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LSE GV101 Intro to Political Science Lecture Notes

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In-depth yet concise summary of lecture notes, Good to use for exam study to memorize main concepts and definitions as well as some reading notes

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  • October 22, 2024
  • 36
  • 2023/2024
  • Lecture notes
  • Ryan jablonski melissa sands pavithra suryanarayan
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GV101 Lecture Notes

Week 2: Why are Some Countries Democratic

Procedural Democracy
 Emphasis on system of voting over consequence
Polyarchy
 Robert Dahl 1971
 Freedom of association
 Universal suffrage
 Right to stand as a candidate
 Fair elections
 Policies depend on election results


Substantive Democracy: consequences of democracy

Joseph Schumpter (1942)
 Competition of votes between groups of elites
Przeworski, Alvarez, Cheihub, Limongi (2000)
 chief executive is elected
 Legislature is elected
 More than one party
 An Alternation in power under Electoral Rules

Measuring Democracy
Polity Score -10,+10
 Competitiveness of exec recruitment
 Openness of exec recruitment
 Power Constraints of execs
 Freedom of political participation
 Competitive ness of participation

Autocracy: a state or society governed by one person with absolute power
Anocracy: Semi-Democratic

Variety of Democracy: V-dem
 Multi-dimensional dataset, uses 5 principles of democracy
 Electoral, Liberal, Participatory, deliberative, egalitarian
Shows a rise in electoral democracy and autocracy

Liberal democracy: substantive style democracy, rights are protected

,Explaining democracies

Economics
 Lipsit (1959)
 Democracy related to economic development/industrialization

Modernization Theory

Traditional society
 Large agricultural sector
 Small industry and service sector
 Low education
 Dictatorship

Modern society
 Small Agricultuire
 Wealth decentralized: exchange of political power and government revenue
 Large urban middle class
 Universal education
 Democracy
Przeworski et al (2000)
Hypothesis:
 Democracy is more common in rich countries
 As wealth is decentralized and increases dictatorship becomes unlikely

Wealth matters cause democracy is stable in rich countries, unstable in poor
Transitions in poor countries don’t remain, Egyptian Revolution

Culture

Almond, verba (1963)
 Idea of civic culture
 Social trust

Putnam (1993)
 Some are blessed with vibrant network and norms of civic engagement, drives
structured politics

Huntington (1996), Clash of civilizations
 Some cultures are more amenable for democracy than others
 Conflict will arise from cultural tensions not economics or political

Hypothesis
 Democracy is more common in some cultures that support democratic values,
liberty, freedom of expression, equality
 Economic development does not cause democracy, but leads to cultural change -
democracy

,The Ingelhart-Welzel World Cultural map
 Divide world into cluster dimensions Traditonal-secular and Survival – self expression
 Argues as economy develops, civic culture is able to thrive

Strategic Bargains

Acemoglu, Robinson (2006)
 Elites would like to prevent revolution
 Credible commitment to pro-majority polices
 Within non democracies promises are not credible
 Transfer of political power to majority provides credibility and appeases the masses

Rich elite vs Pivotal poor voter
 Low tax vs High Tax
 Preference gap depends on structure of inequality

Dictatorship Bargain
 Elite promises redistribution to poor
 Or Elite repress poor
 Costs vs benefits decision on revolt
Why do bargains break down?
 Incomplete info, not knowing each others preferences
 Credibility of future promises

Repression costs vs inequality matrix

Foa, Mounk – Democratic Deconsolidation
 Population claiming it is essential to live in democracy decreasing
 More people want strong leaders


SUMMARY Week 2

Main explanations of democracy
 Economic Development
 Cultural Values
 Strategic Bargain

Debate of inequality: Undermines vs reinforces Democratization

Democratic sentiment has slowly been decreasing over time and is under threat

, Week 3 Non-Democracies

Types of dictatorships

Absolute – Monarchies/dictatorship
 Elected assemblies exist to be consulted

Military dictatorships
 Government composes of a committee or junta – senior figure in armed forces

Civilian Dictatorship
 Non-democratic regime, non-competitive single party systems or semi-competitive
 Russia, Singapore, Uganda.

Huge reduction in military and Monarchies over time

Regime strategy – more elections but fraudulent elections

Incumbent: Holder of office

Authoritarian Election
 Elections in one party states where open competition is prohibited or hindered.
 Competition in access to state resources (Lust 2009)

Single party elections:
 candidates are restricted to single party, and selected by high party officials
 Vietnam 2016 , Cuba

Multiparty elections (hegemonics):
 All candidates are permitted however dominant party retains power through
manipulation of electoral procedures
 Russia, Tallying of data manipulation

The dictator’s credibility dilemma
 Absolute power = uncredible promises

How elections help dictatorships
 Provide elites with a secure source of patronage : they compete for influence and
favours not power
 Give Elites Stake in outcome of elections, fewer incentives to overthrow
 Divide opposition groups, prevent consolidated groups, capitalize on divisions
 Follow rules, creates stable political environment

How dictatorships work

Selectorate theory (Mesquita et al)

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