POLI 227 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Democratic Consolidation, Liberal Democracy, Sub-Saharan Africa
16 Mar 2014
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Howard handelman, the challenge of third world development, chapter 2 the explosion of third. Democracy = the transparency and fairness of the essential procedures governing the elections and behavior of government officials. That is the least demanding definition, it"s solely focused on elections and allows questionable governments to be labeled democratic . However, many governments with open elections still manipulate the media and violate the citizen"s civil liberties. A full democracy, aka a liberal democracy, involves more than just competitive elections. It is a political system that conforms to the following conditions and is thus accountable to its citizens in a way an authoritarian regime is not: Most of the countries" leading government officials are elected. There is universal or near universal suffrage. Elections = free of fraud or outside manipulation. Opposition-party candidates have realistic chances to win against national offices. Civil liberties, including minority rights, are respected (this includes free speech, free assembly, free pass (media), freedom of religion)
