Democracy and Development

This book is a wide-ranging study of the meaning of democracy and the factors which determine its level.

Axel Hadenius (Author)

9780521416856, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 September 1992

232 pages, 11 b/w illus. 31 tables
23.5 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.482 kg

'The book is based on thorough documentation and is very informative.' Administrative Sciences

This book is a thorough investigation into the requisites of democracy. Based on data from 132 sovereign states of the Third World, it first establishes a scale to measure the level of democracy existing in these countries. The author discusses various interpretations of the meaning of political democracy, and emerges with a specification of its essential elements which includes such elements as the holding of elections to central decision-making organs, and the maintenance of certain fundamental political liberties. Theories concerning the requisites of democracy are then examined in order to explain the manifest differences in the level of democracy among the states of the Third World. The author employs statistical techniques including regression analysis to test theories related to socio-economic conditions, demographic and cultural factors, and institutional arrangements. This book thus provides a wide-ranging examination both of the elements which constitute democracy, and of the factors which explain its varying prevalence.

List of tables and figure
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. Determining the Level of Democracy: 1. Points of departure
2. Political democracy
3. An index of democracy
Part II. Explaining the Level of Democracy: 4. Introduction
5. Socio-economic conditions
6. Demographic and cultural conditions
7. Institutional conditions
8. General picture and problems of causality
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Political structures: democracy [JPHV]