Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Preface
- 1 Methodology’s Problem, and Democracy’s Too
- Part I Rationalism and Constructivism
- 2 Where Democracy Is To Be Found and Why
- 3 When Causality Is To Be Found and How
- 4 Two Western Dreams
- Part II State-Society and Contentious Politics
- Part III Conclusions: Three Chapters, Five Themes, and Twelve Theses
- References
- Index
2 - Where Democracy Is To Be Found and Why
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Preface
- 1 Methodology’s Problem, and Democracy’s Too
- Part I Rationalism and Constructivism
- 2 Where Democracy Is To Be Found and Why
- 3 When Causality Is To Be Found and How
- 4 Two Western Dreams
- Part II State-Society and Contentious Politics
- Part III Conclusions: Three Chapters, Five Themes, and Twelve Theses
- References
- Index
Summary
Though Przeworski et al. (2000) found that wealth is the principal requirement for remaining a democracy, other comparativists have found that there is no one path to democracy, nor one manner in which all democracies operate, nor one outcome that all produce. Democracies are thus highly variable, inviting investigation into various causal questions. This chapter connects the different understandings of democracy to diverse causal stories.
WHERE IS DEMOCRACY TO BE FOUND?
If “democracy” is not a single type of politics, what is the thing called “democracy” that concerns Acemoglu and Robinson and what is the other thing called “democracy” that concerns Wedeen? How exactly do the authors think these things work?
Procedural Democracy
According to Acemoglu and Robinson, regular voting and fair elections lead the government in a procedural democracy to be responsive and accountable to its citizens. Elections, in turn, are driven by redistributive class politics: political preferences result automatically from material position in the political economy, and public policies flow mechanically from voting procedures.
- Type
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- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013