democracy

Question 1

how did aristotle define deomocracy in 330 BCE

Answer 1

in a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, there are more of them, the will of the majority is supreme

Question 2

what is democracy

Answer 2

the will of the people, being able to contibute to political decisions and having equality and protection under the law

Question 3

what is the procedural definition of democracy?

Answer 3

created by dhal in 1717:
argues that for a country to be a democracy they must have
1) freedom to form and join organisation s
2) right to vote
3) right to run for public office
4) alternative news sources

Question 4

what is the alternative procedural defintion of democracy

Answer 4

1) chief executive is elected
2) legislature is elected
4) more thanone party competing
3) alternation sin power oen party cant stay in power for too long

Question 5

difference between procederal and alternative

Answer 5

procedural focuses on the people and their freedom of expression and political participation
wehreas alternative is based more on the functions of elections and power sharing ect between parties

Question 6

example of the two definitions leading to debate

Answer 6

dhal would argue that Singapore is a democracy but under the alternative its not as there has only been one party in charge since 1960s

Question 7

what is freedom house

Answer 7

subtantive way to define democracies
based on what political and civil liberties are present
10 points (score from 0-4) for 2 categories political and civilliberties
- gives countries freedom scores based on civil,liberal and political rights

Question 8

what is polity VI?

Answer 8

empirical project measuring democracy in 167 countries giving a score os -10 to +10 based on 5 measurements:

-checks and balances
- competitiveness of executive elections
- party legislation
- regulation of political participation
- competitiveness of pol participation

Question 9

what are the main causes of democracy?

Answer 9

• economics
• culture

Question 10

what did lipset argue about the midle class and democracy

Answer 10

middle classes are integeral to democracy as they want to have more of a say n how their wealth is spent and therefore want a democracy

Question 11

what is the modernisation argument

Answer 11

traditional societies are less likely to be democracies due to large agrarian population with low education and small indursty which ultimatley leads to dictatorship

however modern societies with high levels of education and large industry foster democracy

Question 12

modernisation theory hyophesis 1:

Answer 12

democracy is more commonin rich countries therofre there is a clear correlation betweeen weath and democracy

Question 13

modernisation theory hypothesis 2

Answer 13

democratic survivial
backsliding into dictarships become less likely as wealth increases due to having a large middle class who want to protect their interests

Question 14

exceptins to modernisation theory

Answer 14

India:
has a middle class that remains relativey poor and india’s GDP is only 1,500 when 2,000 is the threshold of demcrcy yet they remain a democracy

China:
hugley wealthy with a GDP above 2,000 and a large middle class but itsnt. democracy

Question 15

how does oil production affect demcocracy

Answer 15

only 1 oil producing country is democratic with the rest of oil countries only having a 1 polity VI score
these countreis dont have to rely on tax as much for income and therfore have little welfare systems which decreases how democratic they are (they dont need to be cos they have lot of money)

Question 16

what cultures foster democracy?

Answer 16

• cultures based on sharing and social welfare more likely to be democratic becuase their social institutions are created with social welfare written into them which perpretatuaes democratic norms

smilarly countreis with vibrant netwroks of people reyingon neightbours and sahring (in italy and the med) displays values that perpetuate a democratic society

Question 17

hypothesis 1: classic cultural theory

Answer 17

democracy is more common in some cultures than others (eg weasten countreis which support democratic values)

Question 18

hypothesis 2:cultural modernisation theory

Answer 18

economic development doesnt directly cause democracy but it does change the countreis culture and political system which is what created demcoracy
economic isnt the sole reason

Question 19

the true clash of civilisations

Answer 19

norris and ingelhart aruge that:
- culture does matter in terms of democratisation
- however the fault line is the ‘sexual clash of civilisation’
- ie. countries that dont provide women with protection and self expression will not be demcoracies
- GENDER EQUALITY IS KEY

Question 20

democratic fragilities

Answer 20

despite conties sucha s the Uk and the Us ahving the economic and cultural grounding to be flpurishing democracies they still have fragiliteis
ex: liz truss stuff

Question 21

example of arab spring

Answer 21

the arab spring demonstrates that few countries who have revolutions in the modern day become democracies:

in 2010 bouazizi set himself on fire as the tunisian police took away his fruit cart
triggering mass protests and the fall of thier president in 2012
- sounties involved such as syria and ybia still arent democracies and face turmil

Question 22

is the internet good or bad for democracy?

Answer 22

good: can mobilise support for issues and get people out to vote and educate them

bad: fake news, similalry people usually consume conentent the views that agree with them so they never challege thier own views and opinions

Question 23

what did huntington say about what countries are likely to sustain democracy?

Answer 23

• countries like the UK and US that have democracy written into them are more likely to sustain a democratic society

HOWEVER huntington beleived that democracy could never be sutrained in africa due to this reason but botswana has been a democracy since 1966

Question 24

who created the cultural hypothesis

Answer 24

ingelhart and welzel

Question 25

who created the modernisation/economic hypothesis

Answer 25

clarke et al

Question 26

what are rentier states

Answer 26

countries where the majority of their revenue comes from rentingtheir indigenous resources to other countries

Question 27

what is the paradox of plenty

Answer 27

also known as the resource curse which argues that countries who have ana bundance of natural resoruces oftenencounter slower economic growith less democracy or growth opporunties than other non resource rich countries

Question 28

india weakening democracy

Answer 28

• india has been a democracy since 1947
• however the recently collpased coalition has lead to the governemnt gaining more power and using hindu nationalism to legitimise their power
• violent repression of protests.
• intimidationof journalists
• increased pressure on human rights groups and minoirties

this is a suprise as it was previously a good example for democracy