Comparative Analysis of Democratization prof Fulvio Venturino Comparative

Comparative Analysis of Democratization prof. Fulvio Venturino Comparative Politics Principles of Democracy and Democratization Chapter 6: Democratization and the Global Environment

The key questions • The effects that external forces have on the development of democracy – democratic diffusion and waves of democratization – effects of the legacies of colonialism – globalization and democracy – imposed democracy

Samuel Huntington and the three waves of democratization • First wave: since 1820 s to World War I • Second wave: since the end of World War II to first 1960 s • Third wave: since mid-1970 s to ? ? ?

Types of democratization process • Transformation: led by authoritarian leaders • Transplacement: jointly led by authoritarian leaders and opposition groups • Replacement: led by opposition groups

The previous authoritarian regimes • Herbert Kitschelt on Central and Eastern Europe: patrimonial communism vs. national consensus communism • Michel Bratton and Nicolas Van de Walle on Africa: personalist dictatorship, military oligarchy, plebiscitary one-party system, competitive one-party system

Global causes of the third wave of democratization • the unprecedented economic growth of the 1960 s • the global economic downturn of the 1970 s • the shift in the activities of the Catholic Church • in the 1970 s the European Community and the US stopped the unconditional support of anticommunist authoritarian regimes • demonstration or snowball effects

Why so many hybrid regimes? • After the end of Communism some limitations to democratization emerged because of the clash of civilizations – Western Christian zone – Orthodox Christian zone – Confucian zone – Islamic zone

Is there a democratic legacy of the colonialism? • It depends on the previous colonizer – British made use of an indirect rule, thus providing the natives with experience of self-rule (but also fueling tribal strife) – Other colonial countries preferred a direct rule based on regional governors

Globalization and democracy • In established democracies globalization has undermined the left-wing parties • What about democratizing countries? – Globalization may stimulate economic growth … – … but it may also bring about ethnic conflict

Imposed democracy • Imposition may happen when a foreign power plays an important role in the establishment, promotion, and maintenance of the democratic government • Imposed democratic regimes may stem from – Defeat in a war – Controlled decolonization