Approaches to Democracy: Modernization Theory and Capitalism
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SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
How does democracy come about? What are the factors to be considered when defining democracy? // There are 3 approaches to democracy: Modernization Theory, Historical Sociology and Transitology. These approaches can be eclectic (they can take things one from another) and to some extent they follow a chronological order and coexist today. The birth of one school doesn’t mean the death of the one before. Modernization Theory: This theory believes there is a relationship between economic development and democracy. The question is: is one the cause of the other? Some authors believe the greater the development, the more probable a society will sustain a democracy. There are 2 approaches: One related to marxism // Another one related to capitalism. This one believes there is a relationship between capitalism and democracy. Lisped found this school in 1959 and in “Social requierements of democracy, economic development and political legitimacy” he argued that: // Modernization will produce wealth in the economy and this will give rise to the middle class, the middle class will be educated and education will lead to values. // He identified 4 key elements to know how much a country is advanced and modern:
1. Average wealth of a society: GDP per capita
2. Urbanization: how many people live in a city of a certain size
3. Industrialization: the wealth of the country based on industries
4. Education: the measure of all kind of education. Less resources in the countryside and more people
This shows that the better to do in society, the greater the chances it will sustain a democracy. But the debate is still in whether there is a relationship between capitalism and democracy because as a general rule, there’s not a single democracy that doesn’t have capitalism BUT there are countries that have free markets but no democracy (China or Vietnam). So free markets don’t need democracy but democracy needs free markets so yes, there is a relationship between capitalism and democracy.