1. POLS 373 Foundations of Comparative Politics
What Makes a Democracy?
May 17, 2007
Professor Timothy Lim
California State University, Los Angeles

2. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
First off …

3. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
… the world is becoming more democratic
This graph shows the number of states with each of three general authority patterns: democracy, autocracy, and “anocracy” (an anocracy is defined as a regime type that has characteristics of both democratic and authoritarian rule).
____________________
Source: Global Conflict Trends
An autocracy is technically a form of government where power is held by one person; in this case, it is used more generally to refer to non- democraticpolitical system
Democracies
Anocracies
Autocracies

4. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
The world is becoming more democratic
Another perspective: In 1910, 0 percent of the world’s population lived in democracies; by 1950, 31 percent of the world’s population is democratic
By 2000, according to one source, 58.2 percent of the world’s people lived in democracies; by 2006, this figure had grown to 63% (based on estimates by Freedom House)
_______________________
Source: R.J. Rummel, “Democratic Peace Clock”

5. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
Why Is Democracy Spreading?
The global spread of democracy raises a number of important questions …
Is the expansion of democracy inevitable? Will it necessarily reach all countries in time?
Or, is democracy the product of particular forces and processes that will be forever resisted by some parts of the world, such as the Middle East and China?
Why did the 20th century witness the most major advances of democracy globally? Was there something unique about the 20th century?
What is the best method of promoting democracy? Should the United States be in the business of exporting democracies?

6. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
Defining Democracy
The definition of “democracy”is subject to great debate, but defining democracy is an essential first step, so …
What is democracy?
A discussion point

7. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
What is Democracy? A Short Video
Video intentionally removed • Available to download from CourseSite
This short video from YouTube (click here) poses the question, “What is democracy” to a handful of Americans
Note: We will watch only a portion of the video in class.

8. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
Defining Democracy: One Definition
“I would say democracy exists where you have a multiparty system with political parties competing with one another, free and non-corrupt voting procedures to elect political leaders, and an effective legal framework of civil liberties or human rights that underlie the mechanisms of voting processes”
~ Anthony Giddens

9. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
Defining Democracy: A “Formal” Definition
Gidden’s definition includes three core characteristics of democracy:
A competitive multiparty system
Free and non-corrupt elections
An effective legal framework of civil liberties or human rights
To this list, we might add a fourth characteristic:
(Near) universal and equal suffrage (suffrage is simply the right or privilege of voting)
A discussion point
Are these characteristics enough?

10. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
Defining Democracy: A Formal Definition
To many people, “formal democracy” is not democracy at all: it may be a democracy in name, but not in reality
Instead, many believe that democracy must be defined in substantive terms
This cartoon illustrates the problem with “formal democracies”: people may have the right to vote in free and non-corrupt elections, but the real power lies with the corporate elite

11. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
Defining Democracy: The Debate
How should democracy be defined?
Is a “formal” or narrow definition adequate?
Or, is a substantive or broad definition necessary?
Points of discussion

12. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
The Case for a Formal Definition
Substantive definitions of democracy are important, but a formal definition are sometimes necessary …
The appropriateness of a formal definition: “Bare bones” definitions are important to distinguish between two distinct outcomes or phenomena; if the distinction can be justified and supported, it is appropriate
Consider this question:
Is a political system that meets the minimal requirements of a formal democracy significantly different from an autocracy or dictatorship, such as the one once ruled over by that evil-doer Saddam Hussein?

13. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
The Case for a Formal Definition
Some Concrete Examples to Consider
Japan under Prime Minister Hideki Tojo or Japan under Juniichiro Koizumi
Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler or Germany under Chancellor Angela Merkel
Chile under Pinochet ( ) or Chile under President Michelle Bachelet

14. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
The Case for a Formal Definition
Key Point: If there is a significant difference between democracies and autocracies (or dictatorships or fascist regimes), then a formal definition of democracy is both appropriate and meaningful: even more, a formal democracy matters
… it matters because it signifies (in contrast to autocratic rule) a real and significant change in society • The establishment of formal democracy invariably supports (although does not guarantee) progress towards greater substantive social, political, and economic equality
Is a political system that meets the minimal requirements of a formal democracy significantly different from an autocracy or dictatorship, such as the one once ruled over by that evil-doer Saddam Hussein?

15. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
The Case for a Formal Definition
Analytically speaking, it is also critical that concepts such as “democracy” be operationalized
Quick definition: Operationalization is the process of defining a concept so that it can be ______________ through specific observations.
Operationalization is important in the sciences, for if it is not possible to measure (or quantify) a phenomenon, it is difficult if not impossible to evaluate its causes or consequences
For example, how can we know that someone is “intelligent” if we cannot measure intelligence? How can we study “intelligence” if we cannot adequately distinguish it from other aspects of human consciousness?
measured

16. What Makes a Democracy? Introduction
The Case for a Formal Definition
One last point
Using a formal definition of democracy does not mean that we should ignore substantive definitions
Indeed, depending on the purpose of the research, a substantive definition is sometimes preferred, if not absolutely essential
Example. A study of why some democracies are “strong” while others are weak or a study of how to “improve” democracy …
… both require a substantive definition

17. Explanations of Democracy

18. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Some Questions
There is a tendency--in the West at least--to assume that democracy benefits everyone. But this isn’t necessarily true. To begin a study of democracy, then, it is crucial to begin with some basic questions …
In general, who (or which groups) in society opposes democracy?
In general, who (or which groups) in society favor democracy?
Who benefits from democracy and whose interests are threatened?

19. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Who Opposes Democracy?
For the dominant groups in society, democracy generally represents a concrete threat to their own interests, since, by its very nature, democracy gives power to the “oppressed” or subordinate classes who constitute the large majority of any society’s population
Historically, the group most resistant to democracy has been the landowning class: this is because landowners, more than any other dominant class, depend on a subservient, oppressed labor class

20. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Who Opposes Democracy?
Think of it this way: If the majority of people in a society are poor and exploited would they not be immediately tempted, in a democratic system, to use their new-found and overwhelming voting power to redistribute economic resources and, ultimately, to undermine permanently—if not destroy —the position and privileges of the wealthy (or political and economic elite)?

21. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Who Opposes Democracy?
In the 20th century, opponents of democracy have also included states and/or state leaders, especially in poor or developing countries
The 1989 Chinese “democracy movement” in Tiananmen Square represents an example of state-opposition to democracy
______________________________
Leaders of modern states often oppose democracy because their own survival may be at stake once they are out of office; other state leaders believe that democracy will result in too many demands by labor, thus undermining the industrialization process
Video intentionally removed • Available to download from CourseSite

22. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Who Favors Democracy?
Simple Answer: Any group or segment of society that would benefit from having a greater voice in the political process
Historically, this has included the “middle class,” the working class, the masses in general, the petty bourgeoisie (e.g., small merchants, craftsmen, and other self-employed groups), and the “intellectual class” (especially university students)

23. Democracy is above all a matter of power
Democracy and Power
Given the almost undeniable tension between democracy and social inequality, most analysts agree …
Democracy is above all a matter of power

24. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Democracy and Power: Implications
Democracy does not just happen through some automatic process, but is a product of a political struggle among competing groups with competing interests
Democratization requires some underlying shift in power (among or between different groups)
The transition to democracy marks a significant political change, but transitions to democracy are never guaranteed: indeed, given the nature of democratic change, opposition and attempts to re-impose a non-democratic system should be expected

25. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Democracy and Power: Implications
Structuralists, rationalists, and culturalists generally agree on the significance of power, but they differ on several key questions …
Who are the key agents of change? Are they elites, subordinate actors, outside agents or some combination?
How does the struggle for power unfold? Is it the product of elite interaction? Is it a structural phenomenon, a cultural one, or something else?
Do certain “conditions” need to exist before democratization can happen? Or is democracy possible under any circumstances?

26. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Democracy and Power: Structural View
To structuralists, transitions to democracy are shaped and even determined by broad structural changes that reorder the balance of power among different classes and class coalitions in society
For democracy to emerge, subordinate classes must have sufficient power to challenge the dominant classes, but …
How do subordinate classes “get power”?
Discussion question

27. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Democracy and Power: Structural View
How do subordinate classes “get power”?
Basic Answer: The power of subordinate classes is a product of capitalist development, which brings unavoidable changes to any society. Specifically …
Capitalism creates subordinate classes with the capacity for _________________________.
Capitalism also entails greater dependence of elite groups on subordinate classes: simply put, capitalists rely on workers to work
Capitalism creates tensions between elite groups: landowners, in particular, lose power at the expense of “industrialists,” which weakens the cohesion of the elite
self-organization
SELF-ORGANIZATION: An Explanation
“Capitalism brings the subordinate class or classes together in factories cities where members of those classes can associate and organized more easily; it improves the means of communication and transportation …; in these and other ways, it strengthens civil society and facilitates subordinate class organization”

28. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
The importance of self-organization is underscored in Marx and Engel’s famous quote (from the Communist Manifesto) …
Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains

29. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Democracy and Power: Structural View
Having more power doesn’t automatically lead to democracy for subordinate groups
Sometimes subordinate groups are co-opted by the elite
Sometimes subordinate groups, while more powerful, still lack enough power to topple the existing regime--in these cases, alliances with other groups may be necessary
In a similar vein, sometimes the state is “overdeveloped” (i.e., possesses excessive coercive capacity, often as a result of an alliance with major Western countries)
Sometimes “transnational forces” intervene, e.g., during the Cold War, the US helped or abetted to overthrow democratically elected governments in Iran, Iraq, Chile, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Greece, etc.; more recently, some argue that the US attempted to overthrow Hugo Chavez in Venezuela
Co-option refers to the process of being incorporated into the mainstream or dominant power structure, but always in a subservient role. Frequently, those who have been co-opted will embrace the interests of the dominant power structure while neglecting the interests of their original group

30. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Democracy and Power: Structural View
In general, however, structuralists assert that capitalist development is the underlying process through which democracy emerges
This helps explain why democracy is a primarily 20th century phenomenon: capitalist industrialization has made its greatest and most rapid strides in the 100 years or so
In the postwar period, consider the cases of South Korea and Taiwan
At the same time, (to structuralists) democracy is an essentially unintended outcome of capitalism; that is, capitalism is not designed to promote capitalism; indeed, it may be antithetical to capitalism

31. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Democracy and Power: Structural View
Questions for consideration and discussion:
As a rapid growing capitalist society, is the breakdown of authoritarian, communist party rule in China inevitable?
Can structuralists account for the longevity of authoritarianism in the Middle East, especially among Arab Islamic countries?
Are there any inconsistencies in the structural account that you can identify? How would a rationalist or a culturalist respond? Why, for example, does the quality or substance of capitalism seem to be weakening today, even in well-established democracies, such as the United States?
Hint: Consider how globalization is weakening subordinate classes, especially the working class

32. People may be political elites or “the people,” as in mass movements
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

33. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Different Processes, Different Actors: Rationality
Some Basic Differences and Assumptions
Rationalists don’t consider capitalism to be the key process in democratization
Rationalists don’t 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 don’t like to focus on underlying (economic) structures: they believe that democracy is possible in virtually any economic context

34. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Different Processes, Different Actors: Rationality
Some Basic Differences and Assumptions among Rationalists
Rationalists don’t 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

35. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Different Processes, Different Actors: Rationality
Some Basic Differences and Assumptions among Rationalists
Rationalists don’t 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

36. What Makes a Democracy? Competing Explanations
Different Processes, Different Actors: Rationality
Implications of Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Explanations
Cooperative Explanations: Epitomized by Samuel Huntington’s observation on an ironic feature of contemporary democratization …
Non-Cooperative 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?

37. 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)

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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?

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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