2 Concepts of Democracy

STM103STM103

19/21/2009 www.pippanorris.com

Structure of classStructure of classI Major alternative concepts of democraticI. Major alternative concepts of democratic

governance Electoral democracy: Joseph Schumpeter/Przeworski Electoral democracy: Joseph Schumpeter/Przeworski

Liberal democracy: Robert Dahl/Polity IV

Good governance: World Bank/Ibrahim Index Good governance: World Bank/Ibrahim Index


Class ResourcesClass Resources

Geraldo L. Munck and Jay Verkuilen. 2002. ‘Conceptualizing and measuring democracy - Evaluating alternative indices ’ Comparative Political Studies 35 (1): 5-alternative indices. Comparative Political Studies. 35 (1): 534.

LeDuc, Niemi and Norris Comparing Democracies 3p g

Haerpfer Democratization Ch 2

Supplementary optional readings by Dahl, Schumpeter,Supplementary optional readings by Dahl, Schumpeter, Dryzek, and Held.


9/21/2009 www.pippanorris.com 4

Alternative concepts of democratic governance

Electoral democracy Liberal democracy Good governance

Polity IV/ Ibrahim Index/Przeworski/Cheibub

Polity IV/

Freedom House

Ibrahim Index/

World Bank


Minimalist Maximalist

1 Electoral democracy1.Electoral democracy Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, socialism and Josep Sc u pete , Cap ta s , soc a s a ddemocracy

Procedural minimalist definition"Th d i h d i h i i i l "The democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of aindividuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote“

Multiparty elections at regular intervals Citizens select leaders Pros and cons of this notion? How would you measure it?How would you measure it?


Pros and cons?Pros and cons? Validity?Validity?

Reflects basic commonsense notions of democracy Excludes too much? No notion of freedom of speech or assembly, civil liberties, political p y, , prights, human rights, common good, regime structure, quality of governance, policy outputs?

Reliability?Reliability? Institutional criteria (elections) can be observed and verified Are there multiparty competitive elections for national office? Yet what counts as a genuine ‘competitive struggle’?Yet what counts as a genuine competitive struggle ?

Electoral autocracy? Potential measurement error through misclassification


M d b P ki/Ch ib bMeasured by Przworski/Cheibub Adam Przeworski et al Democracy and development y p(CUP 2000)

Jose Cheibub Presidentialism, Parliamentarism and Democracy (CUP 2007)Democracy (CUP 2007)

Minimalist Dichotomous classification democratic v. autocratic regime, not

i la continuous scale Criteria Contestation Regimes that allow some regularized competition among conflictingRegimes that allow some regularized competition among conflicting visions and interests

Regimes in which some values or interests enjoy a monopoly buttressed by threat or the actual use of force

OperationalizationOperationalization “Democracy is a regime in which government offices y g gare filled by contested elections.” p19

“Democracy is a system in which incumbents lose elections and leave office when the rules dictate.” p54.

All other regimes are not democratic.

RulesRules1. Chief executive must be elected directly or indirectlyy y

2. The lower house of the legislature must be elected

3. There must be more than one party

4. (If pass above) and if incumbents subsequently held, but never lost elections, regimes are authoritarian. Cases of Singapore, Botswana, Japan, Kenya, Mexico??

Contestation rules: Ex‐ante uncertainty (probability that at least one member of

incumbent coalition will lose))

Ex‐post irreversibility (whoever wins election will be allowed to assume office)

Repeatability (temporary outcomes)p y ( p y )

Figure 3.1: Trends in Cheibub and Gandhi’s classification of regime types, 1945-2002

120Cheibub Type of Regime

100

120DemocracyDictatorship

80

unt

60

Cou

40

19461948195019521954195619581960196219641966196819701972197419761978198019821984198619881990199219941996199820002002

Year

20


Source: José Cheibub and Jennifer Gandhi. 2004. ’A six-fold measure of democracies and dictatorships.’ Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.

Minimalist exclusionsMinimalist exclusions No social or economic aspects includedNo social or economic aspects included

No measure of accountability, responsibility, responsiveness or representationresponsiveness or representation

No measure of freedom, liberties or human rights

f i i i f hi No measure of participation eg franchise

No reference to civil‐military relations

•Advantages and disadvantages of this approach?

Democratic governance



Polity IV/

Freedom House

Ibrahim Index/

World Bank



2 Liberal Democracy2. Liberal Democracy Robert Dahl 1956. A Preface to Democratic Theoryf y Modern democratic states can be understood in practice as polyarchies

Two concepts are important: Contestation and Two concepts are important: Contestation and participation

‘Polyarchies’ can be identified by the presence of certain key political institutions:key political institutions:

1) elected officials; 2) free and fair elections; 3) inclusive suffrage; ) g4) the right to run for office; 5) freedom of expression; 6) alternative information; and 7) associational autonomy7) associational autonomy


Dahl's Conceptual LogicDahl s Conceptual LogicLiberal

Democracy

Contestation Participation

Right to form parties

Freedom of the press Right to vote Fairness of

election

Associational autonomy

Extent of suffrageautonomy suffrage



Measurement: Polity IVMeasurement: Polity IV Monty G. Marshall, and Keith Jaggers. 2006. Polity IVMonty G. Marshall, and Keith Jaggers. 2006. Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800‐2006: Dataset Users’ Manual. Maryland: University of Maryland. http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/polity/

Long time‐series (1800‐2006) annual observations

Academic standard especially in IRp y


Polity IV ConceptsPolity IV Concepts Democracy reflects three essential elements:Democracy reflects three essential elements:

The presence of institutions and procedures through which citizens can express preferences aboutwhich citizens can express preferences about alternative policies and leaders;

The existence of institutionalized constraints on the The existence of institutionalized constraints on the power of the executive; and

The guarantee of civil liberties to all citizens The guarantee of civil liberties to all citizens (although not actually measured).


Polity IV measurementPolity IV measurement The dataset constructs a ten‐point democracy scaleThe dataset constructs a ten point democracy scale by coding

The competitiveness of political participation (1‐3), The competitiveness of executive recruitment (1‐2), The openness of executive recruitment (1), and Th t i t th hi f ti (1 4) The constraints on the chief executive (1‐4).

Autocracy is measured by negative versions of the same indicessame indices.

The two scales are combined into a single democracy‐autocracy score varying from ‐10 to +10.y y y g


Polity IV classificationPolity IV classification The existence or absence of institutional features of the nation state.

Competitive executive recruitment is measured by leadership selection through popular elections contested by two or more parties or candidatestwo or more parties or candidates.

The openness of recruitment for the chief executive is measured by the opportunity for all citizens to have the opportunity to attain the position through a regularized oppo tu ty to atta t e pos t o t oug a egu a edprocess, excluding hereditary succession, forceful seizure of power, or military coups.

By contrast, autocracies are seen as regimes which restrict or i i li i l i i i i hi h h hi fsuppress competitive political participation, in which the chief

executive is chosen from within the political elite, and, once in office, leaders face few institutional constraints on their powerpower.


Polity IVPolity IVFigure 3.4: Trends in Polity IV measure of Constitutional Democracy, 1800-2000

4

0

2

0-pt

sco

re

-2

lity

Com

bine

d 20

-6

-4

Mea

n Po

18001805181018151820182518301835184018451850185518601865187018751880188518901895190019051910191519201925193019351940194519501955196019651970197519801985199019952000

Year

-8


Source: Monty Marshall and Keith Jaggers. 2003. Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics andTransitions, 1800-2003. http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/polity/;

Polity IVPolity IV Pros and cons?Pros and cons? Validity? Reliability?


Democratic governance



Polity IV/

Freedom House

Ibrahim Index/

World Bank



Good governance indicesGood governance indices Increasingly commonly used in the last decadeg y y

World Bank Institute: Kaufmann‐Kray Good governance indicators 1996‐dateGood governance indicators 1996 date Rule of law Government effectiveness Transparency Voice Stability

Will discuss in Class 11

Ibrahim Index of African Governance

http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/index‐2008/p // g/ /


Ibrahim IndexIbrahim Index


e g Ibrahim Indexe.g. Ibrahim Index“All citizens of all countries desire to be governed well. That is

h i i f h i i hi h h liwhat citizens want from the nation-states in which they live. Thus, nation-states in the modern world are responsible for the delivery of essential political goods to their inhabitants. The y p gessential political goods can be summarized and gathered under five categories:

•Safety and Security;Safety and Security; •Rule of Law, Transparency, and Corruption; •Participation and Human Rights; S i bl E i O i d•Sustainable Economic Opportunity; and

•Human Development. Together, these five categories of political goods epitomize the


g g p g pperformance of any government, at any level.”

E g Ibrahim IndexE.g. Ibrahim Index


Eg Ibrahim IndexEg Ibrahim Index


Ibrahim indexIbrahim index Advantages?Advantages? Disadvantages?


Key questions?Key questions? How would you assess the strengths and weaknesses of the normative concepts of electoral democracy, liberal democracy, deliberative democracy and good governance?

Which of these concepts would you use to measure the quality of governance in your home region, for example, working in a UN agency, a national NGO, as a journalist,working in a UN agency, a national NGO, as a journalist, as an official for a bilateral donor, or as an academic analyst?

How would you justify your choice of concepts and How would you justify your choice of concepts and measures to a diplomatic official from, say, ASEAN, the African Union, or the UN?


Next classNext class Note: Meet next on Wednesday 18th FebNote: Meet next on Wednesday 18 Feb Introduction to the QoG dataset


Documents

2 Concepts of Democracy