test 2 Flashcards
income inequality impacts political democracy: Aristotle (4)
- extreme income inequalities in society could lead to political instability and revolution
- extreme equality could lead to political instability and revolution
- the most stable political system occurs when income inequality is modest
- political stability would exist if a middle-class state was established (the democratic state)
income inequality impact political democracy: James Harrington (2)
the distribution of land or resources influences the distribution of power (power follows property)
1. if resources are widely distributed among the people, a popular government will follow
2. if resources are not widely distributed, then a non-popular (autocratic) government will follow
income inequality impacts political democracy: Robert Dahl (2)
income inequalities will affect political institutions in two major ways:
1. extreme income inequalities would lead to hegemonic (or authoritarian) regimes
2. income inequalities in polyarchies could also lead to group resentments and frustrations
greater income inequalties in polyarchies have not led to change in regime for a few reasons (3)
- demands for greater income equality may be diffused if a regime responds to some part of the demands
- a group may believe it is now better off than it was in the past though some other groups are far better off
- a group may attenuate its resentment if it believes the country is moving toward a more just condition
democracy impacts income equality: Gerald Lenski (2)
- democratic ideology legitimizes a major diffusion of political power in favor of the masses
- diffusion of political power leads to more social equality due to redistribution of income and resources
democracy-income inequality non-relationship: Clark Kerr et al. (2)
- industrialization shapes both the distribution of income and democracy
- any observed association between the two variables is spurious or false
income inequality influences or affect democracy: Bruce Russett (3)
- argues Plato and Marx saw private property as the cause of political instability, but not Aristotle and Tocqueville
- Russett’s Hypothesis: equitable land distribution influences democracy
- finding: stable democracies had a more equitable land distribution than authoritarian ones
Edward Muller (2)
- hypothesis: higher income inequality was related to the reversal of new democracies in Latin America in the 1960s-1980s
- claimed his empirical test supported his hypotheses
reason for initial increase in income of the upper class
business elites became relatively wealthy due to rapid growth during the early industrialization era
reasons for downward trend of the income of the upper class (3)
- service-based economy would disperse economic benefits to groups other than the upper class
- the upper class will likely face competition from new entrepreneurs
- public laws would discourage the concentration of savings in the hands of the upper class
Democracy influences income equality: Christopher Hewitt (2)
hypotheses:
1. the more experience a country has with a democracy, the higher the income equality; the more experience a country has with a socialist democracy the higher the income equality
2. with N=25 countries, he found social democracy, not democracy in general, influences income equality
income inequality-democracy non-relationship: Kenneth Bollen and Robert Jackman (3)
- is there a relationship between income inequality and democracy
- found no statistically significant relationship between the two variables in either direction
- they found that economic development influences both democracy and income equality
Bollen & Jackman criticized others …(2)
- Muller: countries reestablished democracy without a significant change in income inequality
- Jackman also objected to Hewitt’s findings, suggesting that he did not use sound research design (included an outlier country in his sample, leading to a biased finding)
Bollen & Jackman gave support for Clark Kerr et al’s thesis
no causal relationship exists between income inequality and democracy
political culture
values that connect attitudes of individuals with the structure of the political system
Almond and Verba contended there are three types of political cultures…
- parochial
- subject
- participatory
parochial political culture
refers to a condition where citizens are less informed and their political participation is minimal
subject political culture
refers to a condition where citizens’ could be politically informed but are politically passive
participatory political culture
refers to a condition where citizens are politically informed and active
Almond and Verba refer to the best form of political culture as…(2)
civic culture: a mix of parochial, subject, and participatory values
1. civic culture is conducive to democracy
2. political activity in modern democracies can only be modest
Almond and Verba concluded…
US and Great Britain have greater civic culture than the other countries
criticism of Almond and Verba
political culture is not static; it can change over time
Inglehart’s Postmodernization Theory
economic development influences political culture, which, in turn, leads to democracy
how Inglehart differs from modernization theory (4)
- change is not linear; it does not move in one continuous direction until the end of history
- previous versions of modernization theory were deterministic (Marx’s economic determinism and Weber’s cultural determinism)
- modernization is not the same as Westernization
- democracy is not inherent in the modernization phase; alternatives include fascism and communism
understanding political culture: Inglehart
both modern and postmodern values need to be considered to describe political culture
modernization values (2)
refers to the move away from traditionalism to modern values
1. modernization values led to increasing emphasis on individual economic achievement
2. social status becomes something that an individual can achieve, not just inherit
postmodernization values (2)
refers to the values that come after attaining high levels of economic security
1. decline in the influence of the institutions of the family and religion
2. decline in the hierarchical nature of political institutions, as in the case of democracy
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
criticism of political culture theories: Edward Muller and Mitchell Seligson
democracy may be the cause of a democratic political culture, not the other way around
westernization attributes (4)
- Protestantism
- white
- modern
- democratic
modernization attributes (2)
- modern
- democratic
Dankwart Rustow’s central argument (2)
only political variables can cause democracy
1. endogenous variables/political variables examples: political leadership, political culture, class struggle, struggle for racial equality
2. exogenous variables examples: economic development, income distribution, external factors
Rustow: the stated theories are about the maintenance or stability of democracy, not about its causes (3)
- economic development influences democracy (Lipset)
- political culture and values influence democracy (Almond and Verba)
- political conflict and reconciliation influence democracy (Arend Lijphart)
Rustow’s assumptions about the Genesis of Democracy (3)
- the genesis of democracy does not have to be entirely uniform worldwide
- genesis of democracy need not be temporally uniform
- factors that keep a democracy stable may not be the ones that brought it into existence
Rustow’s theory of the genesis or causes of democracy (4)
democracy has four phases, which need to proceed sequentially:
1. background condition
2. preparatory phase
3. decision phase
4. habituation phase
background condition (2)
- a country needs to have national unity before it aspires for democracy
- no minimal or maximal amount of economic development is needed for democracy to emerge
preparatory phase
prolonged and inconclusive struggle among social classes and/or political elites sets off democratization
decision phase
leaders learn to compromise and accept diversity in unity to establish some form of democratic procedure
habituation phase
as time goes on, democracy is stabilized as it becomes acceptable by nearly everyone
criticism of Rustow’s model
it fails to account for non-political explanations of democracy
political leadership: Robert Dahl (3)
- political beliefs of political activists/leaders in favor of political equality are vital for a polyarchy to occur
- complex systems of political beliefs like democracy are held only by small minorities
- the higher the education of a country, the higher its political activists/leaders to seek polyarchy
political leadership: Samuel Huntington (2)
- for democracy to exist, political elites have to believe it is the least worst form of government (there is no perfect system)
- “economic development makes democracy possible; political leadership makes it real”
external influences include…(5)
- foreign control
- colonial legacy
- the Cold War
- end of the Cold War
- globalization
foreign control: Robert Dahl (2)
after WWII, a large number of European regimes were to some extent imposed
1. hegemonies in Eastern Europe imposed by the former Soviet Union
2. polyarchies imposed by the Allied forces: West Germany, Japan, Italy, and Austria
colonial legacy: Kenneth Bollen (2)
British colonial legacy was influential for democracy in some former colonies
1. seemed to have introduced modern political institutions like political parties to their former colonies
2. seemed to have given greater political training to some Indigenous elites of their former colonies
the Cold War (3)
the Cold War era (1949-1989) was not very conducive to democracy
1. the Soviet Union imposed socialist/communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe
2. the Soviet Union also attracted several satellite countries around the world
3. even the US supported dictatorial regimes worldwide (Chile and the Philippines)
the end of the Cold War (2)
- the fall of the Soviet Union and communism in early 1990s has led to democratization in Eastern Europe
- the democratization wave in Eastern Europe also had a snowballing effect in Africa, Latin America, and Asia
globalization (2)
global interconnectedness of politics, economics, and culture may have some effects on democratization
1. protests or repressions will likely be reported by the media
2. flow of capital to developing countries may lead to larger middle classes and democratization
democratization wave
a group of countries transitioning to democracy within a given period of time
Huntington’s 3 waves of democratization between 19th and 20th century
- first wave between 1828-1926
- second wave between 1943-1962
- third wave between 1974-1991+
criterion of democracy in the 19th century (first wave 1828-1926)
presence of elections and at least 50% of adult males eligible to vote
causes for the first wave (2)
- James Bryce: “the trend toward democracy…is a natural trend, due to a general law of social progress”
- political leadership that is predisposed to democracy
first reverse wave (1922-1942)
reverse occurred largely in those countries that had adopted democratic forms just before or after WWI
why the first reverse wave (3)
- economic downturns (the Great Depression)
- lack of political institutionalization and democratic experience
- rise of communism, fascism, and militaristic ideologies
main reason for the second wave of democratization between 1943-1962
foreign influence and decolonization
main reasons for the second reverse wave between 1958-1975 (2)
- economic downturns
- weak political institutionalization
where and why the third wave of democratization occurred between 1974-1991+ (3)
- the fall of authoritarian regimes in the 1970s and 1980s (Spain, Portugal, Greece, South Korea, Taiwan)
- the fall of communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Eastern Europe; some African and Asian countries)
- popular uprisings against authoritarian regimes in the early 1990s (Benin and Mali in Africa)
process of democratization
ways in which political leaders and the public establish democratic systems
Huntington classifies third-wave authoritarian regimes: (3)
- one-party systems (East European socialist countries, Taiwan, Mexico)
- military regimes (Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Nigeria, and South Korea)
- personal dictatorships (Portugal, Spain, and the Philippines)
3 types of process of democratization
- transformation
- replacement
- transplacement
transformation
when the elite in power took the lead in bringing about democracy (top-down approach) (Spain, Brazil, Chile, Taiwan, Hungary)
replacement
when opposition groups took the lead in bringing about democracy (Portugal, the Philippines, Romania, East Germany)
transplacement
when democratization resulted from joint action of government and opposition groups (South Korea, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, Poland)
main reasons for the third wave of democratization (4)
- economic development or economic stagnation
- anti-authoritarian tendencies of the Catholic Church
- political leadership willing to give up power to share it with the opposition
- the end of the Cold War has led to a democracy-friendly international environment (snowballing effect)
to Huntington, democratization is a…
two-step forward and one-step backward process
a major issue during the third wave transition (2)
- what to do with past rulers who violated human rights
- Truth Commissions were established in Latin America to prosecute former dictators
Huntington’s general advice ()
- if transformation or transplacement occurs, don’t prosecute past officials for human rights violations
- if replacement occurred and you feel it is morally and politically desirable:
a. prosecute the leaders of the authoritarian regime promptly, within one year of taking power
b. do not prosecute middle and lower-ranking officials
a major objective for the third wave democratizers
come up with a plan to prevent future military coups
Huntington’s advice in preventing future military coups (4)
- promptly purge or retire all potentially disloyal officers if you have had replacements
- ruthlessly punish the leaders of attempted coups against your new government
- if the military thinks they are underpaid, raise their salaries
- give them toys, that is, advanced weaponry; that will make them happy and keep them busy
Truth Commissions (2)
- thousands of dissidents were killed or unheard of; thousands were imprisoned and tortured
- however, very little was accomplished by these commissions
