CPO2002 EXAM 2 STUDY GUIDEChapter 8: Democratic Transitions I. Experiments and Culture- Ultimatum game-there is a “proposer” (given money) and a “responder” o Step 1: proposer offers some of the pie (money) to the respondero Step 2: The responder (knowing how much the pie is worth) rejects or accepts ito Outcome: Responder accepts-she keeps the officer and the proposer keeps the rest; Responder rejects-neither player receives anything- Dictator game-same as ultimatum but the responder is NOT given an opportunity to accept/reject the offero Proposer (dictator) merely dictates the divisiono Test of fairness- What really happens?o Proposers nearly always make positive offerso Responders reject a lot of positive offers - Fifteen Small-Scale Societieso 12 countries on five small continents- In the mid 1970s, an era of democratization that Samuel Huntingtonhas called the “third wave of democratization” was ushered in. o Third wave of democratization-refers to the surge in democratic transitions that have occurred around the world since 1974. Ex: Greece returned to the democratic fold in 1974 following conflict with Turkey over the islands of Cyprus, and Spain finally threw off four decades of dictatorial rule under General Francisco Franco in 1977. II. Democratic Transitions- External Imposition-Does the success of democratic nation building depend on the identity of the external force?o Multilateral coalition is the best-Chiraco Single country is the best-Busho UN-Secretary General Annano Bueno de Mesquita and Smith Most studies have found that intervention does not lead to democracy.- Bottom-up democratic transition-one in which the people rise up to overthrow an authoritarian regime in a popular revolution.o East Germany 1989-Protests on the streets of Leipzig and Berlin forced the communist East German government to open up the Berlin Wall and allow free multiparty elections. The end result was the emergence of a democratic EastGermany and eventual reunification of Germany in 1990. The eventual collapse of communism in East Germany had much to do with the election of Gorbachev as leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. Inheriting a Soviet Union in crisis, Gorbachev responded with two reform policies:- Perestroika-or “economic restructuring” was a reform policy aimed at liberalizing and regenerating the Soviet economy. - Glastnost-or “openness” was a reform policy aimed at increasing political openness. These reform policies encouraged reformists and opposition groups in Eastern Europe, instead of saving the Soviet Union. In August 1989, the Iron Curtain was breached when Hungary decided to open its border with Austria. - Neus Forum (New Forum)-fledgling opposition group surfaced in East Germany demanding reform.- Gorbachev later announced that the Soviets would no longer intervene militarily in Eastern Europe to prop up Communist governments.- German reunification eventually took place in October 1990 after parties promoting reunification won the elections.- Collective Action Theoryo Collective action theory focuses on forms of “mass action.”o Collective action-refers to the pursuit of some objective by groups of individuals. Typically, the objective is some form of public good. Typically, collective action concerns the pursuit of public goods by groups of individuals.o Public good-non-excludable and non-rivalrous. Non-excludability means you cannot exclude people from enjoying the public good and non-rivalry means that there is just as much public good for people to enjoy no matter how many people consume it. o Collective action problem-there are compelling reasons to doubt whether individuals will actually contribute to the provision of public goods or take collective action to achieve their common interests.- The difficulty that groups of individuals have in providing public goods that all members of the group desire is commonly known as the collective action/free-rider problem.- Collective action/free-rider problem-individual members of a group often have little incentive to contribute to the provision of apublic good that will benefit all members of the group. - Tipping Modelso One explanation for mass protests that occurred in East Germany in 1989 can be found in what political scientists call “tipping,” or “threshold” models. Preference falsificationism-not revealing one’s true preferences in public. Revolutionary threshold-the size of protest at which an individual is willing to participate. - Low threshold-some people are happy to oppose the government irrespective of what others do.- High threshold-people may be willing to protests only if lots of others join in.- Revolutionary cascade-when one person’s participation triggers the participation of another, which triggers the participation of another, and so on. This clarifies why these models are referred to as “tipping” or “threshold” models.- Top-down democratic transition-one in which the dictatorial ruling elite introduces liberalizing reforms that ultimately leadto a democratic transition. o This policy of liberalization is meant to sturdy up the dictatorship but sometimes leads to democracy. o The story: the period of liberalization often results from a split in the authoritarian regime between “hard-liners” and “soft liners.” Hard-liners-satisfied with the status quo Soft-liners-prefer to liberalize and broaden the social base of the dictatorship.- Must decide whether to open up the political regime through a process of liberalization or to stick with the status quo.o Policy of liberalization—a controlled opening of the political space and might include the formation of political parties, holding elections, writing a constitution, establishing a judiciary, opening a legislature, and so on.o The game-the prehistory of the game is that a split has developed between the authoritarian elite between soft-liners and hard-liners.o 2 possible outcomes-broadened dictatorship or the political status quo. o Complete information game-essentially one in which each player knows all the information that there is to know about the game. o Incomplete information game-a player does not know all of the relevant information about some other player’s characteristics.Chapter 9: Does Democracy Make a Difference?I. The Effect of Regime Type on Government Performance- Typically, theoretical arguments that attempt to link regime type to economic
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