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Key Text Democratization in the Third World

Author: B Smith
Date: 2003
Size: 24 pages

Summary

What are the prerequisites of a stable democracy? This chapter in ‘Understanding Third World Politics: Theories of Political Change and Development’ shows that the process of democratisation is not smooth. The research concludes that it is important to recognise that democratisation cannot be separated from the development of the economy.

With the dominant ideology in the world prescribing a free-market economy, there are very powerful pressures being applied to Third World countries to liberalise their economies and transform their polities in the direction of pluralism. Hence the current interest in what is needed to restore democracy, as well as how to make it function effectively so that its legitimacy becomes firmly established.

Identifying the necessary conditions for the survival of democratic regimes has long been a preoccupation of political science, but is particularly relevant today when so many attempts are being made to restore Western liberal democracy in so many parts of the world. Developing countries have been caught up in the so-called 'third wave' of democratisation, starting in Portugal in 1974 and sweeping across southern and eastern Europe and most regions of the Third World.

The latest wave of democratisation has included remarkable changes in the Third World. However, the strength of democratisation has been varied here, with the strongest felt in Latin America. Asia has also experienced significant democratisation. Sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind with relatively weak attempts to democratise. The Middle East has seen very little effort to democratise.

The process of democratisation has not been one of smooth progression.
When new countries enter the ranks of newly democratising states others suffer reversals in the form of coups or ethnic violence leading to the collapse of government.
To account for the process of democratisation and its setbacks, a broad distinction is drawn between the transition to democracy (with its historical antecedents) and consolidation (the conditions necessary for democratic regimes).

The significance of economic development to democracy shows how important it is to recognise that political reform cannot sensibly be pursued in isolation from measures designed to strengthen the performance of Third World economies.

It is right to assert the importance of political prerequisites of democracy and the status of economic factors as necessary but not sufficient conditions for consolidation.
It is important that political preconditions should not be part of one's definition of democracy, lest theorising becomes merely tautological.
It is also necessary to understand that democracy is a contested concept. The choice of a particular definition - electoral competition, decision-making procedures, civil and political rights, or the distribution of power within society - may reflect an ideological or normative position on the part of the user that should be acknowledged.

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Source: Smith, B.C., 2003, 'Democratization in the Third World', in Understanding Third World Politics: Theories of Political Change and Development, Macmillan Press Ltd, pp. 250-274