API-413

Challenges of Democratization

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Aims and objectives:

This course covers the basic principles, theories, conceptual tools, and comparative methods useful for understanding the challenges of democracy. The aftermath of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq has highlighted the critical importance of this issue, raising it on the U.S. policy agenda, although this is far from a new concern. Since the early 1990s, the international community has focused attention on the challenges of encouraging and facilitating democratization, with the understanding that an effective democratic state and good governance encourages and complements the activities of the private and non-profit sectors, allowing markets to flourish and people to live healthier, happier lives. Democratization aims to develop institutions and processes that are more responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens, including the poor. Moreover, good governance is believed to promote international peace and cooperation, reducing the causes of conflict and violence between and within states.

The international community has used a triple strategy to promote this process. Aid has been devoted to strengthening independent judiciaries and effective legislatures designed to curb and counterbalance executive powers. Democratic assistance has flowed into attempts to foster and expand civic society by nurturing grassroots organizations, advocacy NGOs, and the news media. But among all the issues, perhaps the most resources have been invested in attempts to establish competitive, free and fair elections.

The primary challenge concerns establishing, deepening, and strengthening the quality of democracy. Despite the substantial expansion of ‘third-wave’ democracies, military-backed dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, elitist oligarchies, and absolute monarchies persist, particularly in much of the Middle East and North Africa. Other transitional semi-democracies like Zimbabwe and Pakistan have occasionally stalled or reverted back to authoritarianism. And there has been only fragile, partial or unstable consolidation of democracy in Argentina, Venezuela, and Russia. Major problems of transition confront attempts at building stable nation-states, let along free and fair elections, in Afghanistan and Iraq. The process of democratization therefore remains deeply flawed in many countries.

To understand these issues, Part I provides and overview and develops methods and analytical tools suitable for comparative policy research into democratization and good governance; Part II considers the relationship between economic and political development. Part III considers the underlying institutions most conducive to strengthening democratization; Part III focuses upon modernization theories of political culture and issues of gender equality. Part IV examines the role of civil society and theories of social capital. Part VII looks at questions of ethnic conflict and cooperation. The conclusion draws together the core lessons of good governance for the policy community.