2. Theories of Democratization

2018 ◽  
pp. 21-39
Author(s):  
Christian Welzel
Keyword(s):  
International Conflicts ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Evolutionary Force ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
Distributional Equality

This chapter examines the factors that have been proposed as determinants when, where, and why democratization happens. Several of these factors are synthesized into a broader framework that describes human empowerment as an evolutionary force channelling the intentions and strategies of actors towards democratic outcomes. The chapter first provides an overview of the nature and origin of democracy before discussing how democracy and democratization are affected by social divisions and distributional equality as well as modernization, international conflicts, regime alliances, elite pacts, mass mobilization, state repression, colonial legacies, religious traditions, and institutional configurations. The chapter concludes by presenting a typology of democratization processes, which includes responsive democratization, enlightened democratization, opportunistic democratization, and imposed democratization.

6. Theories of Democratization

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Welzel
Keyword(s):  
International Conflicts ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Evolutionary Force ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
Distributional Equality

This chapter examines the factors that have been proposed as determinants when, where, and why democratization happens. Several of these factors are synthesized into a broader framework that describes human empowerment as an evolutionary force channelling the intentions and strategies of actors towards democratic outcomes. The chapter first provides an overview of the nature and origin of democracy before discussing how democracy and democratization are affected by social divisions and distributional equality as well as modernization, international conflicts, regime alliances, elite pacts, mass mobilization, state repression, colonial legacies, religious traditions, and institutional configurations. The chapter concludes by presenting a typology of democratization processes, which includes responsive democratization, enlightened democratization, opportunistic democratization, and imposed democratization.

Revisionist Conflict and State Repression

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-72
Author(s):  
Thorin M. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
At Home

What kinds of international conflicts make states more likely to increase repression? I argue that the issues at stake in conflict may have different levels of domestic salience and may alter the domestic political status quo, thus increasing or decreasing a state’s or regime’s propensity to repress. I argue and find that democracies are most likely to increase repression when they are territorial revisionists, specifically increasing the use of imprisonment and torture. Autocratic states are more likely to increase repression during foreign policy-oriented disputes, as opposed to those fought over territory, which are less likely to escalate to full-scale war, and more likely to be domestically motivated. This project thus opens up the black box of international conflict to better understand how the reasons states fight abroad affects decisions to repress at home.

Tweeting from Gezi Park: Social Media and Repression Backfire

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meltem Odabaş ◽  
Heidi Reynolds-Stenson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Confounding Factors ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Movement Mobilization

We examine how social media may facilitate protest mobilization in response to violent state repression. Prior research demonstrates that violent repression can either decrease protest participation through raising the costs of participation, or can generate outrage, resulting in “backfire” and an increase in mobilization. Many recent mass mobilizations have garnered attention from scholars and journalists alike due to the instances of repression backfiring as well as the widespread use of social media in these protest movements. We examine why these two trends may be related using logistic regression analysis on data on participants in the Gezi Park Protests in summer 2013. Controlling for confounding factors, we find a statistically significant relationship between being recruited to participate in the protests through social media and joining the mass mobilization as a reaction to police repression. We argue that in the case of Gezi Park, communication through social media was a key factor in facilitating social movement mobilization in response to repression.

Subcultures and the Emergence of the Estonian Nationalist Opposition 1945–1990

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hank Johnston ◽  
David A. Snow
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Independence Movement

It is widely recognized that subcultural organization provides fertile soil for the development of social movements. There has not, however, been a systematic analysis of how different subcultures may be configured and what characteristics may encourage or inhibit mobilization. This paper takes an initial step in that direction by suggesting a typology of subcultures based on the degree of congruency of subcultural values and behaviors with the those of the dominant culture. We examine two subcultural types which are particularly relevant to social movement development: accommodative subcultures and oppositional subcultures. By drawing on interviews with activists in the former Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, we specify the conditions by which accommodative and oppositional subcultures exist and are successfully transformed into social movements. We trace the evolution from an accommodative subculture under Stalinist terror to an oppositional subculture as state repression lessened under Krushchev's liberalizations, to mass mobilization of the Estonian independence movement in the late 1980s.

A Proletarian Turf War: The Rise and Fall of Barcelona's Sindicatos Libres, 1919–1923

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Arturo Zoffmann Rodriguez ◽  
Juan Cristóbal Marinello Bonnefoy
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Social Revolution ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Class Groups ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Labour Movement

Abstract From 1919 to 1923, Barcelona experienced unprecedented levels of social conflict. The growth of the anarcho-syndicalist National Confederation of Labour (CNT) had awakened the spectre of social revolution among the city's conservative classes, and a broad constellation of reactionary forces lined up against it, the Sindicatos Libres (free trade unions) being the most formidable among them. Created in 1919 by Catholic workers, the Sindicatos Libres were able to capitalize on the exhaustion that had set in among certain working-class groups who had grown wary of reckless strike action. Using violence to fight back against the CNT, the Libres could claim 175,000 members by mid-1922. They mobilized the religious, corporatist, and regionalist sentiments harboured by sectors of the city's workforce and, by adopting a modern repertoire of action, they bypassed the traditional aversion to mass mobilization that had characterized the Catholic labour movement and Spanish conservative parties until then. In many ways, the ideology and tactics of the Libres adumbrated fascism, but their success was short-lived. In late 1922, an upswing in strike action and an abatement of state repression allowed the CNT to recover at the expense of the Libres. This article explores the rise and fall of an organization the study of which has been neglected, situating it in a European context of political polarization whereby the traditional right attempted to modernize its tactics and adapt them to a rising challenge from the revolutionary left. It will also serve as a window through which to examine the complex relationship between workers’ trade union affiliations and their political and cultural identity.

Governing Diversity: Reflections on the Doctrine and Tradition of Religious Accommodation in Islam

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq ◽  
Muhammad Riaz Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Power Sharing ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Religious Accommodation ◽  
Pluralistic Approach ◽  
Inclusive Governance ◽  
Multicultural Policies ◽  
Islamic Values

The problématique of governing diversity has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention but literature has largely overlooked the challenges appertaining to growing religious diversity in many places. The contemporary power sharing models and multicultural policies which are of a secular nature fall short of the expectations to foster peaceful coexistence in multi-religious societies. The primary concern of this paper is to manifest how religion can help us to lessen faith based violence. It is argued that religious traditions may offer valuable insights to design more inclusive governance. In this backdrop, the current paper evaluates the Islamic values of religious accommodation to gauge how helpful they are for designing inclusive policies in religiously diverse societies. The analysis illustrates that Islamic doctrine contemplates the politics of accommodation and forbearance. The pluralistic approach of Islam offered religious autonomy to non-Muslims in the state of Madinah. The ‘millet system’ established by the Ottoman Empire is widely admired for granting non-territorial autonomy in the matters related to religion, culture, and personal laws to non-Muslims. This display of an Islamic pluralistic approach at different junctures of Muslim history attests the capacity of the Islamic values of accommodation to nurture peaceful coexistence in modern societies. However, it requires a more unbiased and rigorous analysis to convince the global audience in this regard.

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