Comparing Structures of Democratic and Non-Democratic Governments

[Elihu5991]

QUESTION:

" Political and legal systems are often labelled as either being 'democratic' or 'non-democratic'. Compare the structures of such systems. "

HOW?:

I look at this question and not know exactly what I am looking for. What exactly is a structure of democratic and non-democratic governments? I need to right a 600 word essay but do not know where to start.

Thankyou very much in advance

 

[fss]

What features of democracies are not present in non-democracies? This is not a hard question, and 600 words is not a very long essay.

 

[Elihu5991]

So that is what I need to research? I mention 600 words as it gives an idea of how in-depth I need to go; I have no problem writing 600 words, it isn't daunting.

 

[skilgannonau]

If you treat political systems as a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_choice_theory" problem then the difference comes down to suffrage, i.e in more democratic systems the set of individuals/groups whose preferences taken into account is larger than the ones in more autocratic systems. For instance, expansion of the right to vote from rich men, to men who own property, to all men, then to all women increased suffrage and therefore ‘democracy’ of a political system. Rigging elections (or have no elections) reduce suffrage and ‘democracy’.

Now this might seem an overly simplistic way to distinguish the contrasting systems but it leads to a set of nuanced implications if you define (or expand the definition of) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_institutional_economics" as the formal (e.g. laws) and informal rules (e.g. customs and social norms) that govern individual behaviour and social interactions. The distinguishing feature(s) of democracies then isn’t just defined by elections and who gets vote to in those elections but includes the formal/informal rules that govern whose views count, for example, formal rules that ban/restrict political activities of certain groups of people based on their ethnicity, social-economic background, etc.. Informal rules/norm include the prevalence of political violence etc.

 

[Elihu5991]

So the structures of democracy are the ability to be able to have free speech and the government not harrasing you whilst non-democracy doesn't?

 

[skilgannonau]

Sort of...

The questions you should be asking is who can become the ‘government’? Is the set of individuals/groups who can become the government restricted? For example, in a monarchy the government is effectively the monarch and whoever they delegate power to. In P.R China, the individuals/groups who can become ‘government’ is restricted to members of the Communist Party. But this is still a superficial way to distinguish democratic from autocratic systems. For example, until the civil rights movement was fought and won African-Americans were restricted from full political participation so does that make the US a non-democracy until 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed? But again this is just looking at the formal institutions. What about informal institutions? Is there a ‘culture’ where politics is open and protects participation. In the US it would be unheard of for politicians to even think of trying to ‘rig’ the vote but in some other countries considered ‘democratic' using ‘dirty’ tricks to win an election might be common practice, an accepted norm so to speak.

It’s not simple to distinguish between democracies/autocracies. It’s probably more accurate to say there are degrees of democracy and some systems are more democratic than others and to determine that you have to look at the ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ institutions of that system.

 

[Elihu5991]

So the structures of democracy would be the formal institution (internationally recognised and established democratic nations) and 'not completely' democratic countries, like you mention with the US in its old times?

 

[Elihu5991]

So am I correct?