Democracy and Regimes
Definitions, Transitions and
Consolidations
Regime Types
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Democratic
Authoritarian
Totalitarian
Post-Totalitarian
Sultanic
Democratic
• A system or regime type in which the
ultimate political authority is vested with
the citizenry
• Examples: USA, Canada, Sri Lanka
Distribution
Distribution amongst these
Number of States (over time)
World Population (over time)
Authoritarian
• Ruled by an elite group that uses repressive
means to stay in power.
• The state will generally ignore the actions
of an individual unless it is perceived to be
a direct challenge to the state.
• Examples: Myanmar, Cuba, Egypt
Juntas
Totalitarian
• The state regulates nearly every aspect
of public and private behavior.
• Examples: USSR (esp. under Josef
Stalin), Nazi Germany, Romania under
Nicolae Ceauşescu
Post-Totalitarian
• After the fall of Totalitarianism, government
with absent or weak institutions and lacking
secondary associations
• Examples: Russia, Ukraine and Romania in
the 1990s
Sultanic
• All individuals, groups and institutions are
permanently subject to the unpredictable
and despotic intervention of the sultan, and
thus all pluralism is precarious
• Examples: Saudi Arabia, Iraq under Saddam
Hussein, Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko
Dimensions of Regimes
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Pluralism
Mobilization
Charismatic Leadership
Pervasive Ideology
Regime-Type Distribution
Polyarchy
• Robert Dahl’s ideal of democracy
• A system where the government is
completely responsive to citizens and
citizens are political equals.
Two basic requirements for a
functional democracy
• Participation
• Contestation
• Polyarchy, Competitive Oligarchy, Closed
Hegemony, Inclusive Hegemony
Contestation with Narrow
Franchise
• Whig Britain, esp. prior to 1832
• USA, prior to 1828
• Ancient Greece
Expansion of Franchise: UK
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1258: Barons
1341: Aristocrats are represented
1832: from 10% to 20% of 21+ males
1867: 40% of 21+ males
1884: 60% of 21+ males
1918: 100% of 21+ males / 80% of 21+ females
1928: 100% of 21+ males / 100% of 21+ females
1948: ended extra vote
1969: voting age reduced to 18
Expansion of Franchise: USA
• 1788: first election (under Constitution of
1787)
• 1810: 10 % of males
• 1828: 16% of males
• 1870: former slaves/free blacks can vote
• 1920: women can vote at 21
• 1924: Native Americans can vote
• 1971: age requirement reduced to 18
Female Suffrage
Participatory Non-Democracies
• P.R. China
• Saddam Hussein Iraq
• USSR
What to do with new classes?
• Let the strongest emerge
• Pluralism
• Corporativism
American Pluralism
Mexican Corporativism
Democratization
Modernization Theory
Civil Society
• What
• View of autocrats
Marxian Class-Conflict
Social change was often the Industrial Revolution and
specifically the Peasant Question. Relevant players:
Crown, Aristos, Bourg., Proletariat, Peasants.
Moore: Democratic development
as a struggle to:
• Check arbitrary rulers
• Replace arbitrary rules with rational ones
• Obtain a role in rule making
Moore: Conditions for
democratic development
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The Right Balance
The Right Agriculture
The Right Coalition
Revolutionary break with the past
UK advantages
• Strong and independent parliament
• No serious peasant problem
• Commercial and industrial interests assert
themselves
• Growing industrial capitalism
Summary of Moore
System
Bourgeois
strength
Type of
agriculture
Peasant
revolutionary
capability
Examples
Democratic
(Version 1)
Strong
Market
Low
UK, US
Democratic
(Version 2)
Strong
Labor Repressive High
France
Fascist
Medium
Labor Repressive Low
Germany, Japan
Communist
Weak
Labor Repressive High
Russia, China
Samuel Huntington’s Three
Waves of Democratization
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First, long wave – 1828-1926
First reverse wave – 1922-1942
Second, short wave – 1943-1962
Second reverse wave – 1958-1975
Third Wave – 1974-
Which countries (Huntington)
Explanations for democratization
• High overall level of economic wealth
• Relatively equal distribution of income
and/or wealth
• A market economy
• Economic development and social
modernization
• A feudal aristocracy at some point in history
• The absence of feudalism in society
Explanations for democratization
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A strong bourgeoisie (capitalist class)
A strong middle class
High levels of literacy and education
Protestantism
Social pluralism
Development of political contestation
prior to expansion of franchise
Explanations for democratization
• Democratic authority structures within
social groups
• Low levels of civil violence
• Low levels of political polarization and
extremism
• Political leaders committed to democracy
• Experience as a British colony
• Traditions of toleration and compromise
Explanations for democratization
• Occupation by a pro-democratic
foreign power
• Influence by a pro-democratic foreign
power
• Elite desire to emulate democratic
states
Explanations for democratization
• Traditions of respect for rule of law
and individual rights
• Communal homogeneity or communal
heterogeneity
• Consensus on political and social
values or absence thereof
Factors of the Reverse Waves
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Weak democratic values
Economic crisis
Polarization
Breakdown of law & order by
insurgency/terrorism
• Intervention/conquest by non-democratic
foreign government
• Demonstration effect
Responsiveness vs. Stability
Factors of the Third Wave
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Deepening legitimacy problems
Global economic growth
Liberation Theology
Policies of external actors
Snowballing (demonstration) effect
Structure and Agency
• Structural factors
• Agency
Consolidation
• Structural conditions may bring democracy
• Elite settlement is often necessary to
consolidate it
Regime-Type Instability:
Argentina
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1958 – Democratic
1962 – Military (Authoritarian)
1963 – Democratic
1966 - Military (Authoritarian)
1973 – Democratic
Regime-Type Instability:
Argentina
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1976 - Military (Authoritarian)
1983 – Democratic
1989 – Peronist (Authoritarian)
1995 – Peronist (Consociational
Democratic)
• 1999 – Peronist (Competitive
Democratic)