Theories of democratization
Richard Q. Turcsanyi


Democracy: defining features
•Rule of majority
•Elections and accountable government
•Protection of minorities
•Rule of law
•Division of power
•Civic and political liberties
•Market economy
•Free media
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•--> Liberal democracy
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How to assess/measure democracy?
•Freedom in the World Index (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World,
https://freedomhouse.org/report/methodology-freedom-world-2017)
•Political rights: Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, and Functioning of
Government
•Civil rights: Freedom of Expression and Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of
Law, and Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights
•Bertelsmann Transformation Index (https://www.bti-project.org/en/index/methodology/,
https://www.bti-project.org/en/index/status-index/)
•Political transformation (free elections, civil rights, stateness, rule of law, etc)
•Economic transformation (private property, economic performance, market economy, etc)
•Other indices
•https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freedom_indices

Case studies
•(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freedom_indices)
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•Czech Republic: Free (1-1)
•South Korea: Free (2-2)
•Hungary: Free (3-2)
•Indonesia: Partly Free (2-4)
•Thailand: Unfree (6-5)




Moller-Skaaning: hierarchical „ladder“ theory
•Political liberties: free speech, opinion, right to protest •Rule of law: equal treatment under
the law, minority rights and protections










Additional factor: Social rights



Additional factors
•Stateness
•Wealth
•Market economy
•Vibrant civil society
•Role of religion
•Ethnic fragmentation
•Natural resources
•Others

Sequence of democratization
•UK/USA: rule of law à political liberties à election rights à social rights
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•PL/HU: rule of law à election rights/political liberties à social rights
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•Taiwan/South Korea: rule of law* à social rights/political liberties à election rights
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•China: rule of law* à social rights/political liberties? à election rights?
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