Defining Democracy

What is Democracy?

• Origin of the term:

  • Demos, “the common people”

  • Kratia, “power” or “rule”

• Modern definition of democracy: political power exercised either directly or indirectly by the people

Telling “Good” from “Bad” Democracies

• Illiberal democracy

  • Hold elections, but lack key democratic elements

  • Sometimes called “electoral democracies”

• Liberal democracy

  • Promote participation, competition, and liberty and emphasize individual freedom and civil rights

  • Considered “true” democracies

Origins of Democracy

• Republicanism: indirect democracy that emphasizes the separation of powers within a state and the representation of the public through elected officials

• Separation of powers: the clear division of power among different branches of government and the provision that specific branches may check the power of other branches

Two Forms of Democracy

Contemporary Democratization

Possible Explanations for Democratization

• Modernization

• Elites

• Civil society

• International relations

• Political culture

Modernization and Democratization

• As societies go through economic modernization:

  • A middle class emerges: population becomes wealthier, better educated, and urbanized.

  • Old traditions of authority and hierarchy weaken.

  • New values (tolerance, gender equality) emerge.

• Evaluating the evidence for this theory:

  • Some support: Many democracies are wealthy countries

  • However, many countries have modernized without democratizing and vice versa.

Elites and Democratization

• Main idea: Distributions of wealth and power matter.

  • When wealth and state power are held by the same people, elites are more resistant toward democracy if they fear losing wealth.

• Elites may choose to support democracy if

  • The transition is negotiated in a way that allows them to keep their wealth (South Africa, Chile).

  • Supporting democracy wins them international support (Taiwan).

Society and Democratization

• Main idea: The public will be better able to push for reform if civil society is strong.

  • Civil society: organized life outside state control that helps people define and advance their own interests

• When civil society has changed regimes:

  • 1989: Mass protests by civil society groups led to the end of communism in Eastern Europe.

  • 2010-2011: Protests by civil society groups trigger regime change in the “Arab Spring.”

International Relations and Democratization

• Main idea: International actors can play a direct or indirect role in promoting democracy.

  • States and nonstate actors can be democracy promoters.

• Examples:

  • U.S./Allied powers promote democracy in occupied Japan and Germany.

  • International nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) help train local groups promoting democracy in Tunisia (Arab Spring).

Culture and Democratization

• The debate: Is democracy a product of Western culture?

• Those who argue yes:

  • Contend that Western-style values (e.g., individualism, secularism) are required for democracy.

  • The evidence: Democracy first emerged in Western Europe and North America.

• Those who argue no:

  • Democracy can emerge anywhere, but the local culture will shape which values it prioritizes in its design and practice.

  • The evidence: Every region/culture of the world has at least one democracy.

Institutions of the Democratic State

The Executives: Head of State and Head of Government

• Executive: the branch that carries out the laws and policies of a state

• Two distinct roles:

  • Head of state: the executive role that symbolizes and represents the people, both nationally and internationally

  • Head of government: the executive role that deals with the everyday tasks of running the state, such as formulating and executing domestic policy

The Executive: Variation between Countries

• Countries either combine or divide the roles of head of state and head of government.

• Countries that divide the role:

  • United Kingdom

  • Germany

• Countries that combine the role:

  • United States

  • South Africa

Legislatures: Unicameral and Bicameral

• Legislature: branch of government charged with making laws

• Legislatures can be:

  • Bicameral systems: legislatures composed of two houses

    • Common in larger, more diverse countries

    • Often related to federalism

    • Houses may be elected using different rules.

  • Unicameral systems: legislature composed of one house

    • Common in small, homogenous countries

    • More common in unitary governments

Comparing Legislative Design

• Bicameral Legislatures

  • United Kingdom*

  • United States

  • Germany

  • Belgium

  • Brazil

  • India

  • South Africa

• Unicameral Legislatures

  • Denmark

  • Norway

  • Tunisia

  • Greece

  • New Zealand

  • Estonia

  • Nebraska state legislature

Comparing Legislator Selection

• Direct election

  • United States (House and Senate)

  • France (Assembly)

  • Germany (Bundestag)

  • United Kingdom (Commons)

• Indirect election

  • France (Senate)

  • Germany (Bundesrat)

• Heredity/appointment

  • United Kingdom (House of Lords)

Judiciaries and Judicial Review

• Judiciary: the branch of government that maintains and upholds the rule of law

  • Rule of law: a system in which all individuals and groups, including those in government, are subject to the law, irrespective of their power or authority

• A key component of the judiciary are courts, institutions that

  • Interpret applications of laws.

    • Judge criminal complaints

    • Rule on civil suits

  • Follow a hierarchy.

    • The losers in a case can usually appeal to a higher court.

Constitutional Courts

• Nearly 90% of democracies have a constitutional court.

  • Constitutional court: the highest judicial body in a political system that decides whether laws and policies violate the constitution

• All constitutional courts possess the power of judicial review.

  • Judicial review: the mechanism by which courts can review the actions of government and overturn those that violate the constitution

• Some constitutional courts are also the highest appellate court; some are not.

Two Types of Judicial Review

• Concrete review: Courts can consider the constitutionality of legislation only when a specific court case triggers this question.

  • Example: U.S. Supreme Court

• Abstract review: Political leaders can refer questions to a court, often before laws are passed.

  • Example: French Constitutional Council

• Many democracies use both types of review.

In Focus: Branches of Government

Models of Democracy: Parliamentary, Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Systems

Three Types of Executive Designs

• Parliamentary systems

  • Example: United Kingdom

• Presidential systems

  • Example: United States

• Semi-presidential systems

  • Example: France

Parliamentary Systems

• Parliamentary system: a political system in which the roles of head of state and head of government are assigned to separate executive offices

  • Prime minister (PM) is the head of government.

  • Head of state may be elected or unelected.

• Most common executive system in democracies

  • Examples: United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Japan

Parliamentary Systems: Executive-Legislative Fusion

• In parliamentary systems, the head of government and legislature are the same branch.

• The prime minister serves only if he or she receives support of the legislature.

  • PM is elected by the legislature and is a member of it: “First among equals.”

  • PM can easily be removed by legislature with a vote of no confidence.

    • Vote of no confidence: vote taken by a legislature as to whether its members continue to support the current prime minister; can force the PM to resign and/or lead to new parliamentary elections

Presidential Systems

• Presidential system: a political system in which the roles of head of state and head of government are combined in one executive office

  • President is the head of state and government.

  • Legislature has separate leadership structure.

• Second most common type of executive system

  • Examples: United States, Nigeria, Brazil

Presidential systems: Separation of Powers

• In parliamentary systems, the executive and legislature are completely separate branches of government.

• President is an independent position from parliament.

  • Both president and parliament are directly elected.

  • President is difficult to remove from office (impeachment).

• Branches have separate authority.

  • Parliament writes laws (shape policy).

  • Presidents veto or execute them.

Comparing Parliamentary and Presidential Systems: Leader Selection

• How is the executive chosen?

  • Parliamentary systems:

    • Indirect election

      • Voters → Parliament → Government (PM and Cabinet)

  • Presidential systems:

    • Direct election

      • Voters → Parliament

      • Voters → President

• How frequent are elections?

  • Parliamentary systems:

    • Fluid election cycle:

      • Term expires

      • Vote of no confidence

      • PM calls new election

  • Presidential systems:

    • Fixed election cycle

      • Term expires

Comparing Parliamentary and Presidential Systems: Power and Legislating

• Who is the primary initiator of legislation?

  • Parliamentary systems:

    • Prime minister and cabinet

  • Presidential systems:

    • Legislature

• Relations between the branches of government

  • Parliamentary systems:

    • Fusion of legislature and executive

    • Parliament and judiciary may be weaker branches

    • Prime minister can easily be replaced between elections

  • Presidential systems:

    • Separation of powers

    • Co-equal branches

    • Difficult to replace the executive between elections

Semi-Presidential Systems

• Semi-presidential system: an executive system that divides power between two strong executives, a president and a prime minister

  • President: head of state and government

  • Prime minister: head of government

• Very rare system

Semi-Presidential Systems: Leader Selection

• How is the executive chosen?

  • Direct and indirect elections

  • Voters → President and Parliament

  • President and Parliament → Prime Minister

• How frequent are elections?

  • Fixed election cycle

Semi-Presidential Systems: Power and Legislating

• Who is the primary initiator of legislation?

  • Depends on the country

• Relations between the branches of government

  • Dual executive

  • Neither fused nor separated

In Focus: Basic Features

Parliamentary, Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Systems: Benefits and Drawbacks

Parliamentary Systems

• Pros:

  • PM can usually get legislation passed

  • PM is easily removed

• Cons:

  • Public doesn’t directly elect PM

  • Ruling party/coalition may be viewed as having “too much power”

Presidential Systems

• Pros:

  • The president is directly elected by the people

  • Checks and balances

• Cons:

  • Divided government and gridlock

  • Hard to remove president

In Focus: Benefits and Drawbacks

Political Parties

Political Parties: Functions and Comparisons

• Parties promote…

  • Participation

  • Competition

  • Governance and policy-making

  • Accountability

• Some democracies have two parties, others have more.

  • Party systems are shaped by electoral systems.

Competition in Democracy

• Political parties encourage democratic competition by gathering diverse groups under an ideological mandate while simultaneously preventing domination by any one group. Parties also create the means to hold government accountable.

• The separation of powers between different branches of government prevents abuses of power by any one branch.

Electoral Systems

• Electoral system: a set of rules that govern how votes are cast, counted, and translated into seats in a legislature

• To compare electoral systems, we might ask:

  • Do they elect candidates, parties, or both?

    • Constituency: a geographical area that an elected official represents

    • District magnitude: number of members of parliament representing each constituency

  • How do they calculate the winner or winners?

Single-Member District Systems

• Single-member districts (SMD) system: an electoral system with one seat

• Main variants:

  • First past the post (FPTP): an electoral system in which individual candidates compete in single-member districts

  • Majority-based SMD: an electoral system in which individual candidates compete in single-member districts, but where the winning candidate must win a majority of the vote

    • Run-off elections are a common way of running majority-based SMD systems.

    • Less common is rank ordering (preferential voting).

A Rarer SMD System: Preferential Voting

• Voters rank-order candidates

  • Once ballots are cast, low-ranking candidates are eliminated.

  • Votes are redistributed to the voter’s second choice.

  • Elimination and vote reallocation continues until candidates receive a predetermined quota of votes.

Comparing SMD Systems

• Plurality (First past the post) Majority-based SMD (Runoff)

  • Examples United Kingdom, United States, France

• Voters select candidates or parties? Candidates

• How many representatives for each constituency? One

• Who wins? The candidate w/ a majority of votes *May require a runoff election

Multimember District (MMD) Systems

• Multimember district (MMD) system: an electoral system with more than one seat

• One variant, but many options: proportional representation (PR)

  • Definition: an electoral system in which political parties compete in multimember districts; voters choose between parties, and the seats in the district are awarded proportionally according to the results of the vote

  • District sizes may vary.

  • Political parties may need to pass an electoral threshold to win any seats.

In Focus: Participation

• One of the most basic ways in which the public participates in politics is through voting and elections.

• Voters may also participate in political decision-making through referenda and initiatives.

• The two main types of electoral systems are single-member district (SMD) and proportional representation (PR). Most of the democratic countries today use PR. Many use a mix of SMD and PR.

Mixed Systems

• Mixed electoral system: an electoral system that uses a combination of single-member districts and proportional representation

• Two common variants:

  • Parallel voting

  • Mixed member proportional

Mixed Systems in Comparison

• Germany (it’s complicated!)

  • 598+ members of Parliament

  • Mixed member proportional system

    • SMD list: 299 members

    • 299+ from 16 MMD districts

• Japan

  • 465 members of Parliament

  • Parallel voting

    • SMD list: 289 candidates

    • MMD lists: 176 candidates from 11 districts (6-28 seats)

Comparing MMD and Mixed Systems

• Proportional Representation (PR)

  • Examples: South Africa, Netherlands

  • Voters select candidates or parties? Parties

  • How many representatives for each constituency? Many (2+)

  • Who wins? Parties receive seats based on percentage (proportion) of votes they receive.

    • Some countries use thresholds.

• Mixed

  • Examples: Japan, Germany

  • Voters select candidates or parties? Both

  • How many representatives for each constituency? One and many

  • Who wins? It depends.

    • Parallel voting

    • Mixed member proportional

Comparing Electoral Systems

In Focus: Electoral Systems

Advantages and Disadvantages

• Proportional representation

  • More and smaller parties

    • More representation of ideas

    • Stronger party discipline and ideological branding

  • More women and minorities in parliaments

  • Risk of party fragmentation

• Majority/plurality systems

  • Fewer and larger parties

    • Clear mandates

    • Better political accountability

  • Less representative

  • Disproportional results

Referendum and Initiative

Referenda and Initiatives

• Both are forms of direct democracy.

• Defined:

  • Referendum: national vote called by a government to address a specific proposal, often a change to a constitution

  • Initiative: national vote called by members of the public to address a specific proposal

Referenda in France and the European Union

• Referenda used in France since first revolution

• Referenda used periodically in France at national and local levels during the nineteenth century.

  • Public votes often used to solidify authoritarian rule

  • French became skeptical of referenda

• The use of referenda was restored during de Gaulle’s presidency

• Post de Gaulle, referenda have focused on international concerns, specifically issues regarding the European Union and its expansion

  • Since 1972, there have been almost 50 national referenda dealing with the European Union

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

• Created by the constitution and/or political regime

  • Civil rights: individual rights regarding equality that are created by the constitution and the political regime

  • Civil liberties: individual rights regarding freedom that are created by the constitution and the political regime

• What might explain the different rights and liberties practiced in each state?

  • Specificity of constitutional protections

  • Actions by courts to defend rights and liberties

  • Cultural differences in ideas about the role of state

In Sum: Future Challenges to Democracy

• Liberal democracy is based on participation, competition, and liberty. Democracy can be practiced directly or indirectly.

• Democratization is shaped by economic, political, social, and international forces.

• While all democracies have three branches of government, they differ in how their executive, legislative, and judicial institutions are constructed.

• Parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential systems offer different choices on legislative-executive relations.

• All democracies require political parties to function, but the form of their party system is shaped by their electoral rules.

• There are many different ways to elect representatives or vote on policies.

• Democracies vary in terms of the specific rights and liberties they include in their constitutions.

Key Terms

1. Abstract review - judicial review that allows the constitutional court to rule on questions that do not arise from actual legal disputes

2. Bicameral system - a political system in which the legislature comprises two houses

3. Civil liberties - individual rights regarding freedom that are created by the constitution and the political regime

4. Civil rights - individual rights regarding equality that are created by the constitution and the political regime

5. Civil society - organizations outside of the state that help people define and advance their own interests

6. Concrete review - judicial review that allows the constitutional court to rule on the basis of actual legal disputes brought before it

7. Constituency - a geographical area that an elected official represents

8. Constitutional Court - the highest judicial body in a political system that decides whether laws and policies violate the constitution

9. Democracy - a political system in which political power is exercised either directly or indirectly by the people

10. Electoral system - a set of rules that decide how votes are cast, counted, and translated into seats in a legislature

11. Executive - the branch of government that carries out the laws and policies of a state

12. First Past the Post - an electoral system in which individual candidates compete in single-member districts; voters choose between candidates, and the candidate with the largest share of the vote wins the seat

13. Head of Government - the executive role that deals with the everyday tasks of running the state, such as formulating and executing domestic policy

14. Head of State - the executive role that symbolizes and represents the people, both nationally and internationally

15. Initiative - a national vote called by members of the public to address a specific proposal

16. Judicial review - the mechanism by which courts can review the actions of government and overturn those that violate the constitution

17. Legislature - the branch of government charged with making laws

18. Liberal democracy - a political system that promotes participation, competition, and liberty and emphasizes individual freedom and civil rights

19. Mixed electoral system - an electoral system that uses a combination of single-member districts and proportional representation

20. Multi-member district (MMD) - an electoral district with more than one seat

21. Parliamentary system - a political system in which the roles of head of state and head of government are assigned to separate executive offices

22. Presidential system - a political system in which the roles of head of state and head of government are combined in one executive office

23. Proportional representation (PR) - an electoral system in which political parties compete in multi-member districts; voters choose between parties, and the seats in the district are awarded proportionally according to the results of the vote

24. Referendum - a national vote called by a government to address a specific proposal, often a change to the constitution

25. Republicanism - indirect democracy that emphasizes the separation of powers within a state and the representation of the public through elected officials

26. Rule of law - a system in which all individuals and groups, including those in government, are subject to the law, irrespective of their power or authority

27. Semi-presidential system - an executive system that divides power between two strong executives, a president and a prime minister

28. Separation of power - the clear division of power among different branches of government and the provision that specific branches may check the power of other branches

29. Single-member district (SMD) - an electoral district with one seat

30. Unicameral system - a political system in which the legislature comprises one house

31. Vote of no confidence - vote taken by a legislature as to whether its member continue to support the current prime minister; depending on the country, a vote of no confidence can force the resignation of the prime minister and/or lead to new parliamentary elections