POL101Y1 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Democracy, Canada, South Korea
POL101Y1
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Political Science day 1
Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History and the Last Man”
- Believes that democracy is the ultimate or highest form of human government (his book
was written after the collapse of the Cold War)
There are different views of history:
- Teleology: philosophical study of design and purpose
o Everything that happens builds toward a goal/purpose
o ex. Marx’s theory (everything leads to communism)
Primitive communism → Slave society (class society) → feudalism → capitalism
→ socialism → communism
Fukuyama’s teleological argument: democracy is good, widespread, and here to stay
Kaplan’s argument: Democracy is not necessarily good; real democracy is hardly widespread;
and democracy is becoming less democratic in practice, i.e. it is not here to stay.
Kaplan’s argumentation for his viewpoint:
1. Democracy is value neutral
a. Democracy translates will into action; good will = good outcome, therefore
democracy can lead to bad outcomes if a bad leader is chosen
b. Regular, free, and fair elections substantiate democracy (this is the most minimal
definition of democracy, called a “thin perception”; Kaplan also works using this
definition)
c. Kaplan argues that democracy isn’t spreading through the world, merely elections
are spreading; if a country does not have the preconditions set for elections (i.e. is
not ready), there will be violence
2. “Democracy emerges successfully only as a capstone to other social and economic
achievements (preconditions of democracy)”
Preconditions of democracy:
a. Literacy and education
i. The democratic public should be informed and make informed decisions
on which policies they agree with, therefore they must understand them
ii. Democracy puts obligations on citizens to be informed; therefore, a
precondition of democracy is literacy
1. An implication of literacy and education is that they also limit the
franchise, i.e. who is allowed to vote; this bores built in
justification to limit voting rights to only the informed
2. Ex. Poor whites and most blacks had to take comprehension and
literacy tests before they could obtain the right to vote after the
civil war (freedom voting in New Orleans, 1867); literacy was thus
used to exclude blacks from voting since it was not possible to
exclude them on the basis of race anymore
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
iii. Literacy is highly correlated with minority groups and their access to it;
therefore, their interests can’t be represented in government since they’re
not able to vote
iv. Literacy is a historically racist and classist argument; if you say literacy
and education are the basis of democracy, you exclude large amounts of
people, ex. countries in which the majority of the population is illiterate
and/or uneducated
v. As well, high literacy rates do not directly bore good decisions (ex. the
2016 elections in the US)
b. Middle class:
i. The middle class is content with the status quo, has no intention or
ambition to change society, and benefits from the static way if life
ii. A country won’t have a revolution if there exists a large middle class
c. A western enlightenment tradition, which includes:
i. Reason (instead of tradition and belief)
ii. Science (instead of superstition)
iii. Critique of tradition and hereditary rule
iv. Universal human rights
1. The enlightenment introduced a new way of life, where rulers had
obligations toward the people, people had rights, and everything
started to be done based on reason
2. Kaplan states that it is not possible to “achieve” this precondition;
a country either experienced this enlightenment, or it did not
d. Reliable bureaucratic institutions:
i. Democracy functions through institutions due to rules
ii. If citizens follow the rules, they get rewarded and gain access to these
institutions (this approach is objective and prevents nepotism, bribery,
etc.)
e. A political culture of tolerance:
i. It is necessary to accept the right of people to believe different things, as
well as support different political parties
ii. Competition of ideas must not devolve into violence, otherwise an election
campaign can divide the population, producing violence and chaos
iii. It is necessary to believe in the system to accept the outcome, even if it is
not a desired outcome
f. Urbanization and low birth rates:
i. Important for people to be organized to gather and protest; the beginning
of urbanization meant people were working in factories, thus joining trade
unions, which became the basis for pro democratic movements in
countries like South Korea and Poland
ii. Urban violence/protest is more visible since there are more people in one
place
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Francis fukuyama, the end of history and the last man . Believes that democracy is the ultimate or highest form of human government (his book was written after the collapse of the cold war) Teleology: philosophical study of design and purpose: everything that happens builds toward a goal/purpose, ex. Primitive communism slave society (class society) feudalism capitalism. Fukuyama"s teleological argument: democracy is good, widespread, and here to stay. Kaplan"s argument: democracy is not necessarily good; real democracy is hardly widespread; and democracy is becoming less democratic in practice, i. e. it is not here to stay. Kaplan favours benign dictatorships, and thinks countries under this type of rule are stable (ex. China, chile, singapore, pakistan); he focuses only on stability and economic growth, overlooking human rights and freedoms. Even though authoritarianism can create preconditions for democracy, sometimes an authoritarian government is better suited to rule a specific country; however, kaplan does not address the problems of having a dictator.
