The Process of Democracy
The explosive spread of democracy in the wake of World War II radically transformed the international political landscape. It is now common to see democracies as the norm and authoritarian regimes as the exception. The reasons for this are complex, but in part it has been a result of the growing international association between democratic governance and various positive outcomes, from economic prosperity to human rights respect and security.
The democratisation process is not without controversy, however. There are competing theories about the processes that can make a society more democratic and how long it takes for a regime to be fully consolidated. Some scholars emphasize favourable structural conditions, while others focus on the roles of individual agents and their choices in the democratic transition. Both approaches have strengths and drawbacks, and each has influenced the evolution of the other.
In general, the idea is that a society can gradually transform from an autocracy into a constitutional state that has all the features of a genuine democracy, including popular sovereignty, electoral legitimacy, rule of law, and multiparty competition. This is a fundamentally challenging goal, and it has been argued that there are some societies (like the United States) that are more suited to achieving this than others.
Many of the factors that are said to promote democratisation include economic change, such as industrialization, social changes, such as civil society mobilisation, and international influences, such as the pressure of Western donors and the threat of international war. Some theorists have emphasized that these factors are interdependent. The extent to which they are is a central debate in the study of democratisation.
Another major issue is how to define a democracy, given the wide variety of definitions used by different academic disciplines and for different purposes. For example, some argue that democracy is a system of government where the transfer of power is orderly and peaceful from one popularly mandated leader or party to another, but there are other scholars who claim that democracy simply refers to the existence of a free electoral process.
Finally, there is a growing recognition that the successful democratisation of a country should be seen as an inextricable part of its development as a whole, and that it is not possible to democratize a society in isolation from the surrounding environment. This has led to a more holistic approach to democratisation, which includes civic engagement, such as volunteering (pictured here), and addressing the needs of vulnerable groups in society, such as women, children, and the elderly.
Despite these difficulties, there is an increasing recognition of the importance of democratisation and it continues to be a key objective of many organisations, from charities and foundations to multinational corporations. One example of this is data democratisation, which is the process by which an organisation makes information more easily accessible to its employees. This includes removing barriers to the flow of knowledge, but it does not mean that everyone has access to every piece of data – decisions about what data should be available to which people are based on their role and seniority, as well as the importance of privacy.
The explosive spread of democracy in the wake of World War II radically transformed the international political landscape. It is now common to see democracies as the norm and authoritarian regimes as the exception. The reasons for this are complex, but in part it has been a result of the growing international association between democratic governance and various positive outcomes, from economic prosperity to human rights respect and security. The democratisation process is not without controversy, however. There are competing theories about the processes that can make a society more democratic and how long it takes for a regime to be fully consolidated. Some scholars emphasize favourable structural conditions, while others focus on the roles of individual agents and their choices in the democratic transition. Both approaches have strengths and drawbacks, and each has influenced the evolution of the other. In general, the idea is that a society can gradually transform from an autocracy into a constitutional state that has all the features of a genuine democracy, including popular sovereignty, electoral legitimacy, rule of law, and multiparty competition. This is a fundamentally challenging goal, and it has been argued that there are some societies (like the United States) that are more suited to achieving this than others. Many of the factors that are said to promote democratisation include economic change, such as industrialization, social changes, such as civil society mobilisation, and international influences, such as the pressure of Western donors and the threat of international war. Some theorists have emphasized that these factors are interdependent. The extent to which they are is a central debate in the study of democratisation. Another major issue is how to define a democracy, given the wide variety of definitions used by different academic disciplines and for different purposes. For example, some argue that democracy is a system of government where the transfer of power is orderly and peaceful from one popularly mandated leader or party to another, but there are other scholars who claim that democracy simply refers to the existence of a free electoral process. Finally, there is a growing recognition that the successful democratisation of a country should be seen as an inextricable part of its development as a whole, and that it is not possible to democratize a society in isolation from the surrounding environment. This has led to a more holistic approach to democratisation, which includes civic engagement, such as volunteering (pictured here), and addressing the needs of vulnerable groups in society, such as women, children, and the elderly. Despite these difficulties, there is an increasing recognition of the importance of democratisation and it continues to be a key objective of many organisations, from charities and foundations to multinational corporations. One example of this is data democratisation, which is the process by which an organisation makes information more easily accessible to its employees. This includes removing barriers to the flow of knowledge, but it does not mean that everyone has access to every piece of data – decisions about what data should be available to which people are based on their role and seniority, as well as the importance of privacy.