1.4 Democratization

Unit 1 - Democratization 

The goal for you in this topic is simple: describe and measure (remember Topic 1.1) how regimes include more of the 7️⃣ seven characteristics of democracy into their political systems. Both authoritarian 👑 and democratic 🙋🏾‍♀️ regimes can democratize. 

Often this is not a linear process—sometimes regimes take a small step toward democratization, and then a giant leap back to authoritarianism. Democratization can involve any of the characteristics of democracy, but may not include them all!  

Characteristics of Democracy🙋🏾‍♀️

Need a reminder of what those 7️⃣ characteristics are?

1. Free and Fair elections.
2. Competitive elections.
3. Government-developed policies and procedures that guarantee due process, accountability, and transparency in decision making.
4. Political and civil rights are possessed by all.
5. Independent judiciary.
6. Elected government officials who exercise authority over the government.
7. Rule of Law.

Applying them to each Country of Study

So let's look at some examples of each of the 7 characteristics as we discuss democratization in our countries of study.

1. Free and Fair elections. Two authoritarian nations, Mexico 🇲🇽 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 have been moving toward electoral democratization. They're attempting to accommodate and include more individuals into the system by increasing multiparty competition with rule adjustments, creating gender or cultural quotas to incorporate all people, proportional representation (an electoral system in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them, remember this is different from winner-takes-all, which is what we have in America- if you win the popular vote, you win all the votes), and changing vote thresholds and district boundaries to ensure that candidates represent the people. In both countries, independent election committees have been created to reduce voter fraud and make elections more fair. However, democratization of electoral systems can happen in democratic nations, like England, as well. Prior to 1918 only men 👨could vote in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿. However, in 1918 they passed the Representation of the People Act, which allowed women 👩🏼 over 30 who owned property to vote. In 1928, the Equal Franchise Act expanded voting to include all women over 21.
2. Competitive elections. Again we can discuss Mexico 🇲🇽 and Nigeria 🇳🇬. One of the big things to understand with democratization is that the party out of power needs to have an opportunity to win elections. In Mexico 🇲🇽 there was a time when the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) held power for 71 years! Today, power has switched back and forth between the main parties, which is an indication that steps have been taken to democratize elections. Now you might say to me, but Ms. C, Russia 🇷🇺 has more then one party, but no opposition party has ever taken control of the national legislature through elections! That is why we would say that Russia is a lliberal democracy, because elections are in place, as well as multi-party systems, but there is no chance that another party can win power, so elections lack true competitiveness and therefore, are more or less elections in name only, they lack legitimacy and transparency (those characteristics of democracy that have to be present.)
3. Government transparency. A pattern is starting to emerge here because we are going to talk about Mexico 🇲🇽 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 again! (This should indicate that of the nations of study, these two authoritarian 👑 regimes seem to be moving more toward emerging democracies, meaning that they have far more characteristics of a democratic nation than authoritarian regime in the modern era (20th century and beyond). The nations should be considered democratic, like the UK, and far more democratic 🙋🏾‍♀️ then Russia 🇷🇺, China 🇨🇳, and Iran 🇮🇷). Both Mexico 🇲🇽 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 have passed National Freedom of Information Acts, and this means more accountability and transparency regarding government actions!
4. Political and Civil Rights possessed by all. Mexico 🇲🇽 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 have national courts and protections of rights and liberties, but there are issues and obstacles in both countries. For instance in Nigeria there are segments of the country that have experienced violence between religious factions, and therefore rights are severely impacted.
5. Independent Judiciary. In China 🇨🇳 there is little to no democratization in its judiciary, but there is a 99.3% conviction rate! Therefore, we would say that China 🇨🇳 is still very authoritarian 👑 in nature.
6. Elected government officials who exercise authority over the branches of government. China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 are good examples of this, and in both cases the President and the party of power control the various branches of government. In Russia 🇷🇺 the branches can't really challenge Putin's authority.
7. Rule of Law. Laws are clear, government is open, there is accountability, and accessible justice. One good indicator of rule of law is to ask, do elections matter? In Mexico 🇲🇽 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 the answer is yes, but in Russia 🇷🇺 no party has won an election outside of United Russia! This great website allows you to look at democratization around the world. 

Before we move onto 1.5 I thought a visual representation of all that we discussed in topics 1.3 and 1.4 as this is a large amount of information to remember and 1.3 and 1.4 have common themes that run through out both topics.

Overview of Topics 1.3-1.4

🔑 Key Characteristics of Democratization-Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes

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Democracy: advancements and regression

Movements to democratize have been taking place in all different places across the world. But, democratic erosion is also a significant issue in the modern political landscape. It is important to recognize not only the type of democracy a country has, but also what factors contribute or disrupt its democratic system. 🫂

• Democratic consolidation is the process in which a country adopts and reinforces its democracy. Some ways in which a nation can achieve that is through maturing its election rules, emphasizing the separation of powers, and protecting civil liberties. 🆓 In other words, democratic consolidation makes it harder for non-democratic/authoritarian forms of government to take place.
• Democratic backslide can happen when the government adopts policies or rules that impede democratic elections to take place. 😵‍💫. Poverty has also been identified as an obstacle to democracies because it inhibits people from participating in the democratic process and having access to information. - Corruption can highly inhibit democracy. However, a strong and independent judiciary can control it by reinforcing and consolidating the rights and liberties of people. Movements towards democratization across the world have been enhanced by the democratic waves 🌊. The political scientists Samuel Huntington characterizes the "waves of democratization" according to the following: 

1. First democratic wave - began through the origins of democracy. There is no established date as it was established overtime.
2. Second democratic wave - began through the allied victory after WWII 🗡. It went on until the 1960s.
3. Third democratic wave - characterized by the defeat of dictatorships all across Latin America in the 1970s. The recent turnover in Mexico, with the defeat of the single-party supremacy, is also part of this wave.

💡Remember: The most significant part of this chapter is understanding the processes of democracy. The key questions you need to be able to answer are: What makes a nation democratic? What are the goals of democracy?