parochial culture: no clear differentiation of political roles (e.g., tribal political systems in Africa); citizens unaware of the system.
• Subject culture: political differentiation, with ordinary citizens willing to be passive participants (e.g., authoritarian states in East Asia).
• Participant culture (civic culture): political differentiation, with citizens valuing knowledge of, and activity and involvement in, political life.

Question 10

Protestantism and democracy

Answer 10

• Focus on individualism rather than (Catholic) communitarianism, encourage higher economic development
• Individualism created bourgeoisie, which demanded greater representation in determining how they were taxed
• Emphasis on teaching people to read scripture in their own language resulted in mass education and introduction of printing press to colonies
• Increased literacy, equality, larger middle class

Question 11

Confucianism and democracy

Answer 11

• Some say it is incompatible with democracy: emphasis of respect for order, authority, and communalism rather than independence and individualism
• “Asian Values” and the Bangkok Declaration on Human Rights (1993): support Asian Style governments instead of Wester individual freedom
• However, the meritocratic systems of Confucianism and its emphasis on the importance of education and religious tolerance suggest that democracy is possible (Fukuyama 1995)

Question 12

Islam and democracy

Answer 12

• After controlling for economic development, majority-Muslim nations are no less likely to be democracies than minority-Muslim nations (Przeworski, Cheibub, Limongi 2003).
• Several majority-Muslim democracies: Albania, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mali, Senegal, and Turkey.