POLS 373 Foundations of Comparative Politics

1
POLS 373 Foundations of Comparative Politics

• What Makes a Democracy?
• February 27-March 1, 2007
• Professor Timothy Lim
• California State University, Los Angeles

2

• An Alternative Perspective
• Rationalists do not agree that inert, invisible
  structures make democracies. To put it very
  simply, believe that

people make democracy
People may be political elites or the people,
as in mass movements
3
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Different Processes, Different Actors
  Rationality
• Some Basic Differences and Assumptions
• Rationalists dont consider capitalism to be the
  key process in democratization
• Rationalists dont necessarily discount the role
  of subordinate classes, but they tend to put
  greater emphasis on the interests and actions of
  the elite (more on this shortly)
• Rationalists dont like to focus on underlying
  (economic) structures they believe that
  democracy is possible in virtually any economic
  context

4
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Different Processes, Different Actors
  Rationality
• Some Basic Differences and Assumptions among
  Rationalists
• Rationalists dont agree on which people matter
  most
• Some rationalists argue that only the elite
  matter, that they are the key agents in
  democracy
• Others argue that the people (and not just the
  working class) are the key agents of political
  change

5
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Different Processes, Different Actors
  Rationality
• Some Basic Differences and Assumptions among
  Rationalists
• Rationalists dont agree on the basic process of
  democratization
• Some rationalists argue that democratization is
  a product of negotiations among the elite, also
  known as ____________ in this view democracy is
  a cooperative and very deliberate project
• Other rationalists argue that democratization is
  a non-cooperative project, that is, it is a
  product of coercion, whereby authoritarian
  leaders are, in essence, forced to leave office
  under threat of violence

pacting
6
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Different Processes, Different Actors
  Rationality
• Implications of Cooperative and Non-Cooperative
  Explanations
• Cooperative Explanations Epitomized by Samuel
  Huntingtons observation on an ironic feature of
  contemporary democratization
• Non-Cooperatiove Explanations Suggests that
  democracy is product of people who want it and
  are willing to risk their lives to get it from
  a rational choice perspective, the push for
  democracy changes the strategic environment for
  political leaders when mass-movements are strong
  enough, leaders can see the writing on the wall,
  they know they have no choice but to leave

Democracy without democrats
What does this statement mean? From a
rationalist perspective, how does this statement
make sense?
7
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Different Processes, Different Actors
  Rationality
• Empirical Issues
• Both cooperative (elite-centered) and
  non-cooperative approaches (mass-based) have
  empirical support
• Latin American cases
• Supports Elite-Centered Mass-Based approach?
• Post-Communist cases (Eastern Europe)
• Supports Elite-Centered Mass-Based approach?

8
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Different Processes, Different Actors
  Rationality
• So where does this leave us?
• Can the rational choice approach provide a
  theoretically coherent and empirically
  comprehensive explanation of democratic
  transition?

The answer is a definite
maybe
9
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Differing Authoritarianisms An Alternative
  Rational Choice Perspective
• A little comparative checking will tell us that
  not all authoritarian regimes are alike
• Some are dominated by military leaders, who may
  have taken power through a coup d'état
• Some are dominated by personalist or
  charismatic leaders single individuals who
  dominate the political process
• Some are dominated by a highly cohesive, tightly
  disciplined party structure--so-called single
  party regimes

10
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• Differing Authoritarianisms An Alternative
  Rational Choice Perspective
• For a long time, many scholars took these
  differences for granted they did not assign any
  particular causal significance to the different
  varieties of authoritarianism
• One scholar, however, asked the question

Can different types of authoritarianism lead to
different outcomes?
In other words, is authoritarian type an
independent variable?
11
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• The Rationality of Authoritarianism
• Begins with the premise that different types of
  authoritarian leaders have different preferences
  or interests
• Military leaders are less concerned with
  political power and more concerned with the
  survival and efficacy of the __________________
  itself and with the preservation of
  ________________________.
• Personalist leaders have an overriding interest
  in staying in power the perks of political
  power are many, while the costs of losing power
  are extremely high and almost certain (e.g.,
  imprisonment, death, or, at best, exile)
• Single-party leaders also have an overriding
  interest in holding on to political power, but,
  unlike personalist regimes, their power base is
  more stable and enduring than in personalist
  regimes

military
national security
12
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• The Rationality of Authoritarianism
• Basic Argument Different types of regimes arise
  for different reasons, but, once created, they
  tend to exhibit similar characteristics
  regardless of political, social or cultural
  context
• ______________ regimes are the most likely to
  breakdown because the leaders are not interested
  in political power per se
• Moreover, if any internal splits threaten the
  cohesion and power of the military, their
  preference is to save the military rather than
  to hold on to political power
• Key Implication Military authoritarian regimes
  not only tend to have the shortest life spans,
  but the transition to democracy is generally
  negotiated and cooperative

Military
13
What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations

• The Rationality of Authoritarianism
• Basic Argument Different types of regimes arise
  for different reasons, but, once created, they
  tend to exhibit similar characteristics
  regardless of political, social or cultural
  context
• __________________ and ________________ regimes
  are more resistant to breakdown because the
  political leaders have more to lose leaders will
  fight tooth-and-nail to hold on to power
• This means that transitions are almost always
  _____________________
• In addition, the impetus for a transition to
  democracy, especially in single-party regimes,
  will generally come from the outside, that is,
  __________________ shocks are usually needed to
  spark a change

Personalist
Single party
non-cooperative
exogenous