Comparative political economics Paolo Graziano

Brief introduction Politics: power struggle for the distribution of resources Policies: specific instruments of regulation and resource distribution from the political to the economic and civil society Political regimes: systems where politics and policies take place, and specific power relations are established

Political regimes: typological criteria Pluralism: presence of several political actors in competition for power Ideology: cognitive and normative framework of the political regime Mobilization: mode of political participation Leadership: modes of selection of governmental bodies

Authoritarian regimes I Pluralism: political system with limited, not responsible political pluralism. Often quite extensive social and economic pluralism. Ideology: political system without elaborate and guiding ideology but with distinctive mentalities.

Authoritarian regimes II Mobilization: political system without extensive or intensive political mobilization except at some points in their development Leadership: political system in which a leader or occasionally a small group exercises power without formally ill-defined but actually quite predictable norms Example: Spain between the ‘50s and the ‘70s

Totalitarian regimes I Pluralism: no significant economic, social, or political pluralism. Office party has de jure and de facto monopoly of power Ideology: elaborate and guiding ideology that articulates a reachable utopia. Commitment to some holistic conception of humanity and society.

Totalitarian regimes II Mobilization: extensive mobilization into a vast array of regime-created obligatory organizations. Private life is decried. Leadership: totalitarian leadership rules with undefined limits and great unpredictability for members and nonmembers. Often charismatic. Example: USSR before 1953

Post-totalitarian regimes I Pluralism: limited, but not responsible social, economic and institutional pluralism. Almost no political pluralism because party still has monopoly of power. Ideology: guiding ideology still officially exists and is part of the social reality. But weakened commitment to or faith in utopia.

Post-totalitarian regimes II Mobilization: progressive loss of interest by leaders and nonleaders involved in organizing mobilization. Routine mobilization of population within state-sponsored organizations. Leadership: growing emphasis by post-totalitarian political elite on personal security. Checks on top leadership via party structures, procedure, internal democracy. Example: Hungary, 1982-1988

Sultanistic regimes I Pluralism: economic and social pluralism exists but is subject to unpredictable and despotic intervention. Ideology: highly arbitrary manipulation of symbols. Extreme glorification of ruler. No elaborate or guiding ideology or even distinctive mentalities outside of despotic personalism.

Sultanistic regimes II Mobilization: low but occasional manipulative mobilization of a ceremonial type by coercive or clientelistic methods without permament organization. Leadership: highly personalistic and arbitrary. No rational-legal constraints. Strong dynastic tendency. No autonomy in state careers. Example: Romania under Ceausescu

Democratic regimes I Pluralism: responsible political pluralism reinforced by extensive areas of pluralist autonomy in economy, society, and internal life of organizations. Ideology: extensive intellectual commitment to citizenship rights and procedural rules of contestation.

Democratic regimes II Mobilization: participation via autonomously generated organization of civil society and competing parties of political society guaranteed by a system of law. Leadership: top leadership produced by free elections and must be exercised within constitutional limits and state of law. Periodical free elections. Example: several existing political regimes

Democracy: preliminary remarks Democracy is a form of governance of a state Democratic consolidation (democratization) entails liberalization but is a wider and more specifically political concept. - Ex. Gorbachev in USSR during the ‘80s Democratic transition vs. democratic consolidation

Transition and democratic consolidation Democratic transition is complete (consolidation) when: agreement about policial procedures to produce an elected government is reached government in power is a direct result of a free and popular vote government has de facto the authority to generate new policies division of powers (executive, legislative, judiciary)

Democracy and its arenas civil society political society economic society rule of law state apparatus

Civil society arena of the polity where self-organizing groups, movements (women’s groups, associations, etc.) and individuals, relatively autonomous from the state, are free to … ...articulate values, create solidarities and associations and advance their interests. collective and private groups (individuals)

Political society arena in which the polity specifically arranges itself to contest the legitimate right to exercise control over public power and the state apparatus parties, elections, electoral rules, political leadership, interparty alliances, and legislatures are the instruments by which society selects and monitors democratic government

Economic society arena where a set of socio-politically crafted and socio-politically accepted norms, institutions, and regulations are present no democracy in a command economy no democracy in a pure market economy

Rule of law need for strong consensus over the constitution and a commitment fo ‘self-binding’ procedures of governance that require exceptional majorities to change clear hierarchy of laws, interpreted by an independent judicial system and supported by a strong legal culture in civil society all actors must respect and uphold the rule of law

State apparatus (bureaucracy) since citizens have rights that have to be guaranteed and protected… …the democratic government needs to be able to exercise effectively its claim to the monopoly of the legitimate use of force in the territory through… … a functioning state bureaucracy considered usable (by democratic governments)

Patterns of democracy I Who decides? - majority - “as many people as possible” Majority: majoritarian model of democracy “As many people as possible”: consensus model of democracy

Analytical dimensions Executive-parties: arrangement of executive power, party and electoral systems, interests groups Federal-unitary: territorial organisation of the state

Executive-parties concentration vs. power-sharing executive predominance vs. executive-legislative balance of power two-party vs. multiparty systems majoritarian and disproportional electoral systems vs. proportional representation pluralist vs. ‘corporatist’ interest group systems

Federal vs. unitary state organisation unitary and centralized vs. federal and decentralized government concentration of legislative power in a unicameral legislature vs. division between two equally strong houses flexible vs. rigid constitutions reduced vs. extensive role of constitutional courts dependent vs. independent central banks