POL 101W Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Charismatic Authority, Resource Curse, Liberal Democracy
Document Summary
Democracy, and more speci cally liberal democracy, is political power exercised either directly or indirectly through participation (such as voting and elections), competition (such as between political parties), and liberty (such as freedom of expression or freedom of speech). Nondemocratic regimes = are those controlled by a small group of individuals who exercise power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public. We also sometimes refer to these states as authoritarian regimes. Nondemocratic regimes = restrict individual freedom, but some (not all) strive to provide social and economic equality. Some are highly ideological; others reject ideology and simply pursue power for the state or its leader. T r a p p = as in you are trapped in a non-democratic regime. Transparency = refers to a governments (in a free society) obligation to share information with its citizens. Refers to the openness, accountability and honestly de ned government transparency.