The Key to Democracisation
Many researchers have identified six common types of democratisation. These types are common in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century but do not fit perfectly into a single model. The reason is that the real world contains a range of borderline cases. By identifying the common features of democratisation, empirical expectations can be derived. These models are not a panacea. They are important but incomplete. In particular, they do not account for differences in the characteristics of authoritarian and democratic regimes.
Historically, democratic governments excluded many categories of people from voting. Traditionally, slaves, women, free males, and people without literacy were not allowed to vote. In South Africa, the apartheid regime limited voting rights to white minority citizens. Although this process of gradual change was successful, it is not necessary for democratization to occur. Rather, gradual change can lead to enduring democracy. Nevertheless, not all democratisation processes are gradual. Some are even revolutionary.
In order to fully understand the conditions for democratisation, we must change our perspective from the necessary conditions to causal sequences and static comparisons of multiple cases. This requires us to codify and analyze democracy-promoting mechanisms and examine their interactions with public politics, inequality, and trust-sustaining networks. We also must study the impact of shocks associated with conquest, confrontation, and colonisation. In the end, someone must synthesize partial causal models.
In addition to economic development, Boix (2003) argues that inequality is a negative factor in promoting democratisation. By increasing inequality, the elites are more likely to resist democratisation, fearing redistributive measures. However, democratisation isn’t an impediment for elites, as long as the inequality between the rich and the poor is low. This means that the elites should be unwilling to negotiate democratisation in low-income countries.
While democratisation does increase the chances for better living for citizens, its track record is not so clear. The majority of developed nations pursued development before democratisation. A predatory authoritarian regime cannot follow that trajectory. To achieve true democratisation, citizens must have democratic channels through which to pressure the elites and promote development. This requires a strong civil society, opposition parties, and decentralisation. The key to democratisation is that it requires fundamental changes to the power structure and fortunes of leaderships.
There are many possible deductive arguments to support democratisation. Some of them relate democracy with economic development. Others explain the correlation by examining the role of money in supporting capital accumulation. Nevertheless, the question remains whether there is a direct correlation between the two. For now, it remains difficult to determine the cause of democratisation. The answer is, however, a strong correlation between the two. However, there are many factors that contribute to democratization.
Many researchers have identified six common types of democratisation. These types are common in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century but do not fit perfectly into a single model. The reason is that the real world contains a range of borderline cases. By identifying the common features of democratisation, empirical expectations can be derived. These models are not a panacea. They are important but incomplete. In particular, they do not account for differences in the characteristics of authoritarian and democratic regimes. Historically, democratic governments excluded many categories of people from voting. Traditionally, slaves, women, free males, and people without literacy were not allowed to vote. In South Africa, the apartheid regime limited voting rights to white minority citizens. Although this process of gradual change was successful, it is not necessary for democratization to occur. Rather, gradual change can lead to enduring democracy. Nevertheless, not all democratisation processes are gradual. Some are even revolutionary. In order to fully understand the conditions for democratisation, we must change our perspective from the necessary conditions to causal sequences and static comparisons of multiple cases. This requires us to codify and analyze democracy-promoting mechanisms and examine their interactions with public politics, inequality, and trust-sustaining networks. We also must study the impact of shocks associated with conquest, confrontation, and colonisation. In the end, someone must synthesize partial causal models. In addition to economic development, Boix (2003) argues that inequality is a negative factor in promoting democratisation. By increasing inequality, the elites are more likely to resist democratisation, fearing redistributive measures. However, democratisation isn’t an impediment for elites, as long as the inequality between the rich and the poor is low. This means that the elites should be unwilling to negotiate democratisation in low-income countries. While democratisation does increase the chances for better living for citizens, its track record is not so clear. The majority of developed nations pursued development before democratisation. A predatory authoritarian regime cannot follow that trajectory. To achieve true democratisation, citizens must have democratic channels through which to pressure the elites and promote development. This requires a strong civil society, opposition parties, and decentralisation. The key to democratisation is that it requires fundamental changes to the power structure and fortunes of leaderships. There are many possible deductive arguments to support democratisation. Some of them relate democracy with economic development. Others explain the correlation by examining the role of money in supporting capital accumulation. Nevertheless, the question remains whether there is a direct correlation between the two. For now, it remains difficult to determine the cause of democratisation. The answer is, however, a strong correlation between the two. However, there are many factors that contribute to democratization.