“Democracy is the worst form of government
except for all the others.”
Winston Churchill
“When the people fear the government there is
tyranny. When the government fears the
people there is liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson
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Evolution of Democracy (Review)
6 features of Industrialized
Democracies
Quantitative Measures of
Industrialized Democracies
Post-materialism
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Democracy which means ‘rule by the people’
can be traced back to ancient Greece (over
3000 years ago)
Democracy in the modern state emerges in
the Seventeenth century in England
The liberal democracies we have today have
taken over 300 years to evolve, through the
industrial revolution, revolutions, civil wars,
and world wars
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Political freedoms
The rule of law
Transparency
Competitive, fair, and free elections
Strong civil society
Capitalist, wealthy
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Basic freedoms such as freedom of the press,
religion, association, and speech are normally
guaranteed in a state’s constitution such as in
the United States, France, and Germany
The U.K. which has a long political culture of
democracy is the one exception of a state
without a written guarantee of freedoms in a
constitution
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Both elites (those in government) and the
public accept the laws of the state
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No one is above the law and this establishes
rational-legal legitimacy in the regime
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Many democracies such as the United States
and Canada have judicial review, which
means that the courts have the power to
overturn laws if they violate the constitution.
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Democracies have high levels of transparency
meaning that they are accountable to citizens
through elections, the courts, petitions,
protests etc.
Higher transparency generally means lower
corruption
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No democracy can call itself one unless all its
adult citizens have the right and access to
vote for leaders of the government
Competitive means that citizens have more
than one option regarding the choice of
political parties
There are few if any restrictions on who can
run for office, and which parties can compete
It’s a competition of ideas- with the people
deciding
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Democracies have vibrant civil societies, that
is political and social organizations outside
the government
This includes joining environmental
organizations such as Greenpeace, Chambers
of Commerce, and organizing petitions,
protests, and demonstrations
Greenpeace demonstration
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Interests groups are formed by citizens to
influence the public policies of the government–
this is called interest articulation
Interest groups include: religious organizations,
industry, labor, women’s groups etc.
Interest groups in Industrialized democracies are
generally pluralist which means multiple groups
compete to influence gov’t policy
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Industrialized Democracies tend to have
higher GDP per capita, living standards, and
economic growth
Most industrialized democracies have a
market economy which allows for private
ownership, and encourages investment
Economic decisions are generally made on a
supply and demand basis (free market)
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GDP per capita comparison table (2011)- Source: www.ciafactbook.gov
State
GDP per capita $ (PPP)
United States
46,000
United Kingdom
35, 100
Russia
14, 700
Mexico
12, 800
Iran
10, 600
China
5, 300
Human Development Index (HDI): a measure of a
country’s standard of living, including factors such as
health and education.
United States
.939
United Kingdom
.936
Mexico
.802
Russia
.795
China
.745
Iran
.732
Nigeria
.466
source: www. cia-factbook.gov
Gini index: a mathematical formula that measure the amount of
economic inequality in a society; its scale ranges from 0 to 100,
where 0 corresponds to perfect equality and 100 to perfect
inequality.
(welfare state)-
United Kingdom
United States
Iran
China
Russia
Mexico
Nigeria
Source: www. cia-factbook.gov
.360
.408
.430
.447
.456
.546
.506
In industrialized democracies most citizens are educated and work
in the tertiary sector (services): education, banking, business, law,
research, etc.
In developing states, the majority of citizens are employed in the
primary sector, mostly agriculture (see Nepal below)
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Industrialized democracies have recently evolved
into post-materialist societies which means that
citizens are increasingly more concerned with
non-material wealth and happiness such as a
clean environment, more public parks, good
public schools etc. (called public goods)
In contrast, societies which are in the midst of
industrializing such as Russia, Mexico, and China
are materialist societies, are said to be concerned
primarily with economic growth and
consumerism: buying cars, homes etc.
After a certain point, money
may not buy “happiness”
World “Happiness” Rankings Do you see any
correlations?
Happiness and
Democracy
Post-material values