democratization definition

https://www.britannica.com/topic/democratization. 2. In extreme cases, both the rich and the poor are willing to use authoritarian measures to impose their will on the other. [90] The exploitation of Ecuador's resource rent enabled the government to implement price and wage policies that benefited citizens at no cost to the elite and allowed for a smooth transition and growth of democratic institutions. A related criticism is that it understates the importance of the masses, particularly labor and civil society organizations, in pressuring authoritarian elites to liberalize and providing credibility to demands by the democratic opposition. The divergent histories of Britain and Iberia are seen as creating different cultural legacies that affected the prospects of democracy. [15], Research indicates that democracy protests are associated with democratization. They often choose presidential systems for instrumental reasons to enhance their control, which increases the likelihood of undemocratic tendencies. Rather, it is a long, slow, and conflictual process, often with frequent reversals. High levels of per capita GDP virtually guarantee that democracy will endure. The business class inevitably organizes and begins to demand a say on issues that affect it, such as taxes, regulations, and the protection of property rights. Agricultural Mechanization, Moore's Thesis, and the Emergence of Democracy", "Constitutional Origins and Liberal Democracy: A Global Analysis, 19002015", "A Note on Taxation, Development, and Representative Government", "Representation and Consent: Why They Arose in Europe and Not Elsewhere". WebOrigin Noun Filter noun The introduction of democracy, its functions or principles, to an area or country which did not have democracy previously. Consolidation may be defined in terms of either democracys sustainability or the deepening of its quality over time. Democratic Italian Fascism created a dictatorship after the World War I. This book not only became the point of reference for a burgeoning academic literature on democratic transitions, it was also read widely by political activists engaged in actual struggles to achieve democracy. The First French Empire and the Bourbon Restoration restored more autocratic rule. Definition [20][21] Only with the Representation of the People Act 1884 did a majority of the males get the vote. [no object] There is internal pressure on the government to democratize. [38][39] One study finds that economic development prompts democratization but only in the medium run (1020 years). ), The Other Mirror: Grand Theory Through the Lens of Latin America. [no object] There is internal pressure on the government to democratize. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Democratization theorists have identified different patterns of interaction among social groups that shape the way democratization unfolds in a particular environment. It is useful to order the various arguments under different headings. [96][97] However, Michael Ross argues that the lack of democracies in some parts of the Muslim world has more to do with the adverse effects of the resource curse than Islam. Organizations like the Ku Klux Klan demonstrate that citizen associations do not always involve people in harmless efforts and that group involvement does not always cut across existing social cleavages. The English Civil War (16421651) was fought between the King and an oligarchic but elected Parliament,[17] during which the idea of a political party took form with groups debating rights to political representation during the Putney Debates of 1647. "War and the State in Africa.". [158], Robert Dahl argued in On Democracy that foreign interventions contributed to democratic failures, citing Soviet interventions in Central and Eastern Europe and U.S. interventions in Latin America. Citizens also learn habits of organization and develop a sense of community. When their socioeconomic structures shifted because modernization made the agriculture sector more efficient, bigger investments of time and resources were used for the manufacture and service sectors. [104] They find "no empirical support" for the Inglehart and Welzel thesis and conclude that "self-expression values do not enhance democracy levels or democratization chances, and neither do they stabilize existing democracies. When society is overly dominant, weak states emerge. [109], Civil society refers to a collection of non-governmental organizations and institutions that advance the interests, priorities and will of citizens. These transitions tend to occur relatively rapidly and result in power-sharing arrangements that preserve elements of the old authoritarian regime. Democratization Definition Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). "[164], In the 2010s, the discusion focused on the impact of the sequencing between state building and democratization. The favourable-conditions approach allows a detailed explanation of the democratization process in particular countries, but it tends to produce a long list of factors that matter, making it difficult to produce a general model of democratization. These mistakes reflect well-known cognitive biases such as overconfidence and the illusion of control. The explosive spread of democracy around the world beginning in the mid-20th century radically transformed the international political landscape from one in which democracies were the exception to one in which they were the rule. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'democratize.' The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, a key lawmaker in Democrats congressional investigations into former President Donald Trump during his presidency. [145][146][147] Thomas Risse wrote in 2009, "there is a consensus in the literature on Eastern Europe that the EU membership perspective had a huge anchoring effects for the new democracies. According to a study by Freedom House, in 67 countries where dictatorships have fallen since 1972, nonviolent civic resistance was a strong influence over 70 percent of the time. [94] In contrast, Alfred Stepan was more optimistic about the compatibility of different religions and democracy. Some even saw democratization as the final stage of the modernization process. [144], A number of studies have found that institutional institutions have helped facilitate democratization. [72][73], In their 2019 book The Narrow Corridor and a 2022 study in the American Political Science Review, Acemoglu and Robinson argue that the nature of the relationship between elites and society determine whether stable democracy emerges. "[163] Eric Nordlinger and Samuel Huntington stressed "the importance of developing effective governmental institutions before the emergence of mass participation in politics. WebDemocratization, or democratisation, is the democratic transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Potter, David. [+ object] formal : to make (something) available to all people : to make it possible for all people to understand (something) DEMOCRATIZING The assumption is that large inequalities in society exacerbate class conflicts. [150], The European Union has contributed to the spread of democracy, in particular by encouraging democratic reforms in aspiring member states. Democratization In either case, it is difficult to know how consolidated a democracy is. 2018. However, there is much debate about the nature of the relationship as well as the causal mechanisms behind it. [1][2] It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full democracy, a transition from an authoritarian political system to a semi-democracy or transition from a semi-authoritarian political system to a democratic political system. [40] However, the debate about whether democracy is a consequence of wealth, a cause of it, or both processes are unrelated, is far from conclusive. [25] Historians continue to debate the reasons why the Weimar Republic's attempt at democratization failed. [+ object] Community leaders have had some success in democratizing the organization. Different patterns of democratization are often used to explain other political phenomena, such as whether a country goes to a war or whether its economy grows. Democracy Definition By contrast, the elite-choice approach is theoretically concise and useful for making generalizations, but it lacks the richness of structural explanations. 2016. Webverb [ T ] (UK usually democratise) uk / dmk.r.taz / us / dm.kr.taz / to make countries or organizations use democratic ways of making decisions: It's about time we democratized the organization of this company. First, the democratic transitions that occurred in Latin American and East Asia in the wake of rapid industrialization renewed interest in modernization theory. Albertus, Michael and Victor Menaldo. One way to summarize the outcome theories of democratization seek to account is with the idea of waves of democratization. [108], Wider adoption of voting advice applications can lead to increased education on politics and increased voter turnout. Democratization - definition How to use democratize in a sentence. However, the transition to a basic democratic framework is ultimately contingent on the decision of elites. Democratization Definition In authoritarian regimes, it is difficult to contest state power through the state, so the values of resistance are developed within civil society. [+ object] Community leaders have had some success in democratizing the organization. [9], Robert Putnam argues that certain characteristics make societies more likely to have cultures of civic engagement that lead to more participatory democracies. Web1. [103], Sirianne Dahlum and Carl Henrik Knutsen offer a test of the Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel revised version of modernization theory, which focuses on cultural traits triggered by economic development that are presummed to be conducive to democratization. [70], Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson argued that the relationship between social equality and democratic transition is complicated: People have less incentive to revolt in an egalitarian society (for example, Singapore), so the likelihood of democratization is lower. (Read Madeleine Albrights Britannica essay on democracy.) "[63] A 2021 study found that constitutions that emerge through pluralism (reflecting distinct segments of society) are more likely to induce liberal democracy (at least, in the short term). It was followed by a rise of dictatorships during the Interwar period. For example, Syria, after gaining independence from French mandatory control at the beginning of the Cold War, failed to consolidate its democracy, so it eventually collapsed and was replaced by a Ba'athist dictatorship. In fact, war and territorial threats to a country are likely to increase authoritarianism and lead to autocracy. Francis Fukuyama, in Political Order and Political Decay (2014), echoes Huntington's "state-first" argument and holds that those "countries in which democracy preceded modern state-building have had much greater problems achieving high-quality governance. Many interpreted this correlation as evidence that economic development, usually measured as per capita gross domestic product (GDP), lays the foundation for democratic transitions. "[171], Two broad problems have been identified in theories of democratization. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Please select which sections you would like to print: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon. [42] Clark, Robert and Golder, in their reformulation of Albert Hirschman's model of Exit, Voice and Loyalty, explain how it is not the increase of wealth in a country per se which influences a democratization process, but rather the changes in the socio-economic structures that come together with the increase of wealth. Webverb [ T ] (UK usually democratise) uk / dmk.r.taz / us / dm.kr.taz / to make countries or organizations use democratic ways of making decisions: It's about time we democratized the organization of this company. WebDemocratisation, or processes by which a society could progress from authoritarianism to minimalist democracy to substantive democracy, have never been linear, smooth and free of hazards. "[168], One of the critiques of Huntington's periodization is that it "ignores the requirement of universal suffrage. 2010. Cheibub, Jos Antonio, and James Raymond Vreeland. Another indicator is the Polity score by the Center for Systemic Peace, which measures authority characteristics and is more consistent with procedural definitions of democracy. Webdemocratization definition: 1. the process of making countries or organizations use democratic ways of making decisions: 2. Journal of Economic Methodology 23.1 (2016): 97-109. They do so to prevent revolution, motivate citizens to fight wars, incentivize governments to provide public goods, outbid elite rivals, or limit factional violence." zation (-t-zshn) n. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. [49][50] A 2016 study found that preferential trade agreements "encourage the democratization of a country, in particular if the PTA partners are themselves democracies. ), Geddes, Barbara. The advantage of the elite-choice approach is that it is theoretically concise and overcomes the problem of multiple causality inherent in structural explanations. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases Systems of government absolutism ancien rgime anti-apartheid anti-communism 2013. So too have historical and international factors. Wiktionary Synonyms: democratisation Advertisement Other Word Forms of Democratization Noun [172] Michael Hanchard, in The Spectre of Race (2018), provides a thorough review of the literature and holds that theories have not adequately acknowledged how ethno-national and racial hierarchies shape the process and prospects of democratization.[173]. This can affect the prospects for democratic transitions by determining the durability of authoritarian regimes. Although education levels tend to rise with economic development, many scholars credit education as a key reason why democratization is viable in poorer countries. The explosive spread of democracy around the world beginning in the mid-20th century radically transformed the international political landscape from one in which democracies were the exception to one in which they were the rule. This reality contradicted the assumption that countries will inevitably take one of two paths, either toward a consolidated liberal democracy or back into authoritarianism. Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Stephens, and John D. Stephens, in Capitalist Development and Democracy (1992), raise questions about Moore's analysis of the role of the bourgeoisie in democratization. "[167] Based on a comparison of European and Latin American countries, Sebastin Mazzuca and Gerardo Munck, in A Middle-Quality Institutional Trap (2021), argue that counter to the state-first thesis, the "starting point of political developments is less important than whether the Statedemocracy relationship is a virtuous cycle, triggering causal mechanisms that reinforce each. Democratization The active resistance of civil society groups weakens the authoritarian regime enough for a democratic transition to occur. A similar argument is that experience with capitalism promotes democratization as economic freedom creates pressures for political freedom. democratization International Organizations and Democratization", "Democratization and International Organizations", "The rule of capital and the rise of democracy", International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Anti-communist insurgencies in Central and Eastern Europe, Predictions of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Democratization&oldid=1160569407, Articles lacking reliable references from April 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0. The National Archives. In England, for example, members of the gentry began investing more on commercial activities that allowed them to become economically more important for the state. Historically, democratization has been kicked off by several factors. [47] Michael Miller finds that development increases the likelihood of "democratization in regimes that are fragile and unstable, but makes this fragility less likely to begin with. Democratization This limits the utility of democratization as an analytical tool. The so-called regality theory finds that people develop a psychological preference for a strong leader and an authoritarian form of government in situations of war or perceived collective danger. Democracy first spread through southern Europe and Latin America, then to eastern Europe and Asia, and finally to Africa. Democracy indices can distinguish between different high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, and other. They encourage a willingness among competing groups to resolve their differences peacefully through the political process even when they do not achieve all of their goals. How to use democratize in a sentence. These social ties promote a level of moderation in society that encourages tolerance of diversity and prevents political conflicts from escalating into violence. The first, lasting from 1826 to 1926, accompanied the expansion of suffrage, principally in western Europe and the United States. The National Labor Relations Board, with a Democratic majority, restored a standard that counts more workers as employees rather than contractors. During this period the number of electoral democracies grew from roughly one-fourth to nearly two-thirds of all countries. "Democratic Transitions," pp. : to make (a country or organization) more democratic. In some countries, democracy evolved gradually over centuries (e.g., Great Britain), whereas in others it emerged much more rapidly (e.g., the Baltic states). [156][157] In other cases, decolonization sometimes facilitated the establishment of democracies that were soon replaced by authoritarian regimes. This is difficult to know because only failures can be measured directly, and these only in hindsight. The new Constitution established a relatively strong federal national government that included an executive, a national judiciary, and a bicameral Congress that represented states in the Senate and the population in the House of Representatives. Webthe process of making countries or organizations use democratic ways of making decisions: The democratization of Western societies has been accompanied by more complexity in However, it is also true that members of the middle class do not always support democracy. "[130], Sharun Mukand and Dani Rodrik dispute that elite-driven democratization produce liberal democracy. "Origins and growth of Parliament". [65][66][67] Montesquieu argued that the mobility of commerce meant that rulers had to bargain with merchants in order to tax them, otherwise they would lead the country or hide their commercial activities. There is considerable debate about the factors which affect (e.g., promote or limit) democratization. Some countries inherited democratic institutions from Britain as a result of colonialism (e.g., Canada and Australia), whereas others finally became democratic through foreign intervention following war (e.g., Germany and Japan). When elites are overly dominant, despotic states emerge. "[151], Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way have argued that close ties to the West increased the likelihood of democratization after the end of the Cold War, whereas states with weak ties to the West adopted competitive authoritarian regimes. The American Revolution (17651783) created the United States. [41] Another study suggests that economic development depends on the political stability of a country to promote democracy. [106] Research shows that education leads to greater political tolerance, increases the likelihood of political participation and reduces inequality. Other scholars acknowledge the relationship between economic growth and democratization but argue that it is not causal. The Glorious Revolution in 1688 established a strong Parliament that passed the Bill of Rights 1689, which codified certain rights and liberties for individuals. Citizens must trust that their elected leaders will generally represent their interests or that they will at least have the opportunity to shape leaders decisions on issues that matter most to them. "Theories of Democratization," pp. [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85] According to Michael Ross, petroleum is the sole resource that has "been consistently correlated with less democracy and worse institutions" and is the "key variable in the vast majority of the studies" identifying some type of resource curse effect. These scholars instead emphasize how the democratization process occurs in a more contingent manner that depends on the characteristics and circumstances of the elites who ultimately oversee the shift from authoritarianism to democracy. Democratization Definition [110], Sheri Berman has rebutted Putnam's theory that civil society contributes to democratization, writing that in the case of the Weimar Republic, civil society facilitated the rise of the Nazi Party. The making more democratic of a political system. Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for democratize, Nglish: Translation of democratize for Spanish Speakers. Common mistakes include: calling elections or starting military conflicts, only to lose them; ignoring popular unrest and being overthrown; initiating limited reforms that get out of hand; and selecting a covert democrat as leader. ", Mazzuca, Sebastin. Others mark earlier beginning points, such as the initiation of liberal reforms by authoritarian regimes or structural changes that weaken authoritarian regimes enough for opposition groups to push for democratic reforms. [166], However, this state-first thesis has been challenged. Democratization is 'the transition to a more democratic system of government.' "What Do We Know About Democratization After Twenty Years? They are more attentive to public affairs and demand both inclusion and accountability. [92], Huntington presented an influential, but also controversial arguments about Confucianism and Islam. The consolidation process entails a much broader and more complex process of institutionalization of the new democratic rules for political life. Democratization "[138], Jeffrey Herbst, in his paper "War and the State in Africa" (1990), explains how democratization in European states was achieved through political development fostered by war-making and these "lessons from the case of Europe show that war is an important cause of state formation that is missing in Africa today. Initially argued by Lipset in 1959, this subsequently been referred to as modernization theory. Not surprisingly, arguments regarding the sources of democratization responded to developments in the real world as the third wave evolved. [11], According to Seva Gunitsky, from the 18th century to the Arab Spring (20112012), 13 democratic waves can be identified.