Understanding Democratic Transitions

1. Understanding Democratic Transitions

2. Outline • 1- Understanding democratic transitions • 2- Typology of transitions • 3- Prerequisites and conditions

3. Democratic Transitions • 1- Conceptual issues • 2- Explaining ‘transition’ • 3- Problems of ‘transition’

4. 1- Conceptual Issues • ‘Transition’  transition from authoritarian rule • ‘regime’  formal & informal structure of governmental roles & processes

5.  distinguish b/w regime & Govt = 3 Q • 1- methods of inauguration? • 2- formal & informal representative mechanisms? • 3- patterns of coercion?

6. ‘Authoritarian’  a system with significant procedural proscriptions on political contestation or inclusiveness • ‘Democracy’  “an essentially contested concept” • Robert Dhal  ‘polyarchy’

8. ‘Liberalisation’  • easing of repression + • restoration of civil liberties  part of a process •  liberalisation precedes ‘democratisation’

9. ‘Democratisation’  creation of institutions & procedures that allow for all 3 aspects of Dahl’s polyarchy • Huntington (The Third Wave) : • Democratisation  alternation of power

10. 2- Explaining ‘Transition’ • Complex term = variety of meanings: • 1- erosion of authoritarianism • 2- conditions for democratic transitions • 3- process of democratic regime change • 4- consolidation of new democracies • 5-consolidation of ‘established’ democracies

11. Concern  two decades of inquiry • Two issues = • 1- difficulties of dealing with democratic rule • 2- the nature & causes of its breakdown •  context of inquiry

12. I. Mid-1960s-early 1970s: breakdown of democratic rule in developing nations (e.g. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay) • Scholarly attention  international constraints obstructing democracy (e.g. dependency) = internal & external forms of political economic domination

13. II. Early to late 1970s: • renewed interest in democratisation (e.g. Portugal, Spain, Greece)

14. III. Late 1980s-early 1990s: • a) democratising trends in long-authoritarian regimes (El Salvador, S/Korea, Guatemala; • b) breakdown of communism (E. Europe)

15. 3- Problems of Transition • 1- defining chronological parameters of T • Three Questions: • Does it have its roots within the process of transformation of an authoritarian R? • Does it begin after the fall of such R? • How do you account for reverses?

16. 2- Difficulty of defining its end point: • Two Questions: • When democratic procedures, rights and rules of the game have been clearly defined and accepted by elites and citizens? • Is it complete with the first alternation of power?

17. Typology of Transitions

19. Prerequisites & Conditions • Diverse explanations • Example: Lipset Hypothesis • “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development & Political Legitimacy”, American Political Science Review 53 (1959), pp. 69-105.

20. Dhal agrees  economic development expands the range of people with capacities to get involved politically: • “A modern dynamic pluralist society disperses power, influence, authority and control away from any single centre toward a variety of individuals, groups, associations and organisations”

21. R. Dhal, Democracy and its Critics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), p. 252.

22. Lipset  High level of economic development is a precondition for building and maintaining democracy • Inquiry focus = pinpoint causes • International system, class structure, economic performance, political institutions

23. New Writings on democracy  pay attention to the warning of Dankwart Rustow  • Draws attention to correlation not cause • Stresses that there is no single road to democracy + history, context • “Transitions to Democracy,” Comparative Politics 2 (1970)

24. Tutorial • 1- Divide in two or three groups • 2- List what you consider to be essential prerequisites for democratic transition • 3- Think about culture & external variables • 4- Apply these requisites to the Middle East in your next tutorial