Professional Documents
Culture Documents
class, leads to democracy. In recent years, however, the case of China has presented a challenge to
that theory. How has it done so? If economic success does not necessarily cause democracy, then
what does? What else might be needed in cases where economic growth is not enough? How do you
explain cases where democracies have emerged in poor countries?
Sources to use: Lipset, Nathan, Dickson
Many hypothesize that economic development, combined with the emergence of a middle class, leads to
democracy. However, China is counterexample. Because of China, we have to look to other factors.
These include:
There are two factors that have prevented economic developing and creation of middle class from creating
democracy:
1) China’s middle class is structurally different than most middle classes (Nathan, 2016)
a) China’s society is a pyramid- much smaller portion of population is in middle class
b) Nature of employment- most are employees of state- have to favor ccp
c) Middle class is relatively new
d) Lack of civil society- Can’t socially organize- no organizations for people to be part of-
gov’t controls social organizing (Dickson)
2) China’s middle class is ideologically different- the way the people think prevent any uprising- 4
ideological groups (nathan, 2016)
a) Anesthetized- young and have no memory of 1989, don’t know world w/o
authoritarianism
b) Acceptors- academics who have accepted the regime
c) Amelirators- see flaws in system, but have seen enough progress to feel hopeful about
current system
d) Alientated- want to change the system, but feel helpless about fixing it- not in position to
challenge ccp- repression (Dickson)
Developed democracies, primarily the WEST, should not prioritize promoting democracy for following
reasons:
1) Ideological challenge: Most countries that don’t have democracies have prickly nationalism
towards U.S. (fish)
a) they are suspicious of western values- less likely to accept help
b) Prefer autonomy and want to defend their “traditional values” (cooley)
c) China- hates us, very suspicious, views democracy as poisonous western value
Prescription: vary the source of democracy (fish)- If west prioritizes democracy, democracy will never
spread. Need to have NGOs and other global institutions help in spreading democracy
2) cultural challenge: Most countries that don’t have democracies have culture that is not
conducive to democ (fish)
a) Fish identifies two values: tolerance and equality
i) Tolerance- determines if society is open to new ideas and disagreement
ii) Equality- determines if society values minority groups
b) Societies that lack these values are not ready to sustain democracy
Prescription- unclear, hard to fix culture
4) Iraq case study- situation a lot worse and hurt credibility of U.S.
a) Ideological challenge- people hated US
b) Society not equipped to handle democ, no democratic values
c) Structural challenge- think democ is waste of time
Ziblatt and Levitsky write extensively about the guardrails of democracy and institutional norms
that are supposed to check against authoritarian rule. They have also suggested that those
guardrails failed when it came to preventing the rise of Donald Trump, whom they suggest has
authoritarian leanings. How and to what extent have American political institutions and actors
failed in their responsibility to uphold democracy? If you think they have failed, how should they be
reformed to prevent another failure? Use specific examples from recent American history and draw
on evidence from other readings in addition to Ziblatt and Levitsky.
Sources to use: ziblatt and levitsky, howe (discontent with democ)
Many have argued that civil society is a key ingredient in the recipe for democracy. To what degree
does civil society shape political outcomes, democratic or otherwise? Do you agree that it is
necessary for democracy? Why or why not?
Sources: lecture, fish encountering culture, ziblatt and levitsky
Civil society shapes political outcomes to a significant degree. It is an essential component of a successful
democracy and must be preserved and nurtured.