Phillippe C Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl’s article What Democracy Is…And Is Not has the main goal of providing a common definition of democracy. They first begin by broadly defining democracy, then discussing the procedures of democracy followed by the two operative principles of democracy (1993, p. 50). Schmitter and Karl note that there are many types of democracy that each produce different effects that are contingent on a particular states socioeconomic conditions, state structures and policy practices (1993, p.50). Democracies depend on rulers who “occupy specialized authority roles and can give legitimate commands to others” (1993. P.50). What differentiates democratic from non-democratic societies is how those come to power and whether
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Essentially, citizens must obey the decisions of the elections, provided that they are fair and free and winning politicians must not bar their opponents from future competition and that the losers must concede victory to their opponents if they win in a free and fair election (Schmitter &Karl, 1993, p.56). Schmitter and Karl also outline various indicators of democracy such as consensus, participation, and access to name a few.
Schmitter and Karl end the article with what democracy is not. They are not “necessarily more efficient economically than other forms of government”, they “are not necessarily more efficient administratively”,“ they are not more likely to appear more orderly, consensual, stable or governable than the autocracies that they replace” and “democracies will have more open societies and polities than the autocracies they replace, but not necessarily more open economies”(Schmitter &Karl, 1993, …show more content…
F Plattner article asks whether or not democracy is in decline? Plattner’s article looks at how many countries are still democratic, whether those numbers are shrinking and what is happening with liberal-democratic features, which he defines as, freedom of the press, rule of law and free and fair elections, in these countries (Plattner, 2015, p. 6), He also enquires about the stance of democracy in the world and “how it is viewed in terms of legitimacy and attractiveness?” (Plattner, 2015, p.6).
Plattner begins by noting that there are differing interpretations of how many countries are still democratic and whether those numbers are in decline. That there are two different perspectives that exist in the current literature. Plattner points out however that since the gains of the third wave of democratization in the 70’s and 80’s, progress began to slow until it reached its current point of stasis. He notes that Huntington’s reverse wave of democratization didn’t hit after the third wave in the way that it previously had with the first and second waves. He also points out that it is the perception of decline that has been troubling (Plattner, 2015,
Essentially, citizens must obey the decisions of the elections, provided that they are fair and free and winning politicians must not bar their opponents from future competition and that the losers must concede victory to their opponents if they win in a free and fair election (Schmitter &Karl, 1993, p.56). Schmitter and Karl also outline various indicators of democracy such as consensus, participation, and access to name a few.
Schmitter and Karl end the article with what democracy is not. They are not “necessarily more efficient economically than other forms of government”, they “are not necessarily more efficient administratively”,“ they are not more likely to appear more orderly, consensual, stable or governable than the autocracies that they replace” and “democracies will have more open societies and polities than the autocracies they replace, but not necessarily more open economies”(Schmitter &Karl, 1993, …show more content…
F Plattner article asks whether or not democracy is in decline? Plattner’s article looks at how many countries are still democratic, whether those numbers are shrinking and what is happening with liberal-democratic features, which he defines as, freedom of the press, rule of law and free and fair elections, in these countries (Plattner, 2015, p. 6), He also enquires about the stance of democracy in the world and “how it is viewed in terms of legitimacy and attractiveness?” (Plattner, 2015, p.6).
Plattner begins by noting that there are differing interpretations of how many countries are still democratic and whether those numbers are in decline. That there are two different perspectives that exist in the current literature. Plattner points out however that since the gains of the third wave of democratization in the 70’s and 80’s, progress began to slow until it reached its current point of stasis. He notes that Huntington’s reverse wave of democratization didn’t hit after the third wave in the way that it previously had with the first and second waves. He also points out that it is the perception of decline that has been troubling (Plattner, 2015,