Weak Democracy Research Articles

Gender-Imbalanced Well-Being

The generally accepted notion that democratization yields positive outcomes for well-being may not be correct for all societal groups within a country. And outcomes may not be equal across countries with different levels of development, especially in the current era of the weakening of democracy and the rise of autocracy. This research focuses on the effects of weak democracy on the well-being of one of the disfranchised groups—women, who typically have lower socioeconomic status than men in most societies. The situation of women has profound effects on the health, economics, educational achievement, and work opportunities of the next generation. Women, therefore, serve as an ideal marker for other disadvantaged groups when we consider the effects of weakening democracy and growing autocracy on well-being and countries’ sustainable futures.

Is corruption useful in a context of weak democracy? Revisiting the relationship between financial development and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of corruption in a context of weak democracy on the relationship between financial development and growth. Using data from 28 sub-Saharan African countries covering the period from 1990 to 2017, we implemented two estimation methods: the smooth transition regression method for the static panel and the generalised method of moments for the dynamic panel model. The results of our estimations mainly validated the asymmetric moderating effect of democracy and corruption on the impact of financial development on economic growth. We demonstrated that financial development has a significant and positive effect on growth when the level of democracy increases. At the same time, financial development has a significant and positive effect on growth when the level of corruption increases. These results confirm the "grease the wheels" hypothesis in a context of weak democracy. Although our results show that corruption greases the wheels of growth in the short term, in the long term it can be detrimental to the economy. We therefore recommend that political decision-makers promote democracy and take the necessary measures to reduce corruption.

Beating Backsliding? Episodes and Outcomes of Democratic Backsliding in Indo-Pacific Asia in the Period 1950–2022

Abstract The paper presents the first comprehensive analysis of all episodes of backsliding in democratic regimes in Indo-Pacific Asia from 1950–2022. Based on the experience of this sample of cases, this paper aims to generate insights into why some Asian democracies are more resilient to this gradual decline in the quality of democratic institutions. Using Haggard and Kaufman’s framework of the “weak democracy syndrome” and the three different kinds of mechanisms of accountability that, in theory, can beat democratic backsliding, our analysis aims to show not only how but also when different accountability mechanisms succeed or fail in stopping autocratization.

Executive Aggrandisement and Democratic Regression in Indonesia’s Jokowi Administration

At the end of 2019, COVID-19 Pandemic has been devastated almost whole of human life sector, including politics and nations. COVID-19 Pandemic existence has urged the onset of misuse of power in several countries that have a weak democracy with “emergency policy” or “discretional rules”, as if it become an opportunity for the government to do the agenda-setting towards illiberal polict without having mobilization concern or opositions counter (Schenkkan 2020). This article aim to explore how executive’s power aggrandisement that was happened in the 2th period of Jokowi’s administrative as a contribution of democracry degradation in Indonesia. With the use of library research, that examine various literature, such as book, journal, report that relevan to the research topics (Neuman 2014), Author explore the data regarding the executive aggrandisement in the 2th period of Jokowi’s Administrative. The result of this research is democracy degradation or democrary backsliding happened during Jokowi’s Administatrative was instigated with several factors which is division of power, executive aggrandisement, and the discourse of 3th period of Jokowi’s administration.

LOCAL POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY ON POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN MADURA

Policy implementation is very dominant in determining the success of the policy. The success of the policy is 60% determined by the implementation of the policy, planning, and evaluation of each 20%. However, in its application, the concept of policy implementation triggers a revitalization debate related to the development of democratic orientation and post-positivist methods. a concept that was born and developed in Latin America and the West is not easy to apply in developing countries. The political environment and sectoral social conditions determine the optimization of policy implementation. so that selective policy implementation is needed. The purpose of this study is to explain the influence and importance of democracy and local politics on policy implementation in the Madura region. The approach used is qualitative with primary and secondary data collection through interviews, observations, documentaries, and FGDs. Data analysis uses the Miles and Huberman model, namely data reduction, data display, and verification. The results show that the concept of policy implementation is closely related to the political and democratic environment. Local political conditions and the running of democracy affect the optimization of policy implementation. The dynamics of democracy in the Pilkada in the Madura Region are still elitist which results in weak public participation and the strengthening of basic food and money politics. Public gatherings, mass media, political parties, and civil liberties also do not serve to encourage accommodation of the public interest in policy and policy implementation. So that local politics which is marked by weak democracy in the Madura region has implications for the low quality of policy implementation.

Firms and Technology Adoption: The Role of Political Institutions and Market Size

The study presents a political economy model and analyses how firms behave towards technology up-gradation given the different dynamics of political and market institutions. The model presented here depicts that political power is controlled by the elite, who formulate trade policy to consolidate power. While the middle-class access the production technology and the labour class provides labour inelastically. The model shows that the technology adoption decision of a firm essentially depends upon the political institutions and the market size of the country. Firms in a country with strong democratic institutions adopt new technology more rapidly. While in a weak democracy, firms successfully persuade the elite policymaker to impose higher trade restrictions and obtain higher protection from technologically advanced foreign firms. Moreover, the model also shows that firms operating in a large market adopt technology more rapidly since a large market has a high price elasticity of demand and supports a large number of larger firms. Furthermore, firms adopt technologies more swiftly when the productivity gains from the adoption are relatively large.

Análisis del proceso de institucionalización de la participación ciudadana en Ecuador

The extended constitutional process Ecuador has undergone since 2007 for the approval of its new Constitution and its subsequent application generated high expectations in the specific area of democratic development as the so-called citizen participation systems were implemented at the local level. This article offers a qualitative analysis based on documentary sources and information extracted from interviews and discussion groups with politicians, technicians and citizens, to understand the characteristics and achievements of the process of institutionalization of citizen participation and to assess its democratic quality. In spite of the good practices in the area of social participation, the results offer a scenario of highly institutionalized weak democracy, with little progress in terms of the direct and participatory democracy established in its Constitution.

Ethnonationalism and Cultural Heritage Law in Myanmar

This article highlights the legal and technical challenges of contemporary heritage conservation in the context of a weak democracy, ethnic unrest, and military rule. Burma was a military dictatorship from 1962 to 2010, followed by the operation of the civil government between 2011 and 2021, which was then overthrown by the military in 2021. These ten years of civil government were characterized by a reopening of the borders to the international community, initiatives towards democracy. In terms of cultural heritage, Myanmar appeared to have made progress in modernizing its legislation when the country ratified and implemented international conventions protecting tangible cultural heritage such as the World Heritage Convention, the 1970 UNESCO Convention, and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention. In 2015, the elected parliament drafted new legislation protecting cultural heritage: the Law Protecting Ancient Objectsand theLaw on the Preservation and Protection of Ancient Buildings. How has the ratification of international conventions and new laws impacted domestic conservation practices in Myanmar? The democratic turn entailed a visible modernization of laws, policies, and conservation techniques. However, this time was also characterized by peaks of violence between the Burman government, the Rohingya people, and other ethnic minorities. Ultimately, this article reveals that the protection of heritage became closely linked to ethnonationalist ideologies that have survived the numerous changes of political regime. This is particularly true in the Burmese context. Foreign technical assistance must be aware of the country’s complexity and learn from lessons of the past.

POLITICO-JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IN PAKISTAN: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The purpose of this article is to take a historical overview of Judiciary’s activism in derailing the democratic process in Pakistan. To provide a complete study of judicial activism and its impacts on democracy a glimpse of historical background can help to establish an appropriate point of view that the political history of Pakistan is full of judicial interference. The constitutional and political history of Pakistan has witnessed the murder of political rights by other institutions. The repeated undemocratic acts/episodes of dissolving the elected assemblies by the military or bureaucratic establishment with judicial support can be witnessed throughout the political history of Pakistan. This study shall attempt to find the correlation between the successful democracy and the doctrine of separation of power. By applying the theory of separation of power to this study it shall be concluded that the prime reason of weak democracy is imbalance of power among the three organs of government. This research shall be conducted by utilizing the qualitative methodology. The documentary analysis provides the information to understand historical roots of specific issues. Keywords: Judicial Activism, Political Representation, Separation of power, Suo motto powers, Fundamental rights.

Fiddling while Democracy Burns: Partisan Reactions to Weak Democracy in Latin America

Democracy is weakened when citizens and elites do not criticize actions or actors that undermine its principles. Yet this study documents a widespread pattern of partisan rationalization in how elites and the public evaluate democratic performance in Latin America. Survey data show that those whose party controls the presidency consistently express positive evaluations of the current state of democratic competition and institutions even when democracy in their country is weak. This pattern emerges in both mass survey data and among elected elites. These data have a worrying implication: if only the political opposition is willing to publicly acknowledge and sound the alarm when democracy is under attack, public pressure to protect democracy is likely to be dramatically reduced.

Hunting for Gray Rhinos and terrorism in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia

ABSTRACT Statistical modelling of terrorism has advanced the understanding of its underlying drivers. However, numerous questions remain, some have not been empirically tested, and regional dynamics differ. In recent decades, the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and Central Asia have been focal points of terrorism. An extensive review of global and regional statistical models of terrorism at the country-year level was conducted and hypotheses re-tested on a database for MENA and Central Asia for years 1998–2017. The analysis indicates that the primary drivers of terrorism in this region are corruption, war, state terror, weak democracy, and unemployment. Fuel exports, ethnic and religious fractionalization, youth bulges, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have little or no statistically significant relationship to terrorism in the region. Collectively, these results indicate that certain factors can anticipate terrorism in the region. Further analysis indicates that some factors have the potential to erupt suddenly and therefore require constant monitoring and sound contingency planning.

Authoritarian Regime of Zia-ul-Haq and its Consequences for Federalism in Pakistan

Whenever authoritarian regimes control the federal democracies these caused the unrepeatable damage to the existing political system. Pakistan is one of major example of this phenomenon. Ayub Khan led martial law laid the foundation of disintegration of political process and federalism of the state that was completed during the martial law of Yehya Khan. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto led the federation of Pakistan towards the democratic path by giving a constitution with bicameralism for the first time in Pakistan but Zia ul Haq’s Martial Law once again deteriorated the parliamentary democracy and indulged the state into a proxy war against Russia in favor of America. Zia’s Martial Law destroyed the democratic norms of the country that resulted in the weak political system and fragile democracy during the 1990s. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif both enjoyed two terms of premiership of Pakistan but federalism was never strengthened. Political system remained under the constant threat of

Resource rents and happiness on a global perspective: The resource curse revisited

We revisit the resource curse theory by providing empirical evidence for the effects of natural resource rents on subjective well-being. Using a cross-sectional model based on a global sample of 149 countries, we highlight that resource rents tend to reduce happiness but this effect differs according to (i) the political system and the level of development, (ii) the types and the measures of natural resources and (iii) the scale of happiness. Specifically, the negative effect of natural resources on happiness tends to be amplified in developing and weak democracy countries. Furthermore, the disaggregation of natural resource rents shows that while oil rents and natural gas rents have a significant negative effect, forest, coal and mineral rents do not. However, after using the quantile regression approach, we find that these effects vary at different intervals throughout the happiness distribution.

DOES CO2 EMISSION HAVE ANY LINK WITH THE CHANGE DEMOCRATIC CONDITIONS IN ASEAN COUNTRIES?

The study which is among pioneering studies answer the question that does CO2 emission have any link with the Change democratic conditions in ASEAN Countries. Great challenge in the form of global environmental problem has been faced by human society. Policy agendas for each country are governed by the political institutions. The present study aims to investigate the association among the state of political institution, environmental emission, and development indicator while taking the impact of economic conditions such as free economy, fluctuating economy, deteriorated economy and improvised economy under consideration. The study has collected the data of 10 ASEAN countries over the period from 1979 to 2014. The Panel data methodology is employed to answer the question raised in study. The Fixed effect estimates indicate that, economic growth is in significant positive relationship with change in democratic situation emission. It is also evident that the CO2 emission is higher in fluctuating Asean economies with relatively weak democracy such as Indonesia and Thailand and negative in the improvised democracies such Singapore. The study is among the pioneering studies on the current issue. This study will provide a guideline in environmental policy implementation. Keywords: Carbon emissions, democratic conditions, ASEAN countriesJEL Classifications: Q2, Q4DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.9169

The political (in)stability of the central American countries

The paper analyses a correlation between the political (in)stability of the Central American countries and the inequality of the countries in relation to the development of capitalism from the aspect of international politics and economics in the case of the Central American countries. Such a status of the Central American countries is opposed to the fact that they have achieved equality in public international law. The Introduction also indicates that political stability depends on functional public authorities, and the success in macroeconomic policy. The main part of the paper deals with the factors which led to political (in)stability during the Cold War and afterwards. The internal factors include lack of communication and trust between government and opposition, weak democracy, serious violations of civil and political rights, dangerous activities of paramilitary forces, economy depending on illicit drug dealers, the underdeveloped legal system as well as the lack of modern, equipped police. The above shortcomings refer especially to Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. This is verified by their ranking in the Human Development Index. On the other hand, countries like Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama are among higher-ranked countries. The most important external factor is the US economic and political impact. In that sense, capitalism can be seen as a recognisable stabilising force due to its ability to adapt itself to occasional economic and political crises. However, China?s growing economic, technical and technological influence on the world could determine a different course of capitalism?s development, as opposed to the US efforts to maintain a leading position in defining the role of capitalism in international relations. The author concludes that these countries can get free from the US influence and become politically stable, provided that China determines the course of future capitalism?s development.

Displacement and gendered violence in the Kashmir Valley: An analysis

In the global era, women, particularly in sub-continent are facing violence in every section of society. They are not only abused by partners and other family members, but they are treated as a different and marginalized sect of society. While talking about Kashmir, the escalation of political turmoil led to the displacement of minority communities, mainly the Kashmiri Hindus, from Kashmir. The weak democracy in Jammu and Kashmir and the majority-minority dynamics in the state led to the displacement of about three lakh persons (primarily Hindus) from the valley in 1989. It is more than two decades since the displacement of minorities from Kashmir, and their prolonged living in the new locations has resulted in social and cultural changes post-displacement. The shift to a new location has significance in analysing how the traditional structures and practices are redefined in the new locations. An atmosphere of fear and threat developed in Kashmir after the alleged rigging in the 1987 state assembly elections and this heightened the frustration of a large number of Kashmiri youth due to malpractices of the government. The women (non-Muslim) mostly faced coercion in the form of abuses during the 1990s. Abusive slogans were displayed on loudspeakers and the rape threats were clearly visible in the letter that was displayed on the street poles. The assessment of this paper is to highlight violence against women during the escalation of displacement and after displacing, how such women face the same gendered violence outside the state. The paper would be based on experiences and narratives of Kashmiri pundit women, who are residing in different migration camps outside Kashmir. The study is based on descriptive and empirical analysis of a problem that can be studied by applying the exploratory approach.

Weak pluralism and shallow democracy: the rise of identity politics in Bulgaria and Romania

ABSTRACT The rise of identity politics has been surprising in two countries that have benefitted extensively from EU membership. To address the puzzle, the paper suggests that the EU vision of common and inclusive identity, grounded in a formal set of rules, had its strongest effect before and immediately after accession. Yet, its intensity was short-lived and mistaken for a popular embrace of multiculturalism. To understand this dynamic, the paper traces the interactions between citizens and elites, as well as the tradeoffs and complementarities between democracy and legitimacy in the two countries.

A Life or “Good Death” Situation? A Worldwide Ecological Study of the National Contexts of Countries That Have and Have Not Implemented Palliative Care

ContextPalliative care advocates argue that service implementation is feasible in all settings. Yet, services have developed patchily in low- and middle-income settings. Beyond Human Development Index indicators, there has been limited engagement with the broader development challenges facing nations tasked with implementing palliative care. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to describe how indicators of national development relate to levels of palliative care services in 207 countries around the world. MethodsWe conducted a ecological study to identify relationships between potential predictor variables and the level of national palliative care development. A total of 28 predictor variables from the following six domains were selected using hypothesized relationships with levels of palliative care development: disease demographics, socioeconomics, health systems, politics, demographics, and economics. The outcome variable was level of national palliative care development on a six-point scale. Spearman's correlation was used to measure the strength of the association. ResultsTwenty-six of 28 variables were statistically significantly associated with levels of palliative care development in 207 countries. Palliative care is more developed in countries with high—percentage of deaths from noncommunicable disease, population proportion aged 65+ years, gross national income, and tourism. Development is lower in countries with high levels of political corruption, infant mortality, deaths by infectious diseases, and weak democracy. Prevalence of undernourishment and levels of private health expenditure were not significantly associated with palliative care development. ConclusionPalliative care development is highly consistent with broader national development indicators. It is less in countries where sudden deaths are more likely and benefits from palliative care provision are likely to be very limited. In such countries, resources may be prioritized toward life-prolonging therapies and key aspects of palliative care need only be implemented before fully integrated palliative services. Findings suggest that there may be a “tipping point” in societies, where the relative need for life-prolonging therapies becomes less than the need for integrated palliative care services.

Community Involvement and Teacher Attendance in Basic Schools: The Case of East Mamprusi District in Ghana

The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent of community members’ involvement in school activities to enhance teacher attendance in the East Mamprusi District of Northern Ghana. The research design was a survey. Stratified sampling method was employed to group the study population into five (5) strata of teaching staff, SMC/PTA executive members, District Education Officers, and community members. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 150 participants. The Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS) version 20.0 was used to analyze the data collected. The purpose of the study was made known to participants. The findings depicted that though the level of community involvement in the activities of the schools was encouraging it had limited influence on teacher attendance. Characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, language, wealth, weak democracy, illiteracy, work and time served as barriers to community involvement in monitoring teacher attendance. Recommendations of the study include, the training or sensitization of SMC and PTA executives as well as community members on their rights and privileges to be involved in school activities, especially monitoring of teachers’ attendance. In addition, they should be equipped with skills and knowledge to exercise their duties and responsibilities. The study will benefit all stakeholders of education and policy makers.

Sisyphean Dilemmas of Development: Contrasting Urban Infrastructure and Fiscal Policy Trends in Maputo, Mozambique

AbstractIn sub‐Saharan African (SSA) cities like Maputo, land commodification is predictably fueled by plans for aspirational infrastructure serving elites. What is rather more peculiar, however, is the way in which the promotion of some fiscal policy reforms can also inadvertently support land commodification and the uneven development it (re)produces. This article describes how efforts to host both democratic fiscal reforms (via localized exercises like participatory budgeting) and to tap into international capital circuits to stir economic development (via aspirational infrastructure and urban redevelopment plans) can produce a Sisyphean dilemma. While gains in ordinary infrastructure investments (e.g. wells, water pumps) were achieved democratically in Maputo's KaTembe district with the participatory budget, these material (and political) improvements have been rendered irrelevant by better funded aspirational infrastructure projects for KaTembe (e.g. bridges, high‐rise residential buildings, tourist facilities) supported by more opaque decisions made by the national government without residential input. Given the wide embrace of participatory budgeting in contexts of weak democracy across SSA cities and elsewhere, Maputo's experience serves as a timely alert of the risks run when this popular exercise is prematurely promoted, especially when wider‐scaled property tax reforms could better redress uneven and undemocratic urban development.