Topics for Today: Structural Preconditions Favouring Democracy

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Topics for TodayStructural Preconditions
Favouring Democracy

• Economic factors.
• Education.

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Structural Factors/ Preconditions Favouring
Democracy
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Three possible roles of structural factors in
transitions

• Necessary preconditions or prerequisites.
• Sufficient preconditions.
• Facilitating or discouraging factors (weaker
  role).

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Structural factors

• broad underlying conditions in an environment

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Strategic interactions

• choices of people, interacting with one
  another, to produce outcomes

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Types of Structural Preconditions

• Minimum condition Agreement on boundaries of
  state

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Types of Structural Preconditions

• Economic factors

• Wealth or income per capita

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Probability of democratic regime by per capita
income (Przeworski Limongi)
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Wealth and Democracy(1989 World Bank Data)
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Question about Causal Direction

• Wealth ? Democracy?
• OR
• Democracy ? Wealth?

seems more likely
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Economic Development

• Broad-based industrial development may ?
  democratization because
• Leads to complex economy that becomes harder for
  authoritarian regimes to control.
• Brings about shifts in class dynamics changes
  in social values.

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Role of Economic Development
More highly educated public
Civic culture attitudes trust, satisfaction,
competence
Higher economic development
Support for democratization
Larger middle class
(From Huntington, p. 69)
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Role of Economic Development my modification
More highly educated public
More political efficacy, sense of worth,
unwilling to be servile
Higher economic development
Support for democratization
Larger middle class
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Economic Development

• Broad-based industrial development may ?
  democratization because
• Leads to complex economy that becomes harder for
  authoritarian regimes to control.
• Brings about shifts in class dynamics changes
  in social values.
• Opens societies to external influences.

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Types of Structural Preconditions

• Economic factors

• Class structure

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Class Structure

• Idea that a certain balance of relations among
  classes is necessary ? democratization.
• Esp. middle class/ bourgeoisie (Moore).
• Powerful landowning class can hinder.

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Types of Structural Preconditions

• Economic factors

• Foreign economic dependency

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Foreign Economic Dependency

• Anti-democracy burdens of severe debt and
  dependence on international market fluctuations
  (dependency theory).
• Pro-democracy international sanctions ? pressure
  for democratization.
• e.g. South Africa 1985-91.

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Types of Structural Preconditions

• Education

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Relationship among education, economic growth,
democracy
Education
Economic growth
Democracy
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Rowens prediction based on education growth

• Predicted 74-75 free countries (Freedom House
  measures) by 2020.
• Actually 90 free countries by those measures in
  2007.

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Indirectly
Education
Economic growth
Directly
Democracy