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Democracy - Coggle Diagram
- Democracy: an ACT using opinion of majority to make decisions for govt
- Authoritarian, totalitarian→ Direct, + everything in between
- Theres a ton of grey area--countries can have qualities of multiple govts on the spectrum
- Restricts elections but also has lots of opposition
- Controlled by Putin but Navalny on the rise
- Controlled by president but reformist movements increasing.
- Indeed, diff between capacity, intent, and what countries say they do vs what they acc do
- Tons of people who can vote but not all do
- The governing power of the law
- In a democracy without flaws, no one is above the rule of law
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- What news outlets can say
- GOvt controlled will likely support govt + cover actions
- In the face of danger will likely dissent--thats what govts are afraid of
- → which is why auth govts like China typically only have state run media
- But state run media is not exclusive in its repression of opposition
- → often the repression occurs either way, outlets naturally develop to be more left or right leaning
- Not only political (30% republican is a minority to 70% democrat) but social
- Racial, age, religion, gender--how do they play a role
- Early 21st century--more auth regimes incr
- 70 countries making declines
- The catch: often these countries had no shift to a liberal democracy
- Historical ties lock govts in place
- Hist ties complicate maintaining dem institutions
- Rise of populism→ decr democracy
- Seek power thru majority rule but oppose principles of constitutional dems
- Ppl who favor auth, nationalistic policies
- Militarism, repression minorities, immigration restrictions, etc
- All contribute to declining support for the most liberal dems (Freedom House)
- Majority seem not to have an opinion about this
- Older generations are more opinionated
- Why? Bc perhaps they have the terror of WWII burned into their memroies but millenials didnt grow up with that
- New populist movies dont garner traction
- French voters rejected populist candidate in ‘17
- Its not solely history, other factors affect people’s opinions of democracy
- Local, economic conditions
- Thriving of local businesses, measures of political power
- Also seem to show more support for trad moral values
- Oppose liberal culture shifts
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3. US Constitution sets a precedent
- Nations adopting new democratic constitutions similar to US one spiked after WWII
- Extrmeist candidates not electable in dems
- dems not susceptible to internal unrest
- A function of credibility
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- Protests act as a a double edged sword--decr the legitimacy of one government while propping another up
- Nigeria--military intervention poked at Abesanjo’s power while trying to prop up a different government--coup
- US--many factors enable ppl to feel like their voice is heard
- widespread , consistent voter turnout
- elections with many opposing parties
- Bureaucratic system--network of local legislators
- Wasn’t always this way though
- Australian ballot initiative
- Sought to change the grip political machines had on voter choice
- People could feel like their vote was not truly theirs when their vote was being vied for left and right
- Bureaucracy enable peoples voice to be heard on a local level
- Bicameral legislature enable local level voices to be heard
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- Prime minister duties unite all under one leader
- Thats come under fire in recent years
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- Some fear new PM will be Johnson just a whole lot worse
- Vague stance on past positions
- Shifts views to tailor to whichever audience she wants to appeal to
- Bureacurracy is not a prerequisite to polit legitimacy
- China--single party legislature
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- Everyone has generally similar view points.
- Deliberate distribution of false information for malicious intent
- Used to control populations
- Russia--allegedly launched massive propaganda campaign to influence 2016 US election results
- Not a new game to them--KGB WWII
- Thought they could get inside the minds of American voters for Russia’s gain
- → targeted popular news websites (facebook, instagram, etc)
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- Ppl start to believe the new things bc echochambers of thought do not challenge their ideas
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- Mistake distribution of false information for malicious intent
- Can be used to control population--”accidental” leaks of information can have a devastating effect on natl security
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- Often incr control seems to eventually crack
- Even china has given the national peoples congress more administrative power
- Prev very closed off to trade
- Prior to Kim Jong Un, country’s borders were opened after years of silence
- But its also contingent on having robust networks of existing trade
- NK had strong ties with China and USSR
- China has strong trade network thanks to BRi, US, and Middle East partners
- Highly volatile and subject to change
- People often regard it as abstract, which it seems to be
- Different countries have diff ways of deciding political soverigntiy
- Electoral college system--votes represent voters
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- Single party CCP ensures power says single party CCP
- Kind of succession--the clergy controls opposition, see elsewhere.
- Hereditary--its whoever is next in line
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- Power in the hands of the people
- Power in the hands of representatives--representative democracy
- Rep dems often United States
7. Power in the hands of a few people--auth
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- Restriction of power--initiated by various actors
- Iran--clergy system bars opposition, in the ‘03 election out of over 1000 opposition candidates the vast majority were accepted
- Nigeria--Obasanjo’s term, mil influence used to control crowds, abate uprisings, and put political pressure to enact pro-Obasanjo laws in anti-Obasanjo places
- China--sole party, CCP, has allowed executive power to be transferred through the same party, excluding other groups from ceding power
- Secret ballot + political machines--parties bribe voters to vote party-line in elections, ensuring elections always sided with the party who was previously in power.
- Russia--Navalny has stirred simmering anti-Putin movement
- These opposition leaders have power EVEN when they are behind bars
- In response to Navalny’s anti-Putin rhetoric, he soon found himself standing for a Russian show trial, but the damage on the Russian govt had already been done--numerous anti-Putin leaders rose up in Navalny’s wake
- Iran--though tons of candidates have been barred by the pro-Ahmadinejad clergy, the steady rise of opposition leader Rafsanjani is emblematic of the public’s increasing receptiveness to opposition leaders; 2 key things to note here
- Iran is both led by a clergy system that represses opposition and has experienced incr opposition leaders
- Why? Bc successful opposition seems to be centered around one personality
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- Restriction by leaders tends to produce low voter turnout
- That most commonly occurs in the form of oppression (Nigeria, China)
- China--uyighurs; Myanmar--Rohinya Muslims
- In each case a single party government strips rights of a minority group they fear could wreak dissent without being inundated with pro- government ideals
- The warrant: when leaders force restrictive policies onto voters, they are disincentivized from starting protests out of fear of silencing, leaving them with only one option: sit out.
- Restriction by people increases voter turnout
- That most commonly occurs in the form of opposition movts (empirically in Russia, Nigeria, and Ukraine)
- The warrant: the people who vote leaders in power are mobilized, incentivizing them to vote to complete their mission to dethrone a leader