Week 4: Political SystemsPresented by Team 4:Herlinna ChungXindi LiKatrina CheneyLina Liu

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

The Anglo-American Political System

The Pre-Industrial Political System

Mixed role structures

The Continental European Political System

The Totalitarian Political System

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.

Q&A