Political Science: Authoritarianism and Liberal Democracy

Authoritarianism and Democracy

• 1987: Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali introduced a lifetime presidency, election of the president, and recognition of multi-partyism in Tunisia.
• Ben Ali's subsequent elections (1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009) were characterized by massive electoral fraud, control of the media, and limited opposition, with him receiving increasingly high percentages of the vote (99.3%, 99.9%, 99.44%, 94.49%, and 89.62%, respectively).
• This staged pluralistic control aimed to legitimize and demonstrate the importance of norms of pluralistic electoral competition, both internally and externally.

Origins and Definition of Democracy

• Democracy originated in ancient Greece in the 6th century BC, particularly in Athens, where citizens would meet in the public square to make decisions, including declarations of war and ratification of laws.
• Ancient democracy had a restrictive definition, excluding women, minors, slaves, and foreigners, with only 10% of the population being citizens.
• In contrast, modern democracy has an inclusive definition, with no one excluded, and is representative, with citizens delegating their power to elected representatives.

Key Features of Democracy

• Direct democracy: citizens govern directly, whereas in representative democracy, people elect representatives to govern.
• Designation of representatives: ancient Athens used random drawing, whereas modern democracies use elections.
• Random drawing was considered the most equalitarian attribution of power.

Gender and Democracy

• Women have historically been excluded from political citizenship, in both ancient and modern democracies.
• The social contract theories of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau also excluded women from political participation.

Maximalist Conceptions of Democracy

• Maximalist conceptions advocate for everyone's participation in political life, opposing elitist and minimalist views.
• Two main trends: participatory ideal (every individual has a necessary capacity to participate in decision-making) and deliberative ideal (public good is achieved through deliberative democracy with free and public confrontation of arguments).

Typology of Democratic Regimes

• All democracies share four fundamental characteristics, but there is a great diversity of democratic regimes.
• Parliamentary or presidential systems are ideal types, resulting in different party systems, governments, and inter-branch balances.
• Examples of democratic regimes include majoritarian, federal, and deliberative and participative democracies.

Expansion of Citizenship

• The history of democracy is marked by the progressive expansion of citizenship to previously excluded groups.
• Examples include the expansion of citizenship to workers, women, and ethnic minorities, with possibilities for future expansion to young individuals, migrants, and non-human populations.