This module is not currently running in 2021 to 2022.
One of the most prominent political trends during the twentieth century has been the global expansion of democracy. Over the last one hundred years, the number of countries labelled ‘democratic’ has quadrupled, concentrated in successive ‘waves’ of democracy. This module examines the reasons for, and processes by which, countries move from authoritarian to democratic conditions. It considers the meaning and measurement of democracy and the nature of democratic transitions. It examines the evidence, drawn from a well established comparative literature, on which factors – social, cultural, political and economic – underpin the global shift to democracy. It also considers how far the trend towards democracy might have come to an end, manifested in the growing number of countries that are only partially democratic.
Having reviewed these broad trends and factors, the module turns to consider the process of democratic building or ‘consolidation’. A major challenge to this process occurs in societies marked by social or ethnic cleavages. In such societies, the desirability and nature of democratic government is often hotly contested, and special mechanisms are often required to encourage distinctive social groups to submit to democratic authority. One means by which this can be done is via appropriately designed political institutions. Such institutions – in particular, electoral systems, presidential and parliamentary executives and federalism – can be selected, or ‘designed’, to promote certain patterns of behaviour among citizens, potentially overcoming deep-rooted social cleavages and tensions, encouraging cooperation between groups and reducing the incentives for corrupt activities. For this reason, much attention has recently focused on the role that constitutional design can play in democratic transitions in Eastern Europe, Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Throughout, the module focuses both on key theoretical arguments within the democratisation literature (eg. definitions of democracy, the nature of democratic transitions, and the role of political institutions in dealing with entrenched social divisions) and on case studies of recent and ongoing democratic transitions.
Diamond, L. Developing Democracy: Towards Consolidation, Johns Hopkins University (1999)
Grugel, J. Democratization: A Critical Introduction (Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2005).
Christian Haerpfer et al, eds, Democratization, Oxford (2009)
Norris, P. Driving Democracy: Do Power-Sharing Regimes Work? Cambridge (2008)
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
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