Politics Lecture 7 - Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes PDF

**[POLITICS : Session 7]** **[Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes ]** [What is democracy? ] - "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all- wise. Indeed it has been said that **democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from tim...

**[POLITICS : Session 7]** **[Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes ]** [What is democracy? ] - "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all- wise. Indeed it has been said that **democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time**...." (Winston S Churchill) - Why is that quote so much with us? This form of government not ideal, but all the other are even worse; democracy best amongst the worst but negative form - *Discussion: what have democraties done to the planet?* - *Ex: situation right now somewhere \> how was before imaging quote* - *"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"* (Abraham Lincoln) - For the people: policies are made for the people, work for the people - Of the people: elections, link between people and leadership representation - By the people: institutions created by the people themselves - Democracy about the link with the people - Democracies generating ***Input, Throughput, Output*** legitimacy (Scharpf) - - Input: elections - Throughput: procedures followed, law making process, way institutions work - Output : (non?) effective solutions - *Ex : how can we reduce death poll in the street with school limited speed? below average level? Block street?* - *Lots of discussion during "throughput"* - *Effective if no more killings* - *Ex: CO2 % is that enough? More tools? output legitimacy (always questioned)* - *"Most effective way of ensuring that rulers do act in the interests of the ruled"?* (Garner) - Critical vision of pluralism is it true? Democracy fulfill that prompt? - In democracies, power !! - Democracy refers to a regime where power is widely spread and essentially rests with the people (**Garner**) - All should govern (gov of the people) everyone able to goven by voting, being in system - All should take decisions *(ex: Switzerland decisions also agreed by people indirectly)* possible in theory if not, chain of legitimacy : representation - All rulers should be held accountable: procedures *(ex: during elections)* - All rules should be held accountable by representatives of the ruled: checks and balances - Rulers should be chosen by the ruled: elections - Rulers should be chosen by the representatives of the ruled: *ex: parliaments* - Rulers should act in the interests of the ruled - Definition of Democracy (following **Dahl**) : A regime can be considered democratic **if** it has: - Universal male and female suffrage - Recurring, free (no manipulation *from media for ex*), competitive, fair elections - More than one political party (no choice at all) - Different and alternative sources of information (citizens being able to look for different sources) - Procedural definition of **Dahl**: - Effective participation - Voting equality - Enlightened understanding - Control of the agenda - Inclusion of adults [Classical vs Elitist Theory :] - **Classical theory of democracy** : **participation of the individual and rule of the people** - Individual freedom, political equality and ability to actively take-part in politics - Citizens develop own abilities in exchange with others, and shape political decisions - (Rationally) producing the *volonté générale (common will)* - Opportunities for direct, participatory and representative democracy - Participatory: allow in process of law-making civil society, citizens, interest groups to be taken into participation - **Elitisit theory of democracy: representation by political elites** - Ability to take part in elections and choose for political products - Apolitical individual: political elites in competition - Largely representative democracy - Def. Democracy: '**The democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote**.' (Schumpeter) - Important to know what definition you choose and think about it in a classical/elitist - **Complex procedural definition of Giovanni Sartori (1987):** - "large-scale democracy is a procedure and/or a mechanism that - Inclined to follow political decisions because in a democracy (directly/indirectly) "we make the laws under which we live" ( in our interest) (Garner ) - "\[...\] if we consent to the laws under which we live, the freedom existing in the state of nature would be maintained in a democratic system." (Ibid.) - Classical argument: through democratic system: able to maintain right that we have see ourselves being free - Social contract allows us/citizens to accept political decisions as decisions which serve our freedom - But: What if decisions taken do not serve our interests, if we find ourselves in a minority: Are we morally obliged to obey political decisions? (Garner) [Varieties in Democracies: ] - **Direct and Representative Democracies** - *Examples: Referenda, Representative State Organs* - **Parliamentarism, Semi-Parliamentarism, Semi-Presidentialism and Presidentialism** - *Examples: Denmark/Italy; UK/Germany*; *France; United States of America* - **Majoritarian and consensus models** - Determining criteria: composition of cabinet, domination of executive over legislature (or not), multiple party system, electoral system, dispersal of executive power, parliamentary chambers, constitutionalism, independence of central banks [Democratic challenges: ] - Problem of political equality vs political elites - Problem of direct participatory democray vs representative democracy - *Ex: Brexit direct democracy* - Problems of direct democracy : logistics and formulate question in (a not) misinterpretive way - Problem of politics of the masses vs specialized political decisions - Problem of Majoritarian vs Minority-led decision - Democracy, negative and positive freedom  how much take into account - Securing private sphere of the individual (from democratic decisions) - Enabling the individual to experience opportunities (through democratic decisions) - Justice and the boundaries of democracy - Procedural and Social Justice as obligations within democracies [New directions: ] - From *aggregation of preferences to democratic deliberation* - reasoned discussions, inclusive arenas and public spheres, mutual respect and openness - need reasons, discussions, openness to bring citizens in citizen assemblies together - From *domestic to cosmopolitan (global) democracy* - Could we go in direction of global democracy? - Installing democracy on the global 'level' of governance (democratization of international organizations) - From *democracy to ecological democracy* - Respecting the value of the environment and protecting it *from democracy* [Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes ] - **Three waves of democratization**: - 1828-1926 (US, UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, Argentina) - 1943-1962 (Brazil, W Germany, Japan, India, etc.) - 1974- (Portugal, Spain, S Korea, E Europe, etc.) - **Explanations why democratization comes about** - Economic Development (Lipset 1959, 1960) - The Rise of the Middle Class (economic power of MC rests with them and claim to have equal rights to determine future) - Democratic Transformation and 'Transitology' - Statecraft and diplomacy rather than economic pre-requisites - Focus on transitions and consolidation *(need military on board*) - Re-focus on why transitions are undermined - We need all factors ! Une image contenant texte, Police, capture d'écran, nombre Description générée automatiquement [Democratic and Authoritarian regimes ] - **Polyarchy and Liberal Democracy** - **Polyarchy** as a set of factors which allow for a competitive political landscape around free and fair elections, including elected officials, inclusive suffrage, freedom of expression, access to alternative information, associational autonomy - **Liberal Democracy (Polyarchy +) :** - Freedom and Civil Liberties (*speech, religion, political rights, property, life, death -- contested,...)* - Rule of Law (*equality before law, free access to judiciary, presumption of innocence, laws retroactively enforced,...)* checks and balances !! - Political Independence of the judiciary - Open, pluralistic civil society *~~(hungary)~~* - Freedom of minorities (*minority language in school?* ) difficulties - Civil Control over the Military (support democratic institutions) - Measuring democracies : - Freedom house - VDem - Bertelsman Transformation Index - Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index - Western-based, often biased approaches to democracy - But: democratizing trajectories in post-colonial states need to be taken into account - Many states still need to travel road of democracies fine line?  Free: bigger Partly-free / not free gained momentum over the last 10 years democracy criticized + Declining doesn't mean not democratic anymore A lot of these have to do with the decline in the rule of law *Ex: Poland*  depends on different factors in order to determine what is democracy, liberal democracy, etc *\ * struggle for/against + democratic way of being ruled *ex: Georgia* [Key developments democratization these last years: ] - Democratic Dysfunction: Social Polarization and Political Strain - Important because attracts voters : Why respect minorities if only for them? - Changing the Constitutional Balance of Power: The Role of Electoral and Legislative Majorities - The Assaults on the Horizontal Checks, Political Rights, and Civil Liberties - Backsliding in America and elsewhere? How attractive will democracy be? - Enlargement processes seen as a flagship policy of the EU, including the promotion of democracy, human rights and the rule of law - Backfire? Forces in countries wanting to join arguing against it - But: the emergence of so-called illiberal democracies (inside and outside Europe) seems to have established itself as a "new normal" - Freedom House paints a dark picture of democracy in crisis and sees, - Critical voices, seeing the transformation of Europe's Eastern countries as one of multiple streams and challenges which may not always happen at the same time - Despite democratization, **authoritarian regimes** have always been around - The term can be used for a variety of states around the world (see Garner et al. 2023, p.377) - Coercion, threats and terror =\> limited individual and group rights - Legitimization (often) needed and seeked for by authoritarian rulers - To maintain power - Hybridity (in case that elections are held) - Popular acceptance of authoritarian regimes (see Garner et al. 2023, p.374-  ***Polarization, populism and the rise of autocracy*** *\ * - **What is populism? Is it a factor showing** - (Right-wing) populism (see also Mudde 2016, pp. 6-7) - *Belief in Populism*: politics should be done by and for 'the pure people' (vs. the corrupt elite') - *Belief in Nativism*: homogeneity of the nation, states to be inhabited by the nation - *Belief in Authoritarianism*: infringement of authority needs punishment Assume a perfect undemocratic society Should we democratize ? *Ex: Singapore; try to convince it to become democratic* - **Habits and opinions** matter to identify politics and political life - **Social values** that impact on political culture *For ex: protestant vs catholic Europe* - **Differences of political cultures** and how they are being used/turned against: - Chinese cultural ervolution - Russia: struggle of Russian identity and its place in the world - Importance of **Non-Western political ideas and cultures** **Liberal democracy:** "freedom, voice, compromise" - Freedom: individual rights and freedom - Voice: views, demands and accountability through electoral processes - Compromise: electoral competition and no permanent authority leads governments to take into account different opinions and develop compromises **Liberal democracy** as "veiled oppression" : - Individual freedoms are undesirable - Freedom as 'opressive' because "collective strengths" need to be the objective - The "real people" - Spiritual guidance rather than individuality - Democracy's real face: market access **Militant democracy** : Everyone to the debate *Parliamentary threshold* UE? Big debate lose plurality and fully competitive pluritical landscape