Module 4: What is democracy and what drives democratization?

• Democracy


  Rule by the people (demos = people, kratos = power/rule)
• Democracy


  • One of the two main ways of organizing power in the state, along with authoritarian rule
  • Both practical - a form of government where collective decisions are reached via peaceful means - and an ideal
• Democracy (according to Philippe Schmitter)


  A two-way process characterized by:

  Citizens with equal political rights and obligations have at their disposal regular and reliable means to access information, demand justification, and apply sanctions on their rulers

  In exchange, citizens accord these rulers legitimacy and agree to respect their decisions, even when disagreeing with them
• Models of Democracy

  • Classical Democracy
  • Protective Democracy
  • Developmental Democracy
  • People's Democracy
• Classical Democracy


  • Direct democracy practiced in Athens during the 4th and 5th centuries BCE
  • Characterized as a pure system of popular (or mass) participation - from participation in Assembly meetings to holding public office
• Protective Democracy


  • Seeks to protect the citizens from the government's encroachment of their liberty and rights
  • Dubbed as "government by consent"
  • Ensures a proper check on government's power and the due protection of the citizens' natural rights and right to property through a duly elected legislative and tax-setting body - the notion of a representative assembly
• Developmental Democracy


  • Focuses on the development of the individual AND the community
  • Has two forms: 'grass-roots democracy' (similar to the Athenian participatory democracy) and 'deliberative democracy' or 'parliamentary democracy' (operates through an elected deliberative assembly mediating between the government and the people)
• People's Democracy


  • Forwarded as the genuine form of democracy by communist orthodox regimes
  • Emphasizes not only political but also economic and social equality through the common ownership of wealth
• Democratization


  • A state's transition from authoritarian rule to democratic rule
  • The process by which societies develop into democracies, or the process by which the rule of law, elections and leadership accountability is established, and where civil society develops
• Democratization


  1. Breakdown of the old regime

  2. Democratic transition

  3. Democratic consolidation
• Democratization can be studied through the structuralist and agential approaches
• One of the most influential approaches on the study of democratization under the structuralist approach is the waves of democratization theory proposed by Samuel Huntington (1991)
• The agency-centered theories on democratization argue that regime transitions are shaped by the willful strategic choices of principal political agents and not by some institutionalized structures which are themselves the product of human actions
• Polyarchy: literally, ‘rule by many, a modern representative democracy.
• Authoritarianism is a belief in, or practice of, government ‘from above’, in which authority is exercised regardless of popular consent.
• Theocracy (literally ‘rule by God’) is the principle that religious authority should prevail over political authority.
• A dictatorship is, strictly, a form of rule in which absolute power is vested in one individual; in this sense, it is synonymous with autocracy.
• Democratic transition witnesses the construction of new liberal-democratic structures and processes; represents a shift towards governance based on democratic values and principles.
• ‘Democratic consolidation’ sees these new structures and processes becoming so embedded in the minds of elites and the masses that democracy becomes ‘the only game in town’; signifies the solidification of democracy as the dominant political system, where alternatives to democratic governance are no longer seriously considered.
• Democracy thus means ‘rule by the demos’ or rule of the people.
• While the core idea of democracy is self-rule, the concept of democracy has evolved over time
• Democracy is both practical – a form of government where collective

  decisions are reached via peaceful means – and an ideal.
• Democracy is one of the foundations of political analysis for it is one of the two main ways of organizing power in the state, along with authoritarian rule.
• For Philippe Schmitter (2015), democracy is a two-way process.
• Democratization is a state’s transition from authoritarian rule to democratic rule (Huntington, 1991). It is theprocess by which societies develop into democracies, or the process by which the rule of law, elections and leadership accountability is established, and where civil society develops.
• Structuralist approach is the waves of democratization theory proposed by Samuel Huntington (1991), who argued that democracies in the world emerge in a distinct series of waves.
• The agency-centered theories on democratization argue that regime

  transitions are shaped by the willful strategic choices of principal political agents and not by some institutionalized structures which are themselves the product of human actions.
• Military Junta: A form of collective military government centered on a council of officers represented by the three armed services: army, navy, and air force.
• Military-backed Personalized Dictatorship: Occurs when a military officer gains pre-eminence within the junta bolstered by a cult of personality.
• Military-backed Regime: The military does not hold any position in the government but its loyalty is crucial in maintaining the legitimacy and the power of the regime.
• Military regimes are broadly characterized as authoritarian rule

  wherein the leading posts of the government are filled on the basis

  of the person’s position within the military chain of command; individuals in top government positions are appointed based on their rank within the military hierarchy.
• Separation of powers: principle depicting the executive,

  legislature, and judiciary as three equally independent branches

  of government. The rationale for the separation of powers is to

  prevent the concentration of power under one top government

  office which is prone to becoming a dictatorship.
• Checks and balances: principle that allows each of the three

  branches to either amend or reject specific decisions or actions of

  another branch in specific circumstances in order to prevent a

  certain branch from overextending its power; mechanisms to challenge and counterbalance each other's authority.
• Aristotle’s goal: Find the ‘ideal’ type of political system from his

  observation and analysis of 158 Greek city-states at the time.
• An ideal type is like a simplified model or concept created in our minds to understand complex realities better. It's not a perfect representation of reality, but it helps us grasp the essence of something by focusing on its most important characteristics in an extreme or exaggerated way.
• The regime establishes the so-called “rules of the game”.
• Regime is a system of political rule that encompasses not only the mechanisms of the government and the institutions of the state, but also the structures and processes through which these interact with the larger society.
• Governance generally refers to “the various ways through which social life is coordinated; it's like the behind-the-scenes coordination that keeps everything running smoothly.
• Legitimacy is the perception among citizens that the government has the right to rule; about whether people see the government's authority as rightful and acceptable.
• The state is a political entity that holds power over a specific territory and its people. It governs through permanent institutions and has sovereignty within its defined borders.