Definitions of Democracy

1
Lecture 1

• Definitions of Democracy
• Modernization and its Critics

2
What makes a good definition?

• Generality versus specificity.
• Inverse relationship between the number of
  defining attributes and the number of cases
  covered within a definition.
• Excludability vs. comprehensiveness.

3
Aspects of Democracy

• Free and fair elections.
• A probability of losing in elections (Przeworski,
  Alverez, Cheibub, and Limongi, 2000).
• Full contestation.
• Full suffrage.
• Absence of massive fraud.
• Effective guarantees of civil liberties (free
  speech, free press, right to assembly and right
  to association).

4
Alternative Criteria

• Responsiveness of government.
• Representativeness.
• Freedom/liberty
• Ability to participate.
• Popular participation.

5
Ladder of Generality (Sartori)

• Moving down the ladder indicates drawing
  distinctions within cases that are all full
  instances of the concept.
• Moving up the ladder indicates extending the
  concept to cases that do not fit completely
  within the full definition of the concept.

6
Moving Down the Ladder (Classical Subtypes)

• Parliamentary
• Presidential
• Multiparty
• Two-party
• Federal
• Unitary

7
Moving up the Ladder (Diminished Subtypes)

• Limited-suffrage, male or oligarchical democracy
  some restriction on suffrage
• Tutelary or protected democracy state does not
  have effective control (usually military
  politics)
• Electoral or illiberal democracy civil
  liberties restricted.
• Controlled and restrictive democracy electoral
  competition restricted.

8
Precising the Definition of Democracy

• Some level of social equality (O'Donnell)
• Checks on executive power.
• How much of this is adding important attributes,
  and how much is definitional gerrymandering to
  exclude particular cases.

9
Shifting the Overarching Concept

• Regime vs. situation
• Regime vs. state
• Regime vs. government

10
Definition of Authoritarianism

• Is it just a residual category of those that do
  not meet the minimal definition of democracy?
• What are some of the types of authoritarianism?

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Types of Authoritarianism

• (Polity IV Dataset Marshall and Jaggers, 2002)
• Ascription succession by birthright
• Designation Informal competition within an
  elite.
• Self-selection self-selection by seizure of
  power.
• Restricted election elections not fully free
  and fair.
• Dual executive combinations of the above.

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What Distinguishes Authoritarian Regimes?

• Level of participation
• Level of competition
• Method of succession
• Order in succession
• Protection of civil rights

13
Modernization Theory

• (Lipset, 1959 Deutsch, 1961 Lerner, 1958)
• As countries become more economically affluent,
  they are more likely to become democratic
• Decreased inequality
• Larger middle class
• Greater communication
• Decreased class conflict
• Less painful re-distribution
• Higher education

14
Political Modernization

• Rationalization move from particularism to
  universalism, from diffuseness to specificity,
  from ascription to achievement, and from
  affectivity to affective neutrality.
• National integration establishment of an ethnic
  base for the political community.
• Democratization pluralism, competitiveness,
  equalization of power, and similar qualities.
• Mobilization increased literacy, urbanization,
  exposure to mass media, industrialization, and
  per-capita income expand the politically relevant
  strata of the population.

15
Problems with Political Modernization as
Political Development (Huntington)

• Limited applicability in time and space.
• Too comprehensive (not all factors a-priori
  related).
• Conflates actuality and aspiration.
• Usually 1-way concepts, with no reversibility.

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Political Development as Institutionalization

• Strength of political organizations based on
  scope of support and level of institutionalization
  .
• Scope the extent to which political
  organizations and procedures encompass activity
  in the society.
• Institutionalization the process by which
  organizations and procedures acquire value and
  stability.

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Parts of Institutionalization

• Adaptability vs. rigidity a function of
  environmental challenge and age (chronological,
  generational and functional).
• Complexity vs. simplicity the greater the
  number and variety of subunits, the greater the
  ability to maintain loyalty and adjust to
  changing circumstances.
• Autonomy vs. subordination the extent to which
  organizations exist independent of other social
  grouping or methods of behavior.
• Coherence vs. disunity a minimum, substantial
  consensus on functional boundaries and procedures
  for resolving disputes.

18
Modernization and Stability

• While modernity is stabilizing, modernization is
  destabilizing.
• Rapid growth destabilizing because of revolution
  of rising frustrations.

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Classification of Regimes by Mobilization and
Institutionalization.

• High-High Civic (U.S. and USSR)
• High-Low Corrupt (Brazil and Peru)
• Low-High Contained (Mexico and India)
• Low-Low Primitive (traditional societies)

20
Defining the Public Interest

• Huntington believes that the public interest can
  be defined in terms of the interests of the
  governing institutions.
• Is this the case? Do we always believe that
  protection of an institutions interests is
  beneficial?
• Praise of the Communist and Single-party model.

21
Other Criticisms of Modernization

• Economic growth can cause authoritarian reaction
  (O'Donnell).
• Modernity explains stability, not democratization
  (Przeworski and Limongi).
• Equality and capital mobility are the underlying
  explanation (Boix)
• Modernization affects the conditional probability
  of democratization (Kennedy)