Democracy

1. Derived from Greek demokratia, demos(people) and kratos (rule) = rule by the people • Direct democracy = people participate directly in making laws • Representative democracy = interests and views represented by others • Schumpeter: all citizens eligible to vote on who will represent them in free, fair, and periodic elections • Freedom House (2001), 121 of world’s 192 governments (63%) qualified as constitutionally democratic systems with competitive, multiparty elections (most ever in history) Democracy

2. Huntington: transition from autocracy to democracy proceeded in three waves • First wave = started with American and French revolutions; receded in 1930s • Second wave = started with defeat of fascism (WWII) • Germany, Austria, and Japan emerged democratic; many former European colonies adopted democratic constitutions on independence • Receded in 1950s-1960s with return to authoritarianism in many African and Asian countries • Third wave = started as second wave was receding; Portugal (1974) emerged from dictatorship, followed by Greece, Spain; Latin America (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil); Asia (India and the Philippines, Korea, Turkey, Pakistan); in Europe (Berlin Wall fell; Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and finally the Soviet Union itself) Waves of Democracy

4. Mauritius: island nation of over one million located off southeast coast of Africa Ethnically and religiously diverse No authoritarian government Stable democracy since independence (1968) Why? • “Vibrant and healthy civil society that cuts across ethnic cleavages” • Civic organizations act as bridges across religious and ethnic boundaries • Checks and balances • No standing army • Independent judiciary • Professional civil service • Supermajorities required to make constitutional changes • Constitutionally recognized ethnic and religious groups guaranteed seats in parliament • Constitution provides for office of Leader of Opposition whom president must consult on some issues • Mauritius does have ethnic conflicts and suffers from corruption, but its democratic record is the best in Africa Mauritius – A Democratic Enigma

5. Range of explanations (see Moaz) • Economic explanations • Oil producing countries of Middle East; wealthy but not democratic – Why? Curse of oil = authoritarian rulers use oil revenues to pacify public • Economic development causes democratic stability, not democratization; poor democracies more likely to collapse into authoritarianism • International environment • Diffusion effect = countries surrounded by democracies find it in their interest to copy their neighbors Transitions to Democracy

6. “From Huntington’s initial hypothesis of preconditions for democracy to each of the fruitful modifications offered by Gallagher, Herb, and Bellin, we seemed to have come full circle indeed. Ultimately, what social scientists know about democratization is well-summed up by Bellin: ‘A host of conditions, including a minimal level of elite commitment, a minimal level of national solidarity, a minimal level of per capita GNP, and…impartial and effective state institutions must be present.’” http://incusblack.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/what-do-we-know-about-democratization/ • Will More Countries Become Democratic, http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/fattah/courses/pols535/huntington.pdf • What Makes Democracies Endure, http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_democracy/v007/7.1przeworski.html • Why Democracies Collapse, http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_democracy/v015/15.3hagopian.htmlhttp://ips.sagepub.com/content/26/3/291.abstract Democracy

7. Presidential system = executive and legislative branches separated from each other • Sovereignty shared between legislature and president, creating checks and balances between them • Presidents directly elected by people; serve for fixed terms in office; do not owe their jobs to the legislature • Parliamentary = legislature directly elected by voters • Government (prime minister and Cabinet elected committee of legislature); fused together, former empowering latter • Leader of government (prime minister) indirectly elected by legislature • PM governs as long as they have majority in legislature • Most third wave democracies chose presidential form • Can lead to gridlock when there is disagreement between the two branches • Criticized for being unrepresentative • May offer more accountability Presidential vs. Parliamentary

8. Single member districts • Only one legislator elected from each district (e.g., U.S.) • No benefit for second place finishers; only one winner (“winner-take-all”) • Multimember districts • Sweden: number of legislators from each district depends upon district size • Israel and Netherlands: entire country is one multi-member electoral district • Winner is selected from list of candidates that parties submit to voters to get seated. Runner–up wins, too, and so on down the line, depending on number of seats accorded to district Electoral Rules

9. Plurality rules= U.K., U.S., and Canada • Majority rules= France – double-ballot elections; presidential candidates must receive a majority of votes to prevail • Run-off between top two vote getters • Proportional representation (PR) • Once parties attain a certain threshold of votes, they are awarded seats in the legislature based on the percentage of votes they receive • Netherlands: ten parties competed in the 2006 parliamentary election • Christian Democratic Appeal won 27 % of the vote and received 27% of the seats; Labourwon 21% of the vote and won 21% of seats; all the way down to the smallest party, Reformed Political Party, which received 1 % of the vote and received 1% of the seats From Votes to Seats

10. Political actors think strategically about electoral rules especially as more and more people were given franchise • Groups and parties wanted rules to work to their advantage • PR works to advantage of ethnic and regional minorities • Most powerful supporters of PR were elites because they were more afraid that working-class mobilization would propel socialist parties to victory • Plurality and majority rules in single member districts could be dominated by larger numbers of working classes • Elites believed proportional representation would blunt power of socialist parties, requiring them to share power in order to govern • Electoral rules are not neutral; can give advantage to one party over another • Parties sometimes try to change rules, but electoral systems rarely change Electoral Rules & Party Systems

11. Shape party systems (recurring patterns of party behavior resulting from political competition) • SMD with plurality rules create bias toward two-party systems • Voters do not like to “waste” their vote • Countries with multi-member districts selected by proportional rules tend to have multi-party systems • More accurately reflect diversity of opinion within country • Can become ungovernable with too much diversity of opinion, no majority coalition • Impact on party discipline • Greater in PR systems; more party loyalty Electoral Rules & Party Systems

12. Pro-Authoritarian Pro-Democratic Rule of law creates predictable environment Benefit from debate, access to information, responsiveness Openness and adaptability; can reverse policy mistakes Citizens freer to be creative and innovative • Better invest society’s limited resources (no low-yield projects for votes) • Can ignore demands for short term versus long term • Consistent, stable, orderly environment for long-term economic growth Democracy, Authoritarianism, & Economic Development

13. Record for democracies and authoritarian regimes is MIXED • Supporters of democracy celebrate prosperity of West compared to collapse of Communist one-party states • Supporters of authoritarianism point to superior growth of People’s Republic of China compared to democratic India • Democracies = two advantages: greater range of choices for women; better record of steady economic performance and avoiding calamitous outcomes Democracy, Authoritarianism, & Economic Development

14. Physical Well-being Informed-Decision Making Similar results in terms of literacy rates Democracies ranked best (94.25) Authoritarian regimes second (87.39) Semi-democracies third (76.44) Semi-authoritarian regimes last (66.68) • Results inconclusive in terms of infant mortality rates • Democracies tend to have best average infant mortality rates (12.53 per 1,000 live births) • Most authoritarian states second best (27.57) • Semi-democracies third (45.52) • Semi-authoritarian states worst (57.48) Democracy, Authoritarianism, & Capabilities

15. Safety Overall Democratic states better overall Semi-democratic states not better than semi-authoritarian states • Most authoritarian states best record on safety (homicide rates, 5.43 murders per 100k citizens) • Democracies close behind (5.91 homicides) • Semi-democracies (15.28 homicides per 100K citizens) • Semi-authoritarian systems (12.04) Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Capabilities