Democratic Instability Research Articles

Organizing Democracy: How International Organizations Assist New Democracies (by Paul Poast and Johannes Urpelainen)

Organizing Democracy: How International Organizations Assist New Democracies (by Paul Poast and Johannes Urpelainen)

From Global Democratic Instability to the Rise of Authoritarian Leaders on European Ground: Influence of Other Autocratic Regimes? The Case of Hungary and Poland

From Global Democratic Instability to the Rise of Authoritarian Leaders on European Ground: Influence of Other Autocratic Regimes? The Case of Hungary and Poland

Liberal democracy and the search for political stability

Liberal political philosophers are beginning to seriously consider the prospects of democratic instability alongside the question of justice. This chapter explores how a recent development in liberal political theory, political liberalism, frames the problem of social stability. Political liberals think reasonable pluralism is the natural outcome of free and open democratic institutions. The permanent existence of diverse yet reasonable moral and religious comprehensive doctrines create theoretical and practical problems for liberalism. A theoretically coherent liberalism must find normative reasons all can endorse even though everyone grounds their reasons on radically different conceptions of the moral good. A practically stable liberalism must show how a society whose members tend naturally toward moral division can nonetheless share the same normative political conception of justice. Solving both problems in ways consistent with liberal political values is difficult because the permanent existence of reasonable pluralism creates two formulations of the problem of stability. This chapter characterizes the two problems in terms of a positive and negative formulations. It traces the progress political liberals make toward resolving the positive formulation. It also explains how the solution to the positive formulation of the problem of liberal stability simultaneously provides a solution to the theoretical problem of liberal coherency. However, the chapter also argues that the negative formulation of the problem of liberal stability remains unresolved. A key task for liberal theorists in the twenty-first century is resolving the negative formulation of the problem of stability, for without a solution, the ‘rule of law’ remains vulnerable to attacks from those willing to use the ‘will of the people’ against it.

The state of democracy in Africa

Many African states experienced democratic transition following the third wave of democratization that spread across the region in the 1990s. Such democratic states became characterized by multiparty elections, tolerance for opposition tolerance, media freedom, protection of human rights and respect for the rule of law. However, recent trends show that democratic growth has stalled while its gains are short-lived in many states. This is evidenced in the rise in third termism, constitutional coups, military coups and digital authoritarianism that plagues the continent – suggesting a wave of democratic relapse and autocracy. One is therefore poised to ask what the state of democracy in Africa is and what trends and practices have led to a general decline in levels of democracy. To this end, this paper assesses the incidence of democratic recession in Africa by adopting a descriptive and analytical approach that relies on secondary data sourced from peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, briefs and internet sources. It was found that the decline in democratization, otherwise democratic relapse heralds an epoch of democratic instability and entrenched autocracy in the continent. This is not unconnected with the spate of bad governance, violent electoral contestation, digital repression and widespread violation of human rights that is prevalent on the continent. It was therefore recommended that priority be given to good governance, the strengthening of state institutions and tolerance for opposition.

Managing Diversity: Why Is Consociationalism Not an Optimal Solution for Pakistan?

This research seeks to enhance our understanding of consociationalism’s effectiveness in managing differences in plural societies by assessing its applicability to Pakistan. The primary objective of the paper is to determine whether consociationalism is the best solution for managing ethnic diversity in Pakistan. The article applies a mixed-methods approach and relies on secondary and primary sources. The study argues that the success of consociationalism appears uncertain in the face of intragroup party-based divisions, constant fluctuations in ethnoregional party support, the territorial nature of political grievances, and democratic instability in Pakistan. Equally, the lack of various favorable conditions for consociationalism in the case endangers its viability. In addition, the majority of all ethnolinguistic groups do not prefer consociational solutions to ethnic differences. This analysis suggests that consociationalism cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution because not all plural societies are compatible with this system. Therefore, consociationalism is not a universally viable option for all multiethnic societies, and its utility varies across cases.

Politics at the Gun Counter: Examining Partisanship and Masculinity among Conservative Gun Sellers during the 2020 Gun Purchasing Surge

Abstract How does gender shape how conservatives “do partisanship”? This paper draws on interviews with a group of conservative Americans—gun sellers—during a year of record gun sales amid a global pandemic, civil unrest, and democratic instability. In 2020, gun sellers navigated an increasingly diverse clientele, including what they understood as an increase in liberal, progressive, and leftist gun buyers. This unique influx bucked decades-long trends of partisan sorting in America and compelled gun sellers to “do partisanship” as they fielded the new gun buyers in their stores. Integrating the literatures on the gender gap in partisanship with scholarship on hegemonic masculinity, this paper examines how gun sellers mobilized masculinity as a means of expressing and engaging in partisanship. Our analysis details how interviewees (1) embrace a brand of hegemonic masculinity that champions self-preservation and preparedness, (2) define themselves against liberal politics and policies they deem emasculating, and (3) draw partisan boundaries around gun ownership that reinforce conservatives as responsible gun owners while denigrating liberals as emotional, impressionable, and incompetent. We argue that partisanship can be understood as a gendered practice that provides insight into how conservatives make political meaning in their everyday lives.

Introduction: Looking for Governance: Latin America Governance Reforms and Challenges

ABSTRACT Governance scholarship is particularly positioned to propose reforms in public administration to improve the work of governments. The papers in this mini-symposium focus on governance reforms in Latin America, presenting results related to the processes of institutional change that shaped public administration. Governance reforms in Latin America have created different realities and currently face the challenge of institutionalization as a central element. The pattern of institutional change in public administration in Latin America was politically shaped in contexts of democratic instability. Just as democracy represented an essential element for institutional changes in public administration, its instability and institutional weakness make it challenging to institutionalize governance mechanisms in Latin America. Thus, governance reforms in Latin America reinforce the path-dependent characteristic of public administration reforms.

ON INSTITUTIONAL DETERMINANTS OF DEMOCRATIC VOLATILITY (CASE OF UKRAINE)

This paper attempts to examine institutional reasons behind democratic ups and downs in Ukraine. From historical, civilizational determinants to foreign policy, judicial, electoral systems are considered as defining factors for regime volatility. Civilizational factor is observed in the paper as a basic determinant upon which modern political institutions and practices are constructed. The paper accordingly discusses Soviet institutional heritage for the current institutional environment. Furthermore, the paper considering afore-mentioned determinants uses diachronic approach to trace regime changes in PostSoviet Ukraine. What’s more, paper outlines several events as critical junctures for institutional development and path dependence: as electoral rule changes, constitutional amendments. Aside from immanent systemic features paper accents external, geopolitical situation as well, linking democratic instability to geopolitical shifts. Eventually the paper forecasts that democratic erosion and volatility can be stopped, and democratic progress guaranteed only through “border defining”, both physically and culturally, which is applicable for all Post Soviet states.

Regenerative Democracy for Envisioning and Fostering Flourishing Societies

The main objective of this article is to propose a new concept of Regenerative Democracy for envisioning and fostering flourishing societies. In pursuing this goal, this study is structured in three research strands, as follows: (i) the proposition of a cohesive set of indices for assessing global democracy and its historical crisis, stability, and transitioning regimes; (ii) an evaluation of empirical correlations and interdependencies between global sustainability and democracy; and (iii) the proposition of a new concept of Regenerative Democracy and its respective system dynamics modeling archetype for portraying societal transitions and their respective patterns of behavior over time. The overall results and discussion of this study indicate an empirical trend of democratic instability, comprising a decline in quality distribution among democratic states and an increasing risk of socio-ecological degeneration. These results also reveal a highly interdependent relationship between historical achievements of essential societal needs and global democratic stability and consolidation. Finally, flourishing societies relies on social equity, political participation, intergenerational justice and solidarity, long-term thinking, and synergistic relationships between societies and Earth’s life-giving systems.

Understanding the Nexus Between Horizontal Inequalities, Ethno-Political Conflict and Political Participation: A Case Study of Balochistan

ABSTRACT Since its inception in 1947, Pakistan has been facing the challenges of separatism, primarily based on its distinct ethnic identities. Balochistan, the largest but least populous province of Pakistan, has been trapped into a vicious cycle of violent insurgency driven by the problems of political autonomy, unequal resource distribution, and socioeconomic disparities. This paper argues that aggressive regional inequalities and state’s repressive policies have fuelled Baloch sentiments of neglect and deprivation and spurred ethno-political conflict. This paper traces the nexus between socioeconomic imbalances, growth of ethno-political conflict and political participation in Balochistan in the light of Frances Stewart’s concept of ‘horizontal inequalities’. The paper attempts to examine how grievances triggered by the presence of horizontal inequalities can exacerbate the likelihood of ethnic conflict and democratic instability in multi-ethnic societies. It claims that policies of distributive justice and inclusive governance can enhance the likelihood of democratic stability in a plural society.

Recalling and/or Repressing German Marxism? The Case of Ernst Fraenkel

I spent a few unseasonably hot summer days in 1996 digging around in the German Federal Archives in Koblenz for what later became a lengthy essay on Ernst Fraenkel (1898–1975), the neglected German socialist political and legal thinker. I still recall struggling to justify my efforts not simply as an historian of ideas but also as a political theorist who, at least in principle, was expected to make systematic contributions to contemporary debates. The problem was that Fraenkel had focused his acumen on investigating liberal democratic instability and German fascism, matters that did not seem directly pertinent to a political and intellectual constellation in which political scientists were celebrating democracy's “third wave.” With Tony Blair and Bill Clinton touting Third Way politics, and many former dictatorships seemingly on a secure path to liberal democracy, Fraenkel's preoccupations seemed dated. Even though Judith Shklar had noted, as late as 1989, that “anyone who thinks that fascism in one guise or another is dead and gone ought to think again,” political pundits and scholars in the mid-1990s typically assumed that capitalist liberal democracy's future was secure. When I returned to the US and described my research to colleagues, they responded, unsurprisingly, politely but without much enthusiasm.

Collective Action, Foreign Fighting, and the Global Struggle for the Islamic State

ABSTRACT This project examines the global “foreign fighter” phenomenon, in which individuals fight in a foreign conflict. We explore the question – “Why do ordinary people travel abroad to fight and potentially die for a foreign cause?” – by analyzing a dataset of 27,223 foreign fighters from 75 countries who fought for the Islamic State. The statistical results demonstrate that one must draw on three different bodies of collective action theory to provide a robust explanation. The Islamic State’s foreign fighters come from countries that are predominantly Muslim (social network theory), that have greater levels of educational attainment (grievance theory), and that are experiencing elevated levels of domestic political instability (political opportunity theory). These findings have theoretical implications for understanding the international dimension of collection action, most notably regarding international democracy promotion. Whereas a country’s degree of democracy or authoritarianism does not affect the numbers of foreign fighters from that country, the democratization process and democratic transition foster domestic political instability that in turn favors higher numbers of foreign fighters.

The Hong Kong-China Government's Democratic Instability in terms of the Political Realism Perspective

Abstract. The political stability and governance of a country are greatly influenced by public support and the commitment of public officials to accommodate the people's voice. The chaos that occurred in mainland China from June 2019 until the end of 2020 became a reflection that the political system of government of 'One Country, Two Systems' was a formidable challenge for the Chinese government after the surrender of Hong Kong by the British on July 1, 1997, where China used the communism system and on the other hand, Hong Kong uses a system of liberalism. Hong Kong's strong understanding of freedom makes this region very sensitive on several issues, one of which is legal issues due to the killing of Hong Kong citizens in the country of Taiwan. This article aims to explain the dualism of leadership used by the Hong Kong-China government, which led to anarchism, political instability of the government, and causing the investment climate in Hong Kong-China to decline sharply. The research method used is a qualitative method, with secondary data types taken from journals, book literature, and official websites used to search for theories and data that are vaild. This research shows that political realism in the demonstration case in Hong Kong is proof that the state in this case the central government in Beijing still has the power to always interfere in Hong Kong's domestic affairs.Keywords: Democratic Instability, Political Realism, One Country Two SystemsAbstrak. Stabilitas politik dan pemerintahan sebuah negara sangat dipengaruhi dukungan masyarakat dan komitmen pejabat publik untuk mengakomodir suara rakyat. Kekacauan yang terjadi di daratan China sejak bulan Juni 2019 hingga akhir tahun 2020 menjadi cerminan bahwa sistem politik pemerintahan ‘Satu Negara, Dua Sistem’ merupakan tantangan berat bagi pemerintah China pasca diserahkannya Hongkong oleh Inggris pada 1 Juli 1997, dimana China menggunakan sistem komunisme, dan dipihak lain Hongkong menggunakan sistem liberalisme. Kuatnya pemahaman Hongkong terhadap kebebasan menyebabkan wilayah ini sangat sensitif dalam beberapa isu, salah satunya isu hukum akibat adanya peristiwa pembunuhan yang dilakukan warga Hongkong di negara Taiwan. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan dualisme kepemimpinan yang digunakan pemerintah Hongkong-China, yang berujung pada peristiwa anarkisme, instabilitas politik pemerintahan, hingga menyebabkan iklim investasi di Hongkong-China merosot tajam. Metode penelitian yang digunakan metode kualitatif, dengan jenis data sekunder diambil dari jurnal, literatur buku, dan website resmi yang digunakan untuk mencari teori dan data yang vaild. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa realisme politik dalam kasus demonstrasi di Hongkong menjadi bukti bahwa negara dalam hal ini pemerintah pusat di Beijing tetap memiliki kekuasaan untuk selalu ikut campur tangan terhadap urusan dalam negeri HongkongKata Kunci: Instabilitas Demokrasi, Realisme Politik, Satu Negara Dua Sistem

Citizenship education for Lesotho’s context: Towards a stable democracy

This article represents a contextual analysis that seeks a lasting solution to Lesotho’s current democratic instability, which has typified its political landscape since independence. This article analyses the literature to argue that the optimised political and institutional reforms that have recently raised people’s hopes are not likely to bring about a lasting solution of democratic stability. They are likely to suffer the same fate as those that came before, which only managed to provide a temporary solution. This article contends that the sustainability of democracy in Lesotho can ideally be achieved through the cultivation of the ‘spirit of democracy’, which can be nurtured through citizenship education. The article concludes by exploring possibilities for the introduction of citizenship education in Lesotho.

Integration of citizenship education with religious education in Lesotho secondary schools

The current article fervently acknowledges the general agreement that Lesotho had never experienced a stable democracy ever since the ultimate attainment of political independence in 1966. Among other possible solutions proposed to the problem of Lesotho’s democratic instability, citizenship education dominates government documents and various works regarding the political discourse. Although there is this pervasive recognition of the needed political educational intervention, there is no explicit direction on how to properly introduce the envisaged citizenship education. The article valiantly attempts bridging this visible gap by carefully probing the published literature to propose the meaningful integration of citizenship education with religious education. The discussion was guided by the critical use of the post-secular theoretical framework. The article highlights that, coupled with post-Christianity, post-secular theory undoubtedly provided a workable framework for the meaningful integration of secular (political citizenship) and religious essences for the promotion of democratic stability in Lesotho. The article logically concludes by showing that the proposed integration of citizenship education in religious education is within acceptable philosophical modes of proper education.

Presidential hegemony and democratic backsliding in Latin America, 1925–2016

ABSTRACTDoes the executive's institutional hegemony represent a risk to the survival of democracy? By hegemony, we refer to the president's ability to control other institutions, particularly the legislature and judiciary. To answer this question, we develop two indices of presidential hegemony and analyze the duration of democratic regimes in 18 Latin American countries between 1925 and 2016. The results show that executive hegemony is a major driver of democratic instability. This finding is robust to non-linear effects and to potential endogeneity in the relationship between presidential power and democratic backsliding. Our findings challenge traditional concerns about executive-legislative deadlock, and have significant implications for the nascent literature on democratic backsliding, which highlights executive aggrandizement as a risk factor.

Ideals Without Institutions: Understandings of Democracy and Democratic Participation Among Ecuadorian Youth

Many scholars of democratization have identified citizen support for democracy as an important determinant of democratic consolidation and deepening. Fewer have explored in depth what everyday citizens actually understand democracy to mean. If mass values shape democratic prospects, what specific notion of “democracy” are the masses inclined to support? This study addresses this question through focus groups conducted with 186 young people in Ecuador, a country that has epitomized challenges of democratic discontent and instability in Latin America. As compared to the dominant survey-based literature, interactive focus group conversations offer a more complex and complete picture of youth democratic perspectives, thus sharpening our analysis of the link between citizen attitudes and democratic performance. Findings have relevance for contemporary debates about “authoritarian drift” in the region, showing youth as strongly invested in democratic freedoms, though highly skeptical of the institutions that allegedly guarantee them. More broadly, the analysis provides a window into how youth conceive of and practice democracy in contexts of unstable democratization.

Desarrollo económico y estabilidad democrática: un problema fundamental para la política comparada latinoamericana

América Latina experimentó más quiebres de la democracia durante el siglo XX que ninguna otra región. Con frecuencia los latinoamericanos interpretamos estas vicisitudes de nuestras democracias cómo consecuencia de la conflictividad social de nuestra región, que ha sido también la más desigual del planeta. Sin embargo en los últimos años cobró fuerza otra teoría: más que de la desigualdad, los quiebres de la democracia habrían sido consecuencia de los bajos niveles de consumo. Esta teoría se deriva de la fuerte asociación estadística entre el PBI y la estabilidad democrática. Este artículo analiza la dimensión teórica del problema, repasando algunos trabajos que sostienen que el incremento en los niveles de consumo promedio favorecería la estabilidad. Se concluye que estos trabajos son a veces inconsistentes y otras veces presentan modelos extremadamente tautológicos, que incluyen supuestos que implican en sí mismos la conclusión esperada. Además se demuestra aquí la consistencia y vigencia de las teorías latinoamericanas que asociaron la inestabilidad democrática a una desigual estratificación social.

Internal Identity Conflict and External Foreign Intervention: A Study of the Fundamental Causes of Democratic Instability in the Middle East

Internal Identity Conflict and External Foreign Intervention: A Study of the Fundamental Causes of Democratic Instability in the Middle East

Minorities and Representation in a Plural Society: The Case of the Christians of Pakistan

Human rights groups have documented the plight of Pakistan's religious minorities for years, but it is only recently that these minorities have become the focus of academic political science discourse. This discourse, however, borrows from a well-developed liberal literature on Pakistan's democratic instability that makes assumptions about the inclusiveness of democratic regimes and exclusivism of dictatorships—most notably that of General Zia-ul-Haq. On close scrutiny, these assumptions do not hold. In this paper, I evaluate the political capacities of minorities through an institutionalised assessment of the quantity and quality of minorities’ voices in an electoral–legislative framework. Such a model, in the context of a plural society, is more likely to better reflect the capacity of a minority's ability to withstand the tyranny of the majority, and assess the potential for its integration into the political mainstream. Towards this end, I analyse the demography–representation correlates of the Christian minority in Pakistan's federal legislatures since Independence in 1947. I argue that the institutionalised Christian presence has often been sub-proportionate, lacking in authority and leverage, and tokenistic. Finally, I suggest remedial measures to improve the efficacy of minority representation and political empowerment by adapting certain voting paradigms suggested by Lani Guinier.