Week 4: Political Systems Presented by Team 4: Herlinna Chung Xindi Li Katrina Cheney Lina Liu
Jan 03, 2016
Agenda Overview of Almond and Hewitt’s Articles Analysis
Almond vs. Inglehart Hewitt vs. Kurzman Almond vs. Hewitt
Factbook Application Conclusion References Q&A/Review Team
Gabriel A. AlmondComparative Political Systems Introduces the major types of political
systems and its role structures Concepts:
A political system is a system of action Legitimate monopoly of physical coercion over a
given territory and population System and interdependence Orientation to political action
Almond vs. Inglehart “Political Culture and Democracy: Analyzing
Cross-Cultural Linkages” by Ronald Inglehart
democracy is an attribute of nations Individual-level attitudes are aggregated to the nation
level for demostation
Inglehart finds that the linkage between political culture and effective democracy is remarkably strong
Almond vs. Inglehart Factors that promotes democracy:
political culture of tolerance, trust and other components of self-expression values
self-expression: emphasis on freedom,tolerance of diversity, and participation
Other three self expression values: Liberty and participation, public self-expression and
tolerance of diversity
Almond vs. Inglehart Article conclusion:
Societies with higher level of interpersonal trust, tolerance and life satisfaction are more likely to have democratic institutions
An effective democratic institution is only a consequence rather than a precondition of a democratic political culture
Almond vs. Inglehart Comparison
Almond Homogeneous Secular Freedom and security Autonomy Structural differentiatio
n
Inglehart Interpersonal trust Life satisfaction Liberty and participatio
n Public self-expression Tolerance of diversity
Same definitions of political culture Inglehart tries to determine what type of political culture democracy thrives in
Christopher HewittThe Effect of Political Democracy and Social
Democracy on Equality in Industrial Societies: A Cross National Comparison
Christopher Hewitt Previous research
Functionalism Industrial and technological changes lead to the
development of stratification system, not politics Marxism
Economic power determines stratification system, not politics
Jackman political democracy and socialism do not have any
significant effect on social or economic equality
Christopher Hewitt Invalid Variables
Proportion of GNP in social service expenditures Intersectoral income inequality Mobility rates
Christopher Hewitt
Political democracy’s effect on equality Social Democratic Hypothesis Simple Democratic Hypothesis
Christopher Hewitt Hypothesis: Democracy will lead to economic
equality Hewitt claims that this is true based on his
findings However, critics argue that once economic
development is considered in this equation, this relationship may be weak or false
So, who’s right?
Hewitt vs. Kurzman “Democracy’s Effect on Economic Growth: A
Pooled Time Series Analysis” Democracy stimulates economic development
However, its effect is small, indirect and very gradual
So, does democracy promote equality even when economic growth is concerned?
Hewitt vs. Kurzman Yes! Overall, it was found that despite a country’s
economic development (which may have been somewhat stimulated by democracy), democracy tends to promote income equality and egalitarianism over the long run.
Almond vs. Hewitt Both agree that existing classification of the
political systems is not useful Hewitt criticizes systematic comparison
Both agree that political systems can pretect
freedom and provide welfare Hewitt’s article supplements Almond’s article
Factbook Application Level of democracy Change in democracy Level of social instability Eg. Democratization of Iraq
Conclusion Political culture affects political system National sense of trust, tolerance and life satisfaction
leads to democratic nation Democracy affects economic development slowly
Investment State expenditure Social unrest
Democracy will promote equality in the long run
References Almond, G. (1956). Comparative political systems. The Journal of Politics, 18(3),
391-409.
Hewitt, C. (1977). The effect of political democracy and social democracy on equality in industrial societies: A cross-national comparison. American Sociological Review, 42(3), 450-464.
Inglehart, R. and Welzel, C. (2003). Political culture and democracy: Analyzing cross-level linkages. Comparative Politics, 36(1), 61-79.
Kurzman, C., Werum, R. and Burkhart, R.E. (2002). Democracy’s effect on economic growth: A pooled time-series analysis. Studies in Comparative International Development, 37(1), 3-33.