4
Com (Subject) / 3 (Lesson)
- What is democracy? -form of government in which people rule -opposed to an aristocrat, monarch, philosopher, bureaucrat, expert or religious leader demos (people) + kratos (rule)
- Components, which most of the competing definitions include: -competition -participation -liberty/rights -deliberation
- Minimalist/procedural definition 1. Schumpeter: "the democratic method is that institutional arragement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote. 2./3. Przeworski, Cheibub: -propose dichotomous classifications: democracy vs. autocracy -criteria based on contestation: "regimes in which government offices are filled by contested elections" government offices=executive and legislative branch of the government contestation=a) type that requires that more than one party has a t least in principle a chance of winning an election. b) type where when incumbents lose elections, they leave office when the rules says so otherwise not democratic
- operational terms 1. chief executive must be elected directly or indirectly. 2. the lower house of the legislative must be elected. 3. there must be more than one party competing. 4. if 1-3 and in incumbents subsequently held but never lost elections then regimes are authoritarian (alternation in power) -> Singapore, Botswana, Japan, Kenya, Mexico
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