Conceptual attributes of democracy

• Competition
• Participation
• Civil rights
• Responsiveness
****(Dahl)****
• Sources of authority for government
• Purposes served by the government
• Procedures for constituting government
****(Huntington)****
 Conceptualizing Democracy
-How does Robert Dahl conceptualize democracy?
Conditions favor or impede a transformation into a political regime in
which opponents of the government can openly and legally organize
into political parties in order to oppose the government in free and fair
elections.
Characteristics of democracy according to Dahl

• Participation
• Vote equality
• Understanding
• Control over the agenda
• Inclusion
 Citizens can formulate preferences

Dahl’s 1. Freedom to form and join organizations

prerequisites
for a 2. Freedom of expression

democracy 3. Right to vote

(necessary
but not 4. Right of political leaders to compete for support

sufficient) 5. Alternative sources of information

 • Have their preferences weighted equally in conduct of
government (with no discrimination because of the
content or source of the preference).
1. Freedom to form and join organizations
Dahl’s 2. Freedom of expression
3. Right to vote
prerequisites 4. Eligibility for public office

for a 5. Right of political leaders to compete for support and

votes

democracy 6.
7.
Alternative sources of information
Free and fair elections
8. Institutions for making government policies depend
on votes and other expressions of preference
 Contestation/liberalization:
public contestation is the
amount of elections held.
According to
Dahl, how does
democratization Participation/inclusiveness: the
occur? proportion of the population
entitled to vote or participate in
the public contests.
Democratization Process: the relationship between public contestation and
democratization

Closed hegemonies: low liberalization and low inclusiveness. Example, an

unelected monarchy.

Competitive oligarchies: high liberalization and low inclusiveness. Example, When

only property holding males could vote.

Inclusive hegemonies: have low liberalization and high inclusiveness. An example is

the Soviet Union, where everyone voted for the only candidate available.

Polyarchies: high liberalization and high inclusiveness. Example, advanced western

countries with universal suffrage and low limitations on running for public office.
Three basic paths to polyarchy:

• I. Liberalization precedes inclusiveness

• A. Closed hegemony increases opportunities for public contestation and
thus it transformed into a competitive oligarchy.
• B. The competitive oligarchy becomes a polyarchy by enfranchising
more of the public (increasing inclusiveness).
• Examples: England and Sweden.
• II Inclusiveness precedes liberalization
• A. Closed hegemony becomes inclusive.
• B. The inclusive hegemony becomes a polyarchy by increasing chances
for public contestation.
• Example: Germany from the Empire to the Weimar.
• III Liberalization and inclusiveness occur simultaneously
• Example: France from 1789 to 1792 (although with various restrictions
on voting and the freedom to organize).
• Paths II (Inclusiveness precedes liberalization) and III (Liberalization
and inclusiveness occur simultaneously) are more difficult that I
(Liberalization precedes inclusiveness)

• Because more people involved means more differences of opinions and

interests need to be considered, rendering decisions and process
difficult and complex.
• While path I is the safest and most reliable, it is unlikely to happen
frequently in the future because most hegemonic regimes are already
inclusive.