Industrialized Democracies
An overview
Political system
• Inputs
– types: support & demands
– channels: interest groups and parties
• Decision making
– institutions & leaders of the state
• Outputs
– public policy
Political system inputs
• interest articulation
– voting, participation in elections
– informal group, social movement
– personal interest contact
– protest activity
• interest groups
• channels of political access
Political system inputs
• interest aggregation
– political demands of individuals and groups
are combined into policy programs
• personal interest aggregation
– patron-client network
• central person or group
• provides benefits to supporters
• in exchange for their loyalty
Institutional interest aggregation
• associational groups
– e.g. aggregation of labor and business
interests
• institutional groups
– e.g. bureaucracy and military
• political parties are the primary structures
of interest aggregation
– competitive vs. authoritarian party systems
Competitive party system
• political parties can freely form
• primarily try to build electoral support
• citizen support is prerequisite for
controlling government
• the closeness of electoral victory or even
the number of political parties are not
essential
– e.g. the Indian or African National Congress
Competitive party system
• 3 stages of interest aggregation in a
competitive party system
• within individual parties
– candidates and policy proposals
• through electoral competition
• through bargaining and coalition building
in the legislature or executive
Electoral rules
• single-member district plurality rule
– “first past the post”
– e.g. Britain, U.S., and many other countries
once influenced by Britain
– the “Median Voter Theorem”
• proportional representation
– e.g. many countries in continental Europe
Duverger’s Law
• Plurality single-member district election
rules tend to create two-party systems in
the legislature
• Proportional representation electoral
systems generate multiple party systems
in the legislature
Three Types of Polities
• Industrialized democracies
– North America, European Union, Japan, and
Oceania
• Current and former communist regimes
– East Europe, East Asia, and Cuba
• The Third World
– Latin America, Asia, and Africa
Three Types of Polities
Democracy: conceptual issues
• Greek words: rule by the people
• Who are “the people”?
– Gender, race, and age
• How to rule?
– Direct versus representative democracy
• Almost every government claims to be a
democracy
Criteria of democracy
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Institutional arrangements?
Individual freedom?
Economic equality?
...
Necessary condition but
Not sufficient condition
Criteria of democracy
• Democracies guarantee basic individual
freedoms and rights
• Democracies rely on the rule of law
• Democratic governments are chosen
through regular, free, and fair elections
– different electoral systems
• single-member district & first-past-the-post system
• proportional representation system
Criteria of democracy
• Two uncertain and controversial criteria:
• civil society and civic culture
– legitimacy (the right to rule)
– distinction between administration and
democracy
• capitalism and affluence
• Historical development of democracy
Origins of the Democratic State
• In Europe (and North America) the way
democracy developed was largely a result
of the way countries handled four great
transformations over the last 500 years:
– The creation of the nation and state itself
– The role of religion in society and government
– The development of pressures for democracy
– The industrial revolution
Waves of Democratization
• ``A group of transitions from
nondemocratic to democratic
regimes that occur within a
specified period of time and
that significantly outnumber
transitions in the opposite
direction during that period”
The First Two Waves
• A long and slow wave from 1828 to 1926
• A reverse wave of democratic breakdown
from 1922 to 1942
• A wave of democratization after World War
II from 1943 to 1964
• A reverse wave of democratic breakdown
from 1961 to 1975
The Third Wave
• Started in Portugal and Spain in mid1970s
• Spread to South America from late 1970s
to early 1980s
• Reached Asia in late 1980s
• Surge of transitions in East Europe at end
of 1980s
• South Africa 1990
The Third Wave
Political parties in democracies
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Traditional left-right political spectrum
left end: communist parties
left: social democratic parties
right: Christian democratic parties
right: conservative parties