Democracy (review)

In this remarkably lucid and deceptively accessible little book, Tilly presents a unified theory of the processes that shape transitions to and from democracy. Although he draws upon his vast knowledge as historian and sociologist, the exposition develops primarily through analytical narratives and comparisons of a variety of contemporary regimes: India, South Africa, Russia, Spain, and Venezuela. Occasionally, he expands the perspective historically through discussion of the French, Dutch, and American pre-twentieth-century experiences.

Tilly argues that there are no single prerequisites or general sequences that lead to democratization or its reversals. But he does point to “recurrent causal mechanisms” that “in varying combinations and sequences” produce changes in three processes that he deems essential to working democracy (78). These three processes are necessary conditions and constitute the major focus of the book. Democratization (the introduction or deepening of democracy) involves the integration of “trust networks” into public policies, the insulation of public policies from “categorical inequalities,” and decreasing autonomy of major power centers (23, 74–77). The opposite process of reducing some or all of the elements of democracy is characterized by contrary processes of the withdrawal of trust networks, the intrusion of categorical inequalities, or the increased autonomy of alternative power centers.

In his overview discussions, often summarized in handy tables and boxes, Tilly discusses the causal mechanisms that affect each of these processes and their interactions, some of which involve unique historical shocks, such as war or invasion. Others involve social and economic development, such as the movement from an agriculturally based economy to one based on industry or knowledge. He then produces several sketches of historical or contemporary experience with democracy in specific regimes. He also discusses alternative “paths” that are established primarily by the timing of the development of state capacity in relationship to the democratization processes.

The most attractive and challenging feature of Tilly’s approach is its blending of unique events with the three necessary processes (or reversals) that all democratizations have in common. Along the way, he also identifies and provides tentative answers to some interesting general puzzles, such as the greater speed and apparent ease of the anti-democratic processes relative to the pro-democratic ones, and the respective role of citizens and rulers within each.

Tilly’s three essential conditions for democracy are persuasively presented and analyzed. They would probably garner agreement about their role, although not about their relative importance, from the larger community of analysts. Beware, however, of the often great subtlety in how Tilly applies his concepts. He explicitly warns, for example, that a large number of associational groups does not necessarily equate with an integration of individuals’ trust networks, arguing that the late nineteenth-century decline in associational life was actually helpful to American democracy at that point (85.) Simplistic applications of civil society theorists are not recommended.