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12. Why Is State Effectiveness Essential for Democracy?
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12 Why Is State Effectiveness Essential for Democracy? Asian Examples Wang Shaoguang in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the “third wave” of democratization began, many were very optimistic about the future of the unfolding “worldwide democratic revolution.” now, a decade later, the optimism has somehow faded away. among nearly one hundred countries that appeared to be moving away from authoritarian rule in the early 1990s, over a dozen have suffered “democratic breakdown” or “democratic reversals ,” and most transition states are stuck in what Thomas Carothers calls the “gray zone.”1 Why are so many third-wave transition countries in trouble? or more generally, what are the conditions under which democracies can survive and function? The standard answer to this question normally points to three key variables as the preconditions for a successful venture into stable democracy, namely, a relatively high level of economic development,2 a vibrant civil society,3 and a strong civic culture.4 There is no doubt that these are in fact attributes that characterize the old and stable democracies but are generally lacking in most of the transition countries. however , they are by no means the only things that are absent in the majority of third-wave countries. another thing those countries are commonly wanting is a coherent, functioning state. in most countries that once belonged to the former Soviet Union and the former yugoslavia, no national state institutions existed before they Why is State Effectiveness Essential for democracy? 243 began transition; throughout much of sub-Saharan africa, states exist but are largely incoherent, nonfunctional, and unstable; most latin american countries entered democratic transition with “a deep legacy of persistently poor performance of state institutions”;5 elsewhere in the third world, transition away from authoritarian rule often unfolded in the context of extremely weak state structures. interestingly, almost all of the countries with nonperforming states are stuck in the “gray zone.” it is in those thirdwave countries where state building did not appear to be a major challenge that democratic progress seems to have made the most headway. These are primarily countries in Southern and Central Europe, though there are also a few in South america and East asia.6 Based on this observation, a growing number of democracy activists and scholars have come to conclude that the presence of an effective state is a prerequisite for democracy.7 however, the exact linkages between state effectiveness and democracy have not yet been systematically explored. This essay is designed to fill this vacuum. it is organized as follows. The first section tries to reconceptualize democracy. While most define democracy as a type of political regime, the discussion here emphasizes that it is also a form of public authority. as such, it needs to acquire what michael mann calls “infrastructural power.”8 dealing with the concept of state effectiveness, the second section attempts to identify the nuts and bolts of an effective modern state. By doing so, it is intended to provide a framework for comparing state effectiveness across countries. The third section endeavors to answer the central question of the essay: why democracy cannot work and last without an effective state. Based upon the insight that an effective state is a prerequisite of a high-quality and sustainable democracy, the fourth section advances six hypotheses concerning conducive or adverse circumstances for democratic transition and consolidation. The fifth section uses five asian cases to test these hypotheses. The upshot of the arguments presented in the first five sections is that democracy is unlikely to flourish where it is not based upon a solid infrastructure of state institutions. The final section explores the implications of this finding for China’s political future. Democracy Democracy as a Type of Regime democracy is one type of political regime. What distinguishes democracy from various types of nondemocratic regimes is that democracy enables [54.234.184.8] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 08:31 GMT) 244 Wang ShaogUang people to manage power relations and thus control rulers, while other regime types do not.9 as a device for managing power relations, democracy at a minimum must meet two criteria at once, namely what dahl calls “inclusiveness” and “public contestation.”10 The former refers to participation , or more precisely, the right for virtually all adults to vote and contest for office. The latter refers to opposition rights, or creating institutionalized channels for meaningful opposition by those who are adversely affected by government policies. a political system cannot be called democratic unless both...