AP Comp Day 10 – How and WHAT will we compare?
Goal – to understand democracy is a concept with many meanings and
complex factors that both advance and inhibit its effective operation.
1. Questions from homework?
2. Important terms related to Democracy and legitimacy
3. Democracy according to Kesselman:
a)
b)
Discuss with group answer to homework question – Add to your answer
Identify the 5 democratic conditions necessary for a political system to be typed
as democratic
4. Current Events discussion
5. Democracy according to Powell AR #13
a)
b)
c)
d)
Identify and explain the broad principles of democracy
Identify the 5 conditions for a system to earn a democratic classification
Identify the preconditions for democratic consolidation
Do you agree that these are the main principles and conditions? What should
be added or removed to make our understanding of democracy more complete
and accurate?
6. How does the Briefing paper compare to Kesselman?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Identify and explain the broad process of democratization
Identify the types of democracy.
Identify the preconditions for a system to earn a democratic classification
Identify the factors for democratic consolidation
Emergency Lifted in Bangkok
Thai Government Cites Effect on Tourism
By Jocelyn Gecker AP Monday, September 15, 2008; A15
BANGKOK, Sept. 15 -- The Thai government on Sunday ended a state of
emergency imposed in the capital to control a violent political crisis, saying it
had served only to scare away tourists crucial to the country's economy.
Acting Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat urged all sides in the deepening
political standoff to compromise and help restore the country's image.
The spirit of compromise will be tested this week as the parliament seeks -- for
a second time -- to elect a prime minister acceptable to all sides.
Samak Sundaravej, who took over as prime minister after elections in
December, was forced to resign Sept. 9 when the Constitutional Court ruled that
he had violated conflict-of-interest laws by accepting money to host TV
cooking shows while in office. The ruling was an unrelated twist to the political
crisis.
Protesters accused Samak of being a stooge of former prime minister Thaksin,
who recently fled to Britain to escape corruption charges. Thaksin was ousted
in a 2006 military coup after street demonstrations by the same group
Articulation
•
Articulation – interest groups types are based on:
1.
their goals and organization
A. institutional groups – groups whose main purpose is something
other than interest articulation like a bureaucracy in government, the
Church, the bridge club, etc. but nonetheless operates at times to
advance in the political system the interests of its members
B. Associational groups – a formal, well-organized, hierarchical
(generally) organization whose primary purpose is articulation of its
members’ interests
C. Non-associational groups – like associational in purpose, but not
well-organized and without formality or “membership”
D. Anomic groups - spontaneous, unorganized groups who form
generally from emotional stimuli like frustration or relative deprivation.
Behaviors and methods of interest articulation are often violent
2. Their number, efficacy and connection to the state
A. Corporatist – entire sectors of interest are represented by a single
organization (body) speaking with a single voice
B. Pluralist – each interest sector is represented by numerous groups
each with its own voice
Aggregation
• Aggregation – political leadership, elites and
parties are dependent upon the structure of the
state
1. Authoritarian single-party exclusive and
inclusive
2. Authoritarian multi-party
3. competitive 2 party – Single-member district
first-past-the-post electoral system
4. Pluralist party systems – parliamentary
proportional electoral system
Rule of Law
• The concept that the power and discretion of government and
its officials ought to be restrained by a supreme set of neutral
rules that prevent arbitrary and unfair action by government.
Also called constitutionalism. - Magstadt
• the principle that legal rules rather than arbitrary or personal
decisions determine what happens – Hauss
• governments can take no action that has not been authorized
by law and that citizens can be punished only for actions violating
existing laws- A & P
Legitimacy
• A significant segment of the citizenry must believe
that the state acts with some moral authority. People
believe that the state has the right to issue rules
binding for people within their borders - Kesselman
• People believe that rules should be followed voluntarily
because they are in the best interests of all citizens. – Palmer
• People have the feeling that the regime’s rule is rightful and
should be obeyed.- Roskin
Some key legitimizing factors –
Transparency, free elections, compatibility of system with culture,
open and free press, economic success, improved living
standards, rule of law, access to quality public services, civil
rights, responsiveness to inputs, civil society, accountability,
political efficacy, absence of relative deprivation
Civic Culture
• Culture characterized by by trust, legitimacy, and limited
involvement, which some theorists believe is most conducive to
democracy - Hauss
• A political culture characterized by 1)most citizens’ acceptance
of the authority of the state but also 2) a general belief in civic
duties… participation is mixed with passivity, trust and a
deference to authority – Wynn
Civil Society
• The web of membership in social and political groups that some
analysts believe is needed to sustain democracy - Hauss
• an extensive network of interest groups and public participation
…social and political interactions free of state control or
regulation, such as community groups, voluntary assoc’s and even
religious groups – A+P
• space occupied by voluntary assoc’s outside the state like
professional assoc’s, trade unions, student and women’s
groups…similar to society although civil society implies a degree
of organization absent from the more inclusive term society Kesselman
Kesselman’s Democracy – required principles
1 – political accountability – state must be able to be
held accountable by the governed
2 – political competition – alternation of power must
be possible for different political parties and the losers
must accept the winner’s right to govern
3 – political freedom – citizens must have the rights to
participate and be informed – must have rule of law
and independent judiciary
4 – political equality – all citizens must be able to
participate in politics with their votes and voices
weighted equally
Kesselman’s Democracy –
conditions to earn label of democracy
1. Free and fair competitive elections with rules and
regularity
2. Freedom of assembly and party activity
3. Procedures w/o arbitrariness, due process,
transparency in policy-making and accountability
4. Civil liberties and rights w/ political equality
5. Independent judiciary with power over other
institutions of gov’t
Kesselman - Qualification of the Democracy definition
1. Democracy can be inequitable
2. No country is completely democratic
3. Contentiousness of issues often result valid and legitimate positions
that result in a winner and loser, where the loser believes that the
decision may be illegitimate
4. Economic inequalities stack the deck against the poor in the arena of
politics
5. Many different institutional types of democracies, not just
presidential
Kesselman - Preconditions for consolidation
Transitional Democracies
Authoritarian
Electoral authoritarian
Illiberal
procedural
Substantive D
For a system to be typed as having transitioned from
authoritarianism through the transitional democracy types to
being a consolidated democracy, the system must have:
1. met the five conditions of democracy
a) Free fair elections
b) Freedom of political assembly
c) Regime has accountability based on fixed, knowable, transparent
procedures
d) Civil and political rights
e) Independent judiciary
2. Been in existence for some kind of length of time
3. Democratic practices that have become deeply ingrained and
the five conditions have been met relatively consistently
Democratization Briefing Paper
Democratization is the process by which a nation-state
moves from non-democracy through procedural to
fully consolidated substantive democracy.
This has happened in three waves
1. 19th and early 20th C – US, UK, France (sorta), Canada,
et al
2. After WWII as empires crumbled and fascism failed
3. 70’s through 90’s as communism and the USSR failed
and the authoritarians throughout saw their fragile
economies and corrupt leadership styles become
illegitimated
Democratization Briefing Paper
Substantive Democracy – like Kesselman’s enduring
or consolidated democracy
Procedural democracy – has the basics like a newly
transitional democracy, but not consolidated yet
Illiberal democracy – has the appearance of
democracy, like a Potemkin Village, but the
underlying factors do not exist to much extent
Electoral authoritarianism – non-democracies who
pretend to be democratic
Democratization Briefing Paper
Preconditions of Democratization
• Level of economic development – while not necessary,
it is often an important catalyst in producing
modernization: an environment of education,
widespread information media, improved infrastructure
for information and transportation, leading to civil
society and better living standards. All of this helps to
lead to democratization.
• International and regional environment of democracy –
if the world, trading partners and neighbors want
democracy, it puts pressure on system to democratize
Democratization Briefing Paper
Substantive democracy – consolidation includes
1. Democratic competition accepted by all major actors
seeking political influence
2. Citizen participation
3. Rule of law
4. Society has accepted the values of competitive parties,
independent judiciaries, subordinated militaries, and
the rule of law
5. Continued modernization and improved standards of
living
S and K - Procedures Democracy in a nation-state:
1. Elected officials make policy within constitutional
limits w/o veto from informal or unelected sources or
from super-sovereign influences from abroad
2. competitive, fair, free, non-coercive & regular elections
3. practically full universal suffrage
4. Practically universal right to run for office
5. Free and noncoercive right to expression
6. Free, widely available & multiple information sources
7. Civil society
S and K’s factors of feasibility for Democracy in a
nation-state are:
1. Agreement that electoral winners get to rule, but
winners cannot freeze out opposition
2. Citizens must follow rules, currently agreed to or not,
so long as there is legitimacy based partially on belief
that free elections will occur later “contingent consent”
3. There does not have to be consensus, just rule of law
consistent with the political culture or set of political
norms
4. Must be opportunity for alternation of power and
policy