2.2

2.2 DEMOCRACY AND AUTHORITARIANISM


  • A liberal democracy is a system with free and fair elections that provides its citizens with a wide array of civil rights and liberties. They are based on majority rule. 

  • Out of the countries studied in AP Comp Gov, the United Kingdom is the only one rated by Freedom House as “free”, and a liberal democracy. Even though Nigeria and Mexico are democracies, they are partially free. 

  • An authoritarian state is a system without free and fair elections in which civil rights and liberties are restricted. 

  • Russia, China and Iran are classified as authoritarian states. 

  • A totalitarian state is a type of authoritarian state in which the government has total control of nearly all aspects of citizens’ lives. 

  • None of the six countries studied are considered to be totalitarian. 


  • Illiberal, flawed or hybrid democracies are systems in which elections may be marred by fraud and the state protects some civil rights and liberties but restricts others. They have some attributes of democratic states, but not all. 



RULE OF LAW, RULE BY LAW

  • Rule of law: a clear set of rules where government officials are subject to the same laws and penalties as citizens. It means that no one is above the law, even if you are a government leader. The law applies to everyone uniformly. 

  • Rule by law: where the law is applied arbitrarily and government officials are not subject to the same rules and penalties as citizens. The government may apply the law arbitrarily and as a tool for maintaining power. 


DEMOCRATIC AND AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES

  • In democratic systems, citizens have the ability, directly or indirectly, to control political leaders and institutions through free and fair elections (a free election is one in which almost all citizens have the right and ability to vote. A fair election is one in which parties are free to form and the media are independent.)

  • Members of underrepresented groups have the ability to run for office, and multiple political parties have the right to form. 

  • In democratic systems,s leaders are accountable to voters, who may vote them out of office. Democratic governments also provide checks within the government to thwart potential nondemocratic abuse of power by other institutions or leaders. 

  • Democratic systems provide transparency (the ability of citizens to know what the government is doing): citizens have access to information about government revenues and spending and there are freedom of information laws. 

  • Authoritarian systems can have many forms: one-party, military, personalist, theocratic, and electoral authoritarian. 

  • In a one-party state, a single political party controls the government, and other parties are not allowed to win elections. An example of a country with this is China.

  • In personalist regimes, decisions can be made and implemented at the whim of the executive, who rules based on his or her personal power. 

  • In military regimes, like those in Nigeria in the mid-to-late twentieth century, leadership is controlled by a high-ranking military official, usually following a coup. 

  • Theocratic regimes, like Iran’s, are based on religious rule. 

  • An electoral authoritarian regime is a regime where opposition parties are allowed to exist and win some elected offices, but the ruling party manipulates electoral rules enough to ensure that it maintains virtually all effective power. They allow limited freedom of expression, enough to ensure that it doesn’t threaten the ruling party’s grip on power. An example of this is Russia. 

  • Authoritarian regimes around the world all rule through some combination of repression, cooptation, and efforts at maintaining legitimacy. 

  • They use cooptation (offering citizens benefits and official positions) as a way to secure political support, and most authoritarian regimes attempt to improve their economies to maintain citizen support. 

  • The loyalty of the military is crucial to authoritarian states. 


DEMOCRATIC TRANSITIONS

  • Democratization is the process of transitioning from an authoritarian to a democratic regime. 

  • It is often triggered by an event, such as a natural disaster, economic crisis, major change in the international community, widespread civilian protests or death of a personalist dictator. 

  • Democratic consolidation is the process by which a regime has developed stable democratic institutions and significant protections of civil liberties and is unlikely to revert to authoritarianism. 

  • Before a country can be considered a consolidated democracy, it must pass the “two-turnover test” before it can be considered a consolidated democracy: one party myst win the initial election, and then a different party must win a later election and replace the first party. 

  • Democratic backsliding is a decline in the quality of democracy, including a decrease in citizen participation, the rule of law, transparency, and accountability. This can ultimately result in democratic breakdown and the rise of a new authoritarian regime. 

  • Democracies can protect themselves from backsliding through fair election rules, checks on government, and the protection of civil rights and liberties.