POLI 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Modernization Theory
17 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Regime change and Democratization
Democratization:
• Until recently, most countries were not democratic
• Democracies were a minority
• Road has been bumpy, and countries that were democratic have often backslided and
become authoritarian
o Destabilization by superpowers
Third Wave of Democracy
• Huntington
• Began with fall of regime in Portugal
• This followed by fall of Franco
• After this, countries throughout the world turned democratic
• As the cold war waned, there was more democracy
o Resolutions to long simmering conflicts
Regime Change
• As compared to revolution, it does not happen overnight
• Transition often takes a while
• When it is all over and the negotiations have reached their conclusion, even then must
of the old regime remains entrenched
• Much of the old regime usually remains in place
• Pushing the security forces like the army, they can turn around
Defining democracy
• Democracy is a system in which parties lose election
• The fallacy of electoralism
• Transparent behaviour
• Deoray is oly as strog as people’s elief i it
• Elections are necessary but not sufficient
Democratic transitions
• The replacement of authoritarian rules and structures with democratic rules and
structures
• Consensus and national unity
• Small groups of leaders
• Not the same as democratic consolidation
o This is democracy vulnerable to backsliding, once the initial mechanisms of
democracy are in place there is another process of strengthening
The evolution of democratization theory
• 95’s - Modernization theory
• 99’s – present Democratic transitions literature
o Democracy needs to come before modernization
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Document Summary
Democratization: until recently, most countries were not democratic, democracies were a minority, road has been bumpy, and countries that were democratic have often backslided and become authoritarian, destabilization by superpowers. Defining democracy: democracy is a system in which parties lose election, the fallacy of electoralism, transparent behaviour, de(cid:373)o(cid:272)ra(cid:272)y is o(cid:374)ly as stro(cid:374)g as people"s (cid:271)elief i(cid:374) it, elections are necessary but not sufficient. The evolution of democratization theory: (cid:1005)95(cid:1004)"s - modernization theory, (cid:1005)99(cid:1004)"s present democratic transitions literature, democracy needs to come before modernization. Regime change and democratization: should come first. Including them as democracies would diminish what it really means for a country to be a true democracy. Key role of military: hard-liners and soft-liners, leaders give political freedoms in exchange for no violence, military can potentially be a threat, most likely to undermine the process of consolidation, military as gatekeepers.
