Democracy Review - Answer Key

Who defined democracy as a competitive struggle for people's votes?

• Because it involves continuous negotiation, resistance, and institutional building.

• Joseph Schumpeter

• It sustains the system's legitimacy and stability.

• They help adapt policies based on citizen responses, ensuring responsiveness.

According to Dahl, what are the two key dimensions of democracy?

• Government must react continuously to citizens' preferences.

• Public contestation and participation

• A regime with high contestation and inclusion

• Focus on real behaviors and informal practices, not just formal structures.

What does V-DEM stand for?

• Democratic outcomes are uncertain but follow known rules

• Varieties of Democracy

• Public contestation and participation

• It fosters informal agreement to accept electoral outcomes.

Name one wave of democratization described by Huntington.

• A regime with high contestation and inclusion

• Liberalization increases freedoms; democratization also changes who holds power.

• The Third Wave

• Schumpeter: competition; Dahl: responsiveness and equality.

According to Easton, what are the components of a political system?

• The Third Wave

• Inputs, system, outputs, environment

• Interest articulation, aggregation, communication, rule-making, rule-application, rule-adjudication

• Right to form interest groups and political organizations

What does the term 'polyarchy' refer to?

• Because elected leaders do not hold actual power.

• Inputs, system, outputs, environment

• A regime with high contestation and inclusion

• It was too descriptive, static, and Western-centric

According to Schmitter and Karl, what is contingent consent?

• Demands and support

• It fails the criteria because real competition is absent.

• Right to form interest groups and political organizations

• Acceptance of outcomes by all political actors even when they lose

What are Almond and Powell’s six functions of political systems?

According to Welzel, what is vertical accountability?

• Right to form interest groups and political organizations

• Accountability of government to the people

• Self-governance

• Varieties of Democracy

What does Huntington’s procedural definition of democracy focus on?

• Free and competitive elections

• They often rely on subjective assumptions masked by numeric scores.

• Because it involves continuous negotiation, resistance, and institutional building.

• Interest articulation, aggregation, communication, rule-making, rule-application, rule-adjudication