1. Comparative Analysis of Democratization prof. Fulvio Venturino
Comparative Politics
Principles of Democracy and Democratization
Chapter 3: Economics and Political Development

2. The key question
Examination of three approaches concerning economic transformations and political development
Modernization theory
Dependency theory
Statism

3. Talcott Parsons Traditional vs. modern societies

4. Seymour M. Lipset Economic modernization and democracy
Several aspects of modernization breed democracy
Middle class
Wealth and pro capita income
Urbanization
Literacy

5. Karl Deutsch Modernization and democracy: an indirect relationship
Modernization breeds social mobilization (urbanization, literacy, etc.), and the latter in turn pushes for democracy

6. Gabriel Almond and James Coleman The crisis model
Identity crisis: from local to national identities
Legitimacy crisis: from divine right to popular sovereignty
Participation crisis: from limited to wide-ranging political rights
Penetration crisis: from indirect to direct links between rulers and ruled
Distribution crisis: from concentrated to inclusive material rewards

7. Samuel Huntington Four dimensions of political institutionalization
adaptability/rigidity
complexity/simplicity
autonomy/subordination
coherence/disunity

8. Samuel Huntington Classification and examples of regime types

9. Modernization theory An assessment
Most of these approaches are based upon historical observations of the processes of development in the Western, particularly the European experience
The political development is primarily a consequence or a function of economic development
An often cited key intervening variable is the role played by political culture

10. Dependency theory Criticisms against modernization theory
Dependency theory contends that modernization theory does not take into account the impact of the international system on internal development
There are fundamental differences between the earlier experiences of the industrialized countries and the experiences of the developing world in the twentieth century

11. Dependency theory Neo-imperialism of the twentieth century

12. Dependency theory Main tenets
Unlike the Western bourgeoisie, who were a progressive class, the “comprador bourgeoisie” are neither socially progressive nor champions of political democracy
There is little hope for the emergence of political democracy as long as dependent economic relations are maintained between the international core and the world periphery

13. Statism
Point of departure: several countries in the periphery have catching up (f.i. Asian tigers). What could possibly explain this?
Statist theorists are critical of what they called the society-centered approaches to development, that ignored the important role the state had played in terms of capital accumulation and investment, above all to organize war and armies

14. Modernization theory, dependency theory and statism compared