1. AP Comp Day 8 – How and WHAT will we compare?
Goal – to apply the ST and S-F (and other approaches) to real-world analysis. To understand the factors to be compared and the data used in empirical study. Understand democracy
Democracy according to Kesselman:
Identify the 5 democratic conditions (minimum political features)necessary for a political system to be typed as democratic – How are these qualified?
Democracy according to Powell AR #13
Identify and explain the preconditions for democratic consolidation
Do you agree that these are the main characteristics and preconditions? What should be added or removed to make our understanding of democracy more complete and accurate?
How does the Briefing paper compare to Kesselman?
Complete sections 1 and 2 on AR 14 Anticipation Reading Guide – What Democracy is an is not (in the purple section)
Read AR 15 and complete Sections 3 and 4 on AR 14.
How does S+K’s presentation of Democratization relate to Kesselman and Powell?

2. Civic Culture
Culture characterized by by trust, legitimacy, and limited involvement, which some theorists believe is most conducive to democracy - Hauss
A political culture characterized by 1)most citizens’ acceptance of the authority of the state but also 2) a general belief in civic duties… participation is mixed with passivity, trust and a deference to authority – Wynn

3. Civil Society
The web of membership in social and political groups that some analysts believe is needed to sustain democracy - Hauss
an extensive network of interest groups and public participation …social and political interactions free of state control or regulation, such as community groups, voluntary associations and even religious groups – A+P
space occupied by voluntary associations outside the state like professional associations, trade unions, student and women’s groups…similar to society although civil society implies a degree of organization absent from the more inclusive term society - Kesselman

4. Kesselman’s Democracy – minimum political features
Free and fair competitive elections with rules and regularity
Freedom of assembly and party activity
Procedures w/o arbitrariness, due process, transparency in policy-making and accountability
Civil liberties and rights w/ political equality
Independent judiciary with power over other institutions of gov’t

5. Kesselman’s Democracy
1 – political accountability – state must be able to be held accountable by the governed
2 – political competition – alternation of power must be possible for different political parties and the losers must accept the winner’s right to govern
3 – political freedom – citizens must have the rights to participate and be informed – must have rule of law and independent judiciary
4 – political equality – all citizens must be able to participate in politics with their votes and voices weighted equally

6. Kesselman - Qualification of the Democracy definition
Democracy is not necessarily wise or rational – democracy is empirical – it defines a type of system. Do not imply normative positive values
Democracy can be inequitable
No country is completely democratic
Contentiousness of issues often result in legitimate and valid positions that result competing democratic “rights” whereby there is a winner and loser, where the loser believes that the decision may be illegitimate
Economic inequalities stack the deck against the poor in the arena of politics
Many different institutional types of democracies, not just presidential – each may appear more or less “democratic” but in reality are just different manifestations.
Kesselman - Qualification of the Democracy definition

7. Kesselman - Preconditions for consolidation
Authoritarian
Transitional Democracies
Electoral authoritarian Illiberal procedural
Substantive D
For a system to be typed as having transitioned from authoritarianism through the transitional democracy types to being a consolidated democracy, the system must have:
met the five conditions of democracy
Free fair elections
Freedom of political assembly
Regime has accountability based on fixed, knowable, transparent procedures
Civil and political rights
Independent judiciary
Been in existence for some kind of length of time
Democratic practices that have become deeply ingrained and the five conditions have been met relatively consistently

8. Democratization Briefing Paper
Democratization is the process by which a nation-state moves from non-democracy through procedural to fully consolidated substantive democracy.
This has happened in three waves
19th and early 20th C – US, UK, France (sorta), Canada, et al
After WWII as empires crumbled and fascism failed
70’s through 90’s as communism and the USSR failed and the authoritarians throughout saw their fragile economies and corrupt leadership styles become illegitimated
Democratization Briefing Paper

9. Democratization Briefing Paper
Substantive Democracy – like Kesselman’s enduring or consolidated democracy
Procedural democracy – has the basics like a newly transitional democracy, but not consolidated yet
Illiberal democracy – has the appearance of democracy, like a Potemkin Village, but the underlying factors do not exist to much extent
Electoral authoritarianism – non-democracies who pretend to be democratic
Democratization Briefing Paper

10. Briefing Paper - Preconditions of Democratization
There needs to be commitment by elites and polity for democracy and ripeness in the conditions in society
Level of economic development – while not necessary, it is often an important catalyst in producing modernization:
an environment of education,
widespread information media,
improved infrastructure for information and transportation,
leading to civil society and better living standards.
All of this helps to lead to democratization.
International and regional environment of democracy – if the world, trading partners and neighbors want democracy, it puts pressure on system to democratize
But
If modernization leads to complex states, with complex and very valuable system outputs, there is significantly increased pressure for corruption leading to criteria of authoritarianism

11. Democratization Briefing Paper
Substantive democracy – consolidation includes
Democratic competition accepted by all major actors seeking political influence
Citizen participation
Rule of law
Society has accepted the values of competitive parties, independent judiciaries, subordinated militaries, and the rule of law
Continued modernization and improved standards of living – generally, but not always
Democratization Briefing Paper

12. Kesselman AR#15 - Briefing Paper
Preconditions of Democratization
Level of economic development – while not necessary, it is often an important catalyst in producing modernization:
an environment of education,
widespread information media,
improved infrastructure for information and transportation,
leading to civil society and better living standards.
All of this helps to lead to democratization.
International and regional environment of democracy – if the world, trading partners and neighbors want democracy, it puts pressure on system to democratize
Kesselman AR#15 - Briefing Paper
Preconditions for consolidation
1 – civil society
2 – political society of rules, institutions and processes
3 – rule of law
4 – professional, permanent, apolitical bureaucracy and military
5 – economic society that has freedom within limits

13. Kesselman AR#15 - Briefing Paper
Consolidated democracy
Free and fair competitive elections with rules and regularity
Freedom of assembly and party activity
Procedures w/o arbitrariness, due process, transparency in policy-making and accountability
Civil liberties & rights w/ political equality
Independent judiciary with power over other institutions of gov’t
political freedom
civil society
political society of rules, institutions and processes
rule of law
professional, permanent, apolitical bureaucracy and military
economic society that has freedom within limits
Substantive/consolidated democracy
Democratic competition accepted by all major actors seeking political influence
Political and Civil rights
Civil society
Multiple & free sources of info
Citizen participation
Rule of law
Independent judiciary
Society has accepted the values of competitive parties, independent judiciaries, subordinated militaries, and the rule of law
Continued modernization and improved standards of living

14. Briefing Paper - process of democratization
Independence
Breakdown of authoritarianism
Can be top down
Military dealmaking
Death of the leader
Bottom up
Economic problems
Education and civil society development
Democratic institutions and practices – procedural democracy
Consolidation
Briefing Paper - process of democratization
During “transition” a country needs:
Civil society
Contingent consent political culture – belief in the value of compromise
Elections becoming freer and fairer
Development of political and communication freedom
Development of rules and accountability procedures
Decreasing use of coercion, repression and force and the development of values against these tools

15. Briefing Paper – outcomes of democratization process
Further consolidation can occur if
Economic and social development/ modernization occurs
Citizens culture accepts the principles of democracy and demand them
Institutions must follow the rules and continue to promote the criteria of democracy
Public policies must continue to advance democratic criteria rather than retard them
If democratization deepens, then:
Less likely to enter into war
Much less likely for human rights abuses
No genocide
Few life-threatening problems like famine
Unclear if democracy leads to improved education, economics, life expectancy, or if these factors ae causes of democracy
Briefing Paper – outcomes of democratization process

16. S and K - Procedures Democracy in a nation-state:
Elected officials make policy within constitutional limits w/o veto from informal or unelected sources or from super- sovereign influences from abroad
competitive, fair, free, non-coercive & regular elections
practically full universal suffrage
Practically universal right to run for office
Free and noncoercive right to expression
Free, widely available & multiple information sources
Civil society
Plus 2 – 1. elected officials cannot be vetoed by unelected bodies like the military
2. Sovereignty of political system – cannot be vetoed by external system
S and K - Procedures Democracy in a nation-state:

17. S and K’s factors of feasibility for Democracy in a nation-state are:
“contingent consent”
Agreement that electoral winners get to rule, but winners cannot freeze out opposition
Citizens must follow rules, currently agreed to or not, so long as there is legitimacy based partially on belief that free elections will occur later
There does not have to be consensus, just rule of law consistent with the political culture or set of political norms
Must be opportunity for alternation of power and policy
S and K’s factors of feasibility for Democracy in a nation-state are:

18. Anticipation Reading Guide – What Democracy is…and is Not
Disagree – elections do not determine democracy – see page 68 for the fallacy of electoralism and p 70 addendum #1 about situations where elected officials are of secondary policy-making authority to unelected officials like military leaders.
Agree – p 68 indicates that the focus of political conflict is the scope of government activity “Differences …over the optimal mix of the two (liberal v socialist conceptions of democracy) provide much of the substantive content of political conflict…”

19. Anticipation Reading Guide – What Democracy is…and is Not
Disagree – p 69 – discussion of numbers versus intensities that explains that majorities must be qualified by minority support or protections through any number of methods like constitutionalism, confederalism, federalism consociationalism, or neocorporatism.
Disagree – p 71 explains that a civic culture is generally a result of democratization, but that p 69 explains that a workable civil society is necessary to augment the protections of minorities that are necessary for substantive democracy and to mitigate conflicts without having to rely on the coercion of the state or the market place of privatism. But other poli-scis argue the reverse – this is equivocal.
Agree – p 70 – last full paragraph in the right column.