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DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRACY – LECTURE OUTLINE
The modern nation-state
 Citizenship rights
 The spread of liberal democracy

THE MODERN NATION-STATE

state
a
political apparatus (government institutions plus
civil service officials)
 ruling over a given territorial order
 sovereignty
is the term used to describe the undisputed
political rule of a state over a given territorial area
 whose
authority is backed by law and the ability to
use military force
THE MODERN NATION-STATE

nation-states
 characteristic
of the modern world
 governments have sovereign power within defined
territorial areas
 the
government is able to back its sovereignty by control
of military power
 populations
are citizens who know themselves to
be part of single nations
 many
of its citizens have positive feelings of commitment
based on nationalism (see next slide)
THE MODERN NATION-STATE

Nationalism
A
set of beliefs and symbols expressing
identification with a national community.
 Marie
lives in Marseilles, France. She loves to watch the
Olympics to see athletes compete and is especially
pleased when French athletes win events and the French
national anthem is played during medal award
ceremonies. She feels pride in her country and in its
heritage. Nationalism is the term would sociologists
probably employ to explain her reactions.
THE MODERN NATION-STATE

local nationalisms

The beliefs that communities that share a cultural
identity should have political autonomy, even within
smaller units of a nation-states.
 Jordi
is a Spaniard who lives in Barcelona. Barcelona is the
capital of Catalonia, a region of northeastern Spain. Jordi feels
more loyalty to his region, Catalonia, than to his country,
Spain. He prefers to speak the local language, Catalan,
although he speaks Spanish equally well. Jordi’s feelings for
Catalonia are an example of local nationalism.

nations without a states
 the
Kurdish community in Iraq, Basque separatists in Spain,
the movement to restore the traditional indigenous Hawaiian
Kingdom
CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS
civil rights
 political rights
 social rights

CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS

Citizenship did not originally carry rights of
political participation.
 citizenship
 limiting

rights came largely through struggles
the power of monarchs
E.g., Britain
 overthrowing

them
E.g., United States and France
CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS

civil rights

Legal rights held by all citizens in a given national
community (the rights of individuals in law).


took a long while to achieve


Svetlana is a Russian who lives in Moscow. She moved from a small
town to the big city to look for a job after she finished a degree in
computer science. Her great-grandfather, Anton, had been a Russian
serf who was legally bound to the land on which he had lived
decades ago. Svetlana’s ability to move about more freely than her
great-grandfather demonstrates achievement of a civil right.
E.g., freedom of individuals to live where they choose, freedom of
speech and religion, the right to own property, and the right to equal
justice before the law (right to a fair trial).
not all groups were allowed the same privileges

E.g., blacks in the US
CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS

political rights

Rights of political participation, such as the right to vote
and run for office in local and national elections, held
by citizens of a national community.
 Sybil
lives in a country where she cannot always participate as
fully as others. For example, only men can run for election to
the local government council. So Sybil actively protests this
restriction. Sybil is fighting for political rights.

not won easily or quickly
 the
vote for women was achieved partly through the efforts of
women’s movements and partly as a consequence of women
entering the formal economy, early in the twentieth century,
during World War I
HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN THE US
1777
1780
1784
1787
Women lose the right to vote in New York.
Women lose the right to vote in
Massachusetts.
Women lose the right to vote in New
Hampshire.
US Constitutional Convention places voting
qualifications in the hands of the states.
Women in all states except New Jersey lose
the right to vote.
HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN THE US
1807
Women lose the right to vote in New Jersey, the
last state to revoke the right.
1867
Fourteenth amendment passes Congress, defining
citizens as "male;" this is the first use of the word
male in the Constitution.
1869
1870
1887
1895
1896
Wyoming territory grants first woman suffrage
since 1807.
Utah territory grants woman suffrage.
Utah women lose right to vote.
Utah women regain suffrage.
Idaho grants woman suffrage.
HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN THE US
1910
1911
1912
1913
1917
1920
Washington (state) grants woman suffrage.
California grants woman suffrage.
Oregon, Arizona, and Kansas grant woman suffrage.
Alaskan Territory grants suffrage. Illinois grants
municipal and presidential but not state suffrage to
women.
North Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, and Michigan
grant presidential suffrage; Arkansas grants primary
suffrage. New York, South Dakota, and Oklahoma
state constitutions grant suffrage.
The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified by Tennessee
on August 18. It becomes law on August 26.
CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS -- SOCIAL RIGHTS

rights of social and welfare provision held by all citizens in a
national community


the right of every individual to enjoy a certain minimum standard
of economic welfare and security


Eduardo lives in Montevideo, Uruguay. Recently he has seen the pay that
he receives for his work as a hotel clerk reduced significantly as a result
of legislation that reduced the minimum monthly wage for workers.
Eduardo and his colleagues have taken to the street to protest against
this law. Eduardo and his colleagues are fighting for social rights.
E.g., the right to claim unemployment benefits and sickness payments
provided by the state, a guaranteed minimum wage
in most societies, social rights have developed last


the establishment of civil and political rights has underpinned the fight
for social rights
social rights have been won largely through poorer groups’ political
strength, expressed after obtaining the vote
CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS

A welfare state exists when government
organizations provide material benefits for
citizens. (social rights become broadly established)
The welfare state was firmly established in most
Western societies in the twentieth century.
 benefits to help those who cannot support themselves

 the

unemployed, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly.
benefits to the middle class
 free
or low-cost public education, freeways, and social security
CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS

Why has the welfare state recently come under
attack?
the movement of jobs to lower-cost countries has made
it more difficult to raise tax revenues
 the spread of neoliberalism

 neoliberalism
questions whether the provision of extensive
social welfare is the proper role of the government at all

anti-immigrant sentiment
 the
United States and some European countries have sought
to reduce benefits to noncitizens and to prevent additional
immigration
THE SPREAD OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
What is democracy?
 The spread of liberal democracy

WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?

The word democracy has its roots in the Greek
term demokratia, from demos (people) and
kratos (rule); its basic meaning is a political
system in which the people, not monarchs or
aristocracies, rule.
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?

participatory democracy (direct democracy)
 decisions
are made directly and communally by
those affected by them
 the
original type of democracy practiced in ancient
Athens
 has limited importance in modern societies
E.g., New England “town meetings”
 E.g., referendum

WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?

liberal democracy
 voters
can choose between two or more political
parties and the mass of the adult population has
the right to vote
 political

party
organization of individuals with broadly similar political aims
oriented toward achieving legitimate control of government
through an electoral process
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?

multiparty system (e.g., France)


allows diverse interests and points of view to be
expressed more directly and provides room for
representation of more radical alternatives
two-party system (e.g., United States)
more likely to result in political parties that converge on
the “middle ground” and often come to resemble each
other so closely that there is little distinctive difference
in their key policies
 elections are based on the principle of “winner takes
all”

THE SPREAD OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
WAVES OF DEMOCRACY -- SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
NOTE: a country is democratic if at least fifty percent of adult males are
eligible to vote and there is a responsible executive who either must maintain
majority support in an elected parliament or is chosen in periodic popular
elections
NOTE: a country is democratic if at least fifty percent of adult males are
eligible to vote and there is a responsible executive who either must maintain
majority support in an elected parliament or is chosen in periodic popular
elections
DEMOCRATIC NATIONS (ELECTORAL
DEMOCRACIES)
1989
2009
69 (167 surveyed)
119 (192 surveyed)
Since 1989, when the hold of the Soviet Union
over Eastern Europe was broken, processes of
democratization have spread across the world.
-- Free country is one where there is broad scope for open political competition, a climate
of respect for civil liberties, significant independent civic life, and independent media.
-- Partly Free countries are characterized by some restrictions on political rights and civil
liberties, often in a context of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic strife, or civil war.
-- Not Free country is one where basic political rights are absent, and basic civil liberties
are widely and systematically denied.
FREEDOM HOUSE

As of 2008 (world’s population)
 “free”
(46 percent)
 “partly free” (20 percent)
 2.3 billion people, living in 42 countries, classified
as “not free”
THE SPREAD OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

Explaining the quick spread of democracy around the world
in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

associated with capitalism



globalization


Democracy tends to be associated with competitive capitalism in the
economic system, and capitalism has shown itself to be superior to
communism as a wealth-generating system.
As more and more countries become part of a global capitalist system,
pressures will mount for democratization.
Globalization tends to influence people’s lives more now, leading them
to push for more information about how they are governed and thus for
more democracy.
mass communications such as television and the Internet

It is increasingly difficult for governments to control what their citizens
see.
DEMOCRACY – LECTURE OUTLINE
The modern nation-state
 Citizenship rights
 The spread of liberal democracy
