Week 2: varieties of democracy + clark et al., caramani ch 5 and ch 8 Flashcards
Two views on what defines democracies
Minimalist view on democracies:
Procedural view -> looks at procedures; holding elections etc.
Focus on institutions and procedures
Substantive view
Focus on the outcomes of the regime; freedoms and rights
Robert Dahl on democracy:
- Minimalist view, more practical
Democracy is an ideal that cannot be reached, idealtypes - Two dimensions of democracy:
Contestation
The extent to which citizens are free to organize themselves into competing blocs in order to press for the policies and outcomes they desire.
Procedures of democratic competition, elections, freedom to form parties.
Inclusion: Who has the right to participate in politics
- Has led to popular measures
- High inclusion and high contestation: polyarchies.
- Doesn’t use the term democracy, because it is an ideal almost impossible to reach.
Three ways of measuring democracy:
- Democracy-Dictatorship (DD) measure
- Polity IV
- Freedom house
Democracy-dictatorship (DD) measure
- minimalist view
- Democracies are regimes in which governmental offices are filled as a consequence of contested elections
- Relies on Dahl’s view of contestation
- But doesn’t see democracy as a continuum like Dahl does. And ignores inclusion
- Dictatorship and democracies are dichotomous
- But there are differences within democracies and dictatorship
- Four criteria to classify a country as democratic, all four necessary conditions:
Four criteria of the DD measure
- Chief executive elected
- Legislature is elected
- More than one party competing in elections (contestation)
a. Ex ante uncertainty -> there needs to be uncertainty before elections that the ruling party could lose
b. Ex post irreversibility -> no intervention after elections to turn back the results
c. Repeatability -> elections must occur at regular and know intervals - An alternation in power under identical electoral rules has taken place
Polity IV measure
minimalist view
- Country’s score is based on five attributes, weighed differently
1. Competitiveness of executive recruitment (contestation)
2. Openness of executive recruitment (contestation)
3. Constraints that exist on the executive
4. Regulation of political participation (inclusion)
5. Competitiveness of political participation (inclusion)
- No necessary conditions/score
- Continuous measure, adds up a score from -10 (autocracy) to +10 (democracy). Follows Dahl in that sense.
Freedom house measure
- substantive view
- Annual report on the status of political rights and civil liberties. Does not claim to be a measure of democracy, but is very often used as such (in this course as well)
- Is a measurement of freedom, using it implicitly equates freedom with democracy.
- Two dimensions:
Political rights
10 indicators (4 points each)
Three sub-categories: electoral process, political pluralism, functioning of government
Questions like: does the government operate with openness and transparency?
Civil rights
15 indicators (4 points each) -> weigh heavier
Four sub-categories: freedom of expression and belief, associational and organizational rights, rule of law, personal autonomy and individual rights
Questions like: are there free and independent media?
Types of democracies, two classifications:
- Presidential, parliamentary or semi-presidential
- Majoritarian versus consensus
Parliamentary democracies
- origin in European monarchies.
- Head of government is indirectly elected through the legislator, legislator is directly elected
- Usually a different person head of government / state (monarch)
- Elections can take place sooner than schedule: dissolving legislator, votes of (no) confidence
- Executive is accountable to legislature
- More of a balance of power
Presidential democracies
- origin in the USA
- Head of government is directly elected by a popular election. Same person as head of state
- Fixed terms -> no power to kick the president out or the other way around.
- Dual mandate: legislature and executive. Executive isn’t accountable to legislature.
- More strict seperation of power
- President is sovereign within the domain of the executive
Semi-presidential democracies
- Directly elected president -> head of state
- Prime minister accountable to parliament -> head of government
Shortcut:
- Does a country have a directly elected president?
No -> parliamentary system
Yes -> presidential or semi-presidential
- Does government depend on parliament for its own survival?
No -> presidential system
Yes -> semi-presidential system
Majoritarian systems
- Goverment serves the majority of people
- Majoritarian systems use a disproportional electoral system, winner takes all (leads to two dominant parties).
- Low level of decentralisation for majoritarian systems.
- Leads to a very strong executive.
- Majoritarian systems are better for homogeneous societies
- Usually two-party systems, one party trule
Consensus systems
- Government serves as many people as possible (consensus model)
- Consensus use proportional systems, results in multiparty systems and usually coalitions
- Consensus systems usually leads to a stronger legislature, more balance in power
- Consensus systems fit better for plural societies because of safeguarding minority rights.
- Rigid constitution, strong judicial review to safeguard minority rights
Regime:
Set of rules , norms, or institutions that determine how the government is constituted, how it is organized and how major decisions are made.
Why are some countries democratic and some not?
- Structural explanations: modernization theory claims that economic development promotes democratization. Theories of inequality underscore that social inequities hinder it
- Institutional explanations: some democracies are weaker than others: presidential democracies are more likely to break down than parliamentary democracies. Same for authoritarian states: military regimes are more likely to become democratic. Dictatorial states with parties and legislatures are more resilient
- Political actors: individuals and organizations exercise agency in the transformation of political regimes. Leaders committed to democracy foster transitions and resist breakdowns
- International forces: external factors influence domestic democratization through contagion, through diplomatic action of international organizations and because established democracies can use foreign aid to support domestic democratic groups.
