Education and Democracy

1. Education and Democracy Lauren Acker la0890a@american.edu American University School of International Service

2. Research Question & Research hypothesis • Research Question: • Is there a positive correlation between education and Democracy? What other factors determine a country’s level of Democracy? • Research Hypothesis: • A high level of education determines a high level of Democracy.

3. Background Research and Literature Reviews • Education Investment and Democratic Development: A theoretical and empirical overview - Mikael Drackner and Gita Subrahmanyam (2010) • Theory: A commitment to democratic ideals appears to increases with progressively higher levels of education, and higher education may result in top-down pressures for democracy. • Findings: Sidapartner countries with increases of more than 20% points in net primary enrolment rates show progress or strong progress in democratic development. • From Education to Democracy- DaronAcemoglu, Simon Johnson, James Robinson, and Pierre Yared(2005) • Theory: Education is argued to promote democracy both because it enables a "culture of democracy" to develop, and because it leads to greater prosperity, which is also thought to cause political development. • Findings : High levels of education are a prerequisite to Democracy. • Theoretical and/or empirical gap/s in the existing literature • Empirical gap: Association is more difficult to prove within individual countries

4. Data • Time-series analysis of 160 countries (1995-2007) • Data Source: Pippa Norris Democracy Cross-sectional Time-series Data January 2009 • Dependent Variable • Freedom House Democracy Rating • 7 point rating system (7= most Democratic) • Independent Variables • Log GDP per capita: measured in US dollars • Empowerment Rights: 10 point rating system (10=most free) • Predominantly Muslim: 0=Muslim 1=Not Muslim • Political Party (Rural/Urban): 0=Urban 1=Rural • Literacy: % of literate adults 15 and older

5. The increasing mean of Democracy Rating demonstrates the continuous development of Democracy since 1995.

6. Descriptive Statistics The central tendency is to have a high literacy rate, high empowerment rights, and a high Log GDP per capita. This indicates that these variables are positively correlated with Democracy Rating. There is a low tendency to be predominantly Muslim and a rural society.

7. Bivariate analysisDependent Variable: Freedom House Democracy Rating

8. Regression Analysis Increasing the literacy rate by 1% increases the Democracy rating by .03%. Increasing the Log GDP per capita by 1% causes a .64-1.2% increase in Democracy rating. If the observed country is predominantly Muslim, the Democracy rating can drop from .67-1.97% Literacy Rate and Empowerment Rights are correlated. Model 3 is the best model because it shows the significance of Literacy Rate without the significance of Empowerment Rights.

9. Findings & Policy Implications • Findings • Education is positively correlated with Democracy rating. • Economic improvement is also positively correlated with Democracy rating. • Predominantly Muslim countries tend to have lower Democracy ratings. • Muslim countries have an average of 2.64 Democracy rating, as opposed to non-Muslim countries with an average of 4.88. • Policy Implications • Foreign aid focused on education and economic development increases the development of Empowerment Rights and Democracy.