POL101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: António De Oliveira Salazar, Athenian Democracy, Liberal Democracy
How German Parliament turned into Nazi Germany
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One of the most basic questions in political science : what is the form of government (democracy, dictatorship, oligarchy), a nd
why does a system move from one government to another?
If we understand how they succeed, we can understand why they fail
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OR : why democracies succeed, not fail?
Demos = people / cracy = rule
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Elections : most basic precondition
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Turkey? Russia?
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Enough? - fallacy of electoralism, elections must be free and fair
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Free press is 'enemy of people' --> threatened
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Substantive rights to free press, association, freedom from political intimidation
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Participation - does a democracy require participation beyond voting
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Reasonable distribution of resources
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More controversially : equal resources? - positive vs. negative freedoms debate
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Absence of FULL female participation? --> not a full democracy?
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Gendered democracy : full female participation, and female equality --> Athenian democracy was highly exclusive
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Liberal and democratic are not the same.
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What is democracy?
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John Adams
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Tendency to oppress minorities
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Democracy as majoritarian vs. minority rights, tyranny of the majority
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Democracy vs. stability
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Enabling Law in Germany, 1933
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Election of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, 2012
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Turkey 2014
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Constraints : can a democracy vote itself out of existence
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Early 19th century to 1922
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Extension of suffrage to propertied males, all males and (in some countries) women
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29 democracies
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1922 : Mussolini
1932 : Antonio de Oliveira Salazar
Against Bowling : Decline of participation in society is a weakness of democratic society
Sheri Berman offers critique of neo-Tocquevillian argument (Putnam) that robust civil society depends
on voluntary associations
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Berman : Germany had a robust civil societies, sports and reading clubs, neighbourhood associations,
fraternities, etc.
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National socialists used Germany's rich associational life as a training ground for its cadres and as a
base from which to seize power
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economic crisis
the machinations of an anti-democratic and militaristic elite
the hostility of the civil service to Weimar
the weakness of the party structure
Insufficiently developed liberal tradition
Middle class fear of domestic instability / violence and international Bolshevism
Huge element of contingency - without 1929 crash, Nazis would have been a footnote,
Hindenburg could have refused to appoint Hitler --> did so because they thought they could
control him
Not just "rich associational life" - this is reductionists : democracy in Germany collapsed because of
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1933 : Hitler
1939 : Francisco Franco
"Democratic vistas have ended in barbed wire"
Democratic failure
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First wave
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Allied victory until 1970s : Japan, Germany, Italy democratized
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Second Wave
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1974 until today
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Democracy established in Iraq
Post 2001 / 2011 : great hopes for democratic transition in the Middle East and North Africa largely dashed
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Third Wave :
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Samuel Huntington's three waves
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Democratic failure in interwar Europe
March 6, 2017
12:00 PM
LECTURES Page 65
Document Summary
If we understand how they succeed, we can understand why they fail. Fallacy of electoralism, elections must be free and fair. Substantive rights to free press, association, freedom from political intimidation. Free press is "enemy of people" --> threatened. Participation - does a democracy require participation beyond voting. Democracy as majoritarian vs. minority rights, tyranny of the majority. Constraints : can a democracy vote itself out of existence. Gendered democracy : full female participation, and female equality --> athenian democracy was highly exclusive. Extension of suffrage to propertied males, all males and (in some countries) women. Sheri berman offers critique of neo-tocquevillian argument (putnam) that robust civil society depends on voluntary associations. Against bowling : decline of participation in society is a weakness of democratic society. Berman : germany had a robust civil societies, sports and reading clubs, neighbourhood associations, fraternities, etc.
