POLI 319 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Modernization Theory, Military Dictatorship, Authoritarianism
13 May 2018
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POLI319: Friday March 16th , 2018
The Thid Wae of Deoay
- Beginning in the late 1970s and ending in the mid 1990s
Terry Lynn Kari
- If you want to define democracy really broadly, then all a country really needs to do is hold
elections
- In many instances, initial election is not followed by broader democratic opening
- Problem of democracies with adjectives where to qualify countries not fully democratic
scholars writing about democracy in 80s and 90s talked about procedural democracy (those
countries following democratic procedures but not following through in any broader move
toward democracy)
- These are democracies with adjectives which started to be written about a lot of Latin
American democracies
- Whether you counted them as democracies, depended on how broadly or narrowly you were
willing to define democracy
Do wealth and democracy go hand in hand?
- Modernization theory connection: countries needed a certain degree of wealth and a
transformation of societal values to undergo democratic transition
Framing Economic Development in Political Terms
- Samuel Huntington: had to have economic progress first, could not have economic progress
and democratic socio progress at the same time
- Development should come before democratization (too much happening at once, may make
your country unstable)
s there a necessary trade-off between economic progress and socio-political progress?
- Ex: Chile coming out and having this military coup, imposing a set of rigorous privatization
policies inspired by Milton Freidman, essentially preparing the country for democracy, what
many people thought Chile was doing was a success, US admin supported Pinochet regime as
well as Thatcher and allot of that had to do with Chile as reliable ally during the Cold war
(capitalism)
- Chile under Pinochet fit the model; development first and country having achieved a level of
development and economic stability would develop a democracy so Pinochet was just
preparing Chile for democracy
- Pinochet got economy on track and then democracy followed (laid the groundwork for
democracy)
- Huntington was very influential and had a scholarly grip surrounding these issues
Challenges to these Assumptions
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Beginning in the late 1970s and ending in the mid 1990s. If you want to define democracy really broadly, then all a country really needs to do is hold elections. In many instances, initial election is not followed by broader democratic opening. These are democracies with adjectives which started to be written about a lot of latin. Whether you counted them as democracies, depended on how broadly or narrowly you were willing to define democracy. Modernization theory connection: countries needed a certain degree of wealth and a transformation of societal values to undergo democratic transition. Samuel huntington: had to have economic progress first, could not have economic progress and democratic socio progress at the same time. Chile under pinochet fit the model; development first and country having achieved a level of development and economic stability would develop a democracy so pinochet was just preparing chile for democracy.
