PS11: Introduction to Comparative Politics

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PS11 Introduction to Comparative Politics

• Professor Karen Ferree

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State

• The set of permanent institutions and structures
  of authority in a country.
• Examples
• The bureaucracy
• The executive and legislature
• The courts
• The tax collecting infrastructure (eg. the IRS)
• The police, prisons, army
• State Change VERY RARE

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Regime

• The set of rules by which political power is
  allocated. How leaders are selected, whom they
  answer to, what powers and duties they have, and
  how they are removed.
• Two main types
• Democracies
• Authoritarian regimes
• Regime change (from D to A or vice versa) more
  common than state change

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Government

• The group of people who occupy positions of power
  at any given time.
• Examples
• The Clinton Administration
• The Bush Administration
• Government change very common!

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Nation

• The idea or group of people that commands your
  loyalty.
• Can be based on blood or allegiance to a set of
  civic ideals
• May or may not overlap with states

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Democracy

• A regime in which the highest offices of
  government are selected through periodic
  competitive elections in which virtually all of
  the adult population is eligible to vote.
• Implies certain political and civil freedoms.
• Intimately related to Liberalism, a political
  philosophy centered on the protection of
  individual rights from the predations of powerful
  groups and governments.

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What Democracy is NOT

• NOT necessarily more equitable democracy creates
  the opportunity for poor people to vote, but this
  does not guarantee redistribution or a more
  equitable distribution of resources.

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What Democracy is NOT

• NOT necessarily faster growing
• Argument 1 democracies should grow faster
  (voters like growth).
• Argument 2 democracies should grow slower
  (voters dont like painful adjustments).
• Empirical evidence a wash, no difference in
  growth rates between democracies and
  non-democracies.

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What Democracy is NOT

• NOT necessarily better government. Can be
  inefficient and corrupt, just like authoritarian
  regimes.
• In sum not all good things go together.

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So why do we care?

• Democracies tend to have better records on human
  rights.
• Democracies allow citizens to remove governments
  regularly and peacefully.

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Current Patterns

• 1970 30 Democracies, 20 of all Countries
• 2002 80 Democracies, 42 of all Countries
• Diversity in world regimes consolidated
  democracies, democracies in the process of
  consolidation, countries that have never
  experimented with democracy.

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Historical Patterns

• What did early democratizers have in common?
• They were all relatively wealthy
• They all had established capitalist economies
• They had large middle classes
• Most were Protestant
• Liberal ideas were firmly entrenched in the
  population

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A Democratic Benin?

• Elections 1991, 1996, 2001
• Per Capita Income 380
• Literacy 39
• Rural 57
• Life Expectancy 51

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Overview of Democratization Theories

• Structural theories Certain economic conditions
  are necessary for democracy to take hold.
• Modernization theory economic development
• Marxism an enabling class structure

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Overview of Democratization Theories

• Voluntarist theories Economic conditions do not
  determine everything. Political factors
  (leadership, institutions) matter also.

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Modernization Theory

• Shift from Peasant Based Agriculture to
  Capitalism (Industrialization)
• Series of Changes in Society
• Democratization

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Correlates of Industrialization

• Urbanization Turns peasants into workers
• Education Provides citizenship skills
• Expansion of Communication Networks Provides
  information and tools to oppose bad governments

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Correlates of Industrialization

• Rising Wealth Levels Moderate conflict
• Cross Cutting Cleavages Moderate conflict
• Strengthened Civil Society Creates
  organizational muscle to oppose bad governments

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Implications?

• There is a single path to democracy
• Democratization is long, slow, and peaceful
• Democracy can be transplanted, but only to
  relatively rich countries. Yes, South Korea No,
  North Korea, Vietnam, Benin.

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Questions?

• What about the outliers?
• Does this match the path of individual countries?
• Do we buy the specific causal links in the story?

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Neo-Modernization Theory

• Two distinct stages to democratization
• Transition (death of authoritarian regime/birth
  of democracy)
• Consolidation (survival of democracy)

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Neo-Modernization Theory

• Transition occurs for all sorts of reasons, only
  some of which relate to economic development
• Consolidation only works in rich countries
• Same correlation, different explanation!

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Improvements

• Has no trouble explaining start-stop pattern we
  see in countries like Nigeria.
• Also has no trouble explaining cases rich
  countries like Taiwan that resist democratizing
  for long periods of time.

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But . . .

• Still very pessimistic about prospects for
  democracy where economic development is lacking.
• Implicit policy message poor countries should
  focus on growing rather than democratizing.

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Marxism

• Who are the dominant classes?
• Does democracy threaten their interests?
• If yes, NO DEMOCRACY!!

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Marxism Barrington Moore

• Capitalist class structure more favorable to
  democracy than pre-capitalist class structure.
• Capitalist class structure owners of capital vs.
  laborers.
• Precapitalist class structure landowners vs.
  peasants.
• Pre-capitalist elites rely on coercion to get
  labor, capitalist elites rely on markets

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Marxism Barrington Moore

• Democracy makes coercion more difficult.
  Therefore, it threatens the interests of
  precapitalist elites (but not capitalist ones).
• Precapitalist elites therefore fight democracy
  with everything theyve got.
• Democracy is unlikely unless they are eliminated.

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Implications

• Democracy is a violent process that involves the
  destruction of at least one class (the landed
  elite).
• Democracy is not an automatic function of
  economic development.
• Democracy is a function of big, structural
  forces, not individuals.

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Voluntarism

• Countries with all the wrong structural
  conditions can still achieve democracy if certain
  political conditions are favorable.
• Two political factors in particular are
  important
• Crafting of compromises
• Leadership

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Voluntarism

• Who are the main political actors?
• What are their incentives? When might they
  embrace democracy?
• How do we keep them in the game, especially if
  they are about to lose?

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Voluntarism

• Providing security to losers
• Constitutional guarantees that protect the vital
  interests of political losers.
• But, these only work if adhered to!
• Enlightened leadership is often critical leaders
  who inspire trust, leaders who place the survival
  of democracy over own interests.

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Implications

• No single path to democracy.
• Politics matters!
• But, big question is sub-optimal democracy
  better than no democracy at all?

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El Salvador

• Strikes against democracy
• Not far along the path of economic development
• Very unequal
• Landowners rely on coercive means to get labor
• Yet, democracy in 1992. How?

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General historical backdrop

• Economy centered around export of coffee, a very
  labor intensive crop.
• Landowners used force to get labor, strongly
  opposed democratization.
• Peasants protest, military responds.
• La Matanza 1932 17,000 people dead

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General historical backdrop

• Implications of La Matanza. The military would
• Meet protest with violence.
• Police the labor market for economic elites.
• In exchange, run politics, often through proxy
  party PCN.
• Marks deal at heart of Salvadoran politics.

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General historical backdrop

• But, politics were not static
• Alternation between moderates and hardliners in
  military
• Periods of liberalization, periods of backlash
• Bottom line democratization never got very far.

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Timeline

• 1960s Moderates take power in military, allow
  some liberalization.
• PDC, lead by Duarte, wins San Salvador, builds
  base around country.
• 1972 Open competition for presidential election.
• PDC on brink of winning
• Military declares PCN winner

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Timeline

• 1970s
• Increasing polarization
• On the right, ORDEN and death squads.
• On the left, terrorists and mass organizations.
• Increasing violence
• Increase in deaths, disappearances, arrests.
• March 1980, murder of Archbishop of San Salvador,
  Oscar Romero.

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Timeline

• 1980 Alliance between military moderates and
  PDC/Duarte.
• Initiate land reforms.
• Too little, too late. Further polarization.
• Formation of FMLN.
• 1980s Civil war. 50,000 - 75,000 dead

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Why democracy?

• Interests of primary players changed
• War changed the economic interests of the elites,
  and so too their political interests.
• The left moderated its political demands.
• The US stopped supporting the military, so the
  military became less interested in war.

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Why democracy?

• A deal emerged all parties gave up something,
  got something in exchange.
• Helping this deal along the UN, which ensured
  each side that the other would not fink out.

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Conclusions?

• How important is economic structure?
• Level of development not so important in this
  case.
• Class structure was important, however. Economic
  interests of elites had to change before their
  political interests could.

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Conclusions?

• However, structure is not the whole story.
• Structure changed because of political actions.
• Even after structure changed, actual outcome
  depended on politics. It could have ended
  differently!
• Finally, international factors matter too.