What Causes a Country to Become a Democracy?
The explosive spread of democracy around the world since the mid-20th century has transformed the international political landscape. Many countries today are regarded as being advanced or established democracies, while others have a variety of procedural democratic institutions that do not necessarily lead to substantive democracy and can still be considered authoritarian regimes. Democracies are now the exception rather than the norm, and there is an increasing interest among academics, policy makers and activists in understanding what causes countries to become democracies or not. Democratisation is the process by which a country makes the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic political system.
It is usually marked by the emergence of civil liberties such as free speech, expression and the right to vote, and the introduction of other features that make it more likely that elections will be held and that citizens’ voices will be heard. The onset of democratisation usually coincides with economic development in the country, which can lead to a number of changes that move society in a democratic direction, for example by decreasing the economic benefits to the ruling elite from keeping a state secretive.
Democratisation is also often accompanied by efforts to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. This can have both positive and negative effects on a country’s democratisation process. For example, the democratisation impetus for redistribution in the first decade of democracy in Poland led to hyperinflation, which destroyed the redistributive impulse and concentrated income in the hands of the wealthy. As a result, it became difficult for the government to pursue its other goals of democratisation.
The wave of democratisation that swept the world in the 1970s forced a major revision of the view that only certain countries are able to achieve democracy. This led to the growth of a new field in political science, called “democratic theory,” which focuses on the identification, verification and connection of causal mechanisms for democratisation.
Although much work has been done on the subject, there is no consensus about what causes a society to democratize. The most common explanation is that a wave of external pressures, such as military occupation or the threat of external aggression, creates the conditions for domestic reforms and democratisation. Other explanations include the role of economic development, increased education levels and social capital.
Some studies have shown that democratisation is correlated with economic development and more likely in countries where the population has higher education levels. However, the results are mixed and most research on this topic needs to be replicated in different studies. In addition, the influence of economic development on democratisation depends on a number of other factors and can be distorted by other effects such as cultural characteristics and religious beliefs. For this reason, it is important that researchers control for a range of confounders when assessing the impact of economic development on democratisation. Despite these limitations, most scholars agree that economic development is an important determinant of the speed at which a country democratises.
The explosive spread of democracy around the world since the mid-20th century has transformed the international political landscape. Many countries today are regarded as being advanced or established democracies, while others have a variety of procedural democratic institutions that do not necessarily lead to substantive democracy and can still be considered authoritarian regimes. Democracies are now the exception rather than the norm, and there is an increasing interest among academics, policy makers and activists in understanding what causes countries to become democracies or not. Democratisation is the process by which a country makes the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic political system. It is usually marked by the emergence of civil liberties such as free speech, expression and the right to vote, and the introduction of other features that make it more likely that elections will be held and that citizens’ voices will be heard. The onset of democratisation usually coincides with economic development in the country, which can lead to a number of changes that move society in a democratic direction, for example by decreasing the economic benefits to the ruling elite from keeping a state secretive. Democratisation is also often accompanied by efforts to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. This can have both positive and negative effects on a country’s democratisation process. For example, the democratisation impetus for redistribution in the first decade of democracy in Poland led to hyperinflation, which destroyed the redistributive impulse and concentrated income in the hands of the wealthy. As a result, it became difficult for the government to pursue its other goals of democratisation. The wave of democratisation that swept the world in the 1970s forced a major revision of the view that only certain countries are able to achieve democracy. This led to the growth of a new field in political science, called “democratic theory,” which focuses on the identification, verification and connection of causal mechanisms for democratisation. Although much work has been done on the subject, there is no consensus about what causes a society to democratize. The most common explanation is that a wave of external pressures, such as military occupation or the threat of external aggression, creates the conditions for domestic reforms and democratisation. Other explanations include the role of economic development, increased education levels and social capital. Some studies have shown that democratisation is correlated with economic development and more likely in countries where the population has higher education levels. However, the results are mixed and most research on this topic needs to be replicated in different studies. In addition, the influence of economic development on democratisation depends on a number of other factors and can be distorted by other effects such as cultural characteristics and religious beliefs. For this reason, it is important that researchers control for a range of confounders when assessing the impact of economic development on democratisation. Despite these limitations, most scholars agree that economic development is an important determinant of the speed at which a country democratises.