Week 9:
In the article by Adam Przworski and Fernando Limongi, “Modernization: Theory and Facts,” poses the questions of what exactly is the catalyst factor that enables countries governments to fall- regime to rise, strengthen and then crash and burn? They allude, that economic stability and independence or dependence is the correlating factors that can cause political regime to rise and fall. Their evidence claims that democracies are determined through modernization. There are two correlating theories to the progress of democracy- 1 is the historical context and the prominent one is the modernization theory. Countries usually progress into democracies through modernization. However, the two correlating factors of what how a nation progresses into a democracy is the progress of social transformations and economic development.
“As Przeworski observed, this deterministic emphasis made both approaches appear irrelevant when the issue of democratization appeared on the political agenda in the mid-1970s.”
As such the emergence of democracy is not the bi-product of of economic development however, it is a product of political leaders progressing to or digressing from democracy theory the actors choice. Moreover, these scholars state that then the stage of development has no correlating factor to the country heading into democracy. Thus after democracy has been established economic development then shows the constraints it has on setting up programs and institutions effectively and efficiently within the nation. It is the survival of the democracy post initiation- that causes the notion of make it or break it- based of the economic situation. These scholars claim that, “growing economy with less than $1,000 per capita income than in a country with an income between $1,000 and $2,000 that declines economically. If they succeed in generating development, democracies can survive in even the poorest of nations.”
Week 10:
“The Capitalist Peace,” by Erik Gartzke, creates an awareness, that liberal democracies, may only show peace towards other liberal democracies- and hold hostile feeling towards other regime types or less liberal and more strict democratic nations. As such, he classifies this circumstance with liberal democracies that have wealthier political economies and democratic institutions such as free speech, freedom of the press, and free markets. And if these institutions correlate through different nations, then it is less likely that they will engage in military combat with one another. This is probably why America hasn’t attacked Canada…yet. Erik calls this “capitalist peace” where capitalist countries alike have a inter-state interest with one another and therefore refrain from war with one another. Erik significantly studies war, not through the eyes of democracy with is the norm and uniquely uses the framework to argue that it is capitalism rather than democracy that keeps the peace and refrains from war. If countries have capitalist interests, then war is more modernly refrained. However, one note would be that he should have compared deep historical capitalist countries, and compare it to the relationship of capitalism and peace in modern times. Conclusively, Erik states that “economic liberals have long seen in free markets and prosperity the potential to discourage war.” He claims that past scholar dealt with this subject to simplistically. “Democratization, paradoxically, implies increasing tensions among democracies. Free markets and development, in contrast, lead nations closer together, or at down grade historic territorial animosities.”
“policymakers believe that
peace can be had through regime change. If the imposition
of liberal politics offers a domestic paradox, at the inter-
national level coercing democracy is an extreme.” As such this implies that democracy may not be the chosen route of the future- and that political leaders are choosing other forms of regime change- however, if they have similar capitalist interests and intentions then policymakers argue that in the future there is a bigger scope for peace.